The Palladium Nightclub became a fixture of New York City’s nightlife scene after it was established in 1985. For years, the Palladium served both as a space for creative expression and a destination where people could dance their cares away. It was also one of the protagonists of the East Village--a familiar face to the everyday residents in the neighborhood. But this chapter of the story came to an end in 1998, when the nightclub was demolished by NYU to make way for a new dormitory. In this episode, producer Martina Merlo chases the ghost of the Palladium—to recover a collective memory that is fading in a rapidly-changing urban environment, and to offer a cautionary tale about the importance of preserving more unconventional monuments. In the case of the Palladium, we visit a lost monument to an experimental music scene and culture that is inextricably entangled with its home in the East Village.

When a new art installation called the Portal was unveiled at Philadelphia’s City Hall in October 2024, people didn’t really know at first what to make of it. In this episode, Producer Dilcia Martinez explains how the Portal works in real time to connect people from different parts of the world, from Dublin to Manila. She asks the question—what even is the Portal? Is it a work of art? A monument?

In the middle of the 20th century, two prominent Jewish communities in Philadelphia undertook major building projects in order to grow their congregations. Producer Ari Lipkis discusses how the leadership of both groups decided to recruit the top talent in modern architecture for these projects, and the potential successes—and pitfalls—of engaging individuals whom we could today describe as some of the first American “starchitects.”

In this episode, producer Molly Bernhard discusses the famous capture of Major John André, a British spy, by a group of Americans in Tarrytown, New York. The subsequent monument that was created to commemorate the event honors and glorifies the captors. Historians likewise argue that André’s arrest saved the fate of the Continental Army and the American cause. We take a deeper dive into the stories of the captors and consider whether or not they were in fact the heroes that subsequent generations have made them out to be.

In this episode, producer Nonna Batrakova examines the remarkable diversity of architectural styles that served as inspiration for the design of the Masonic Temple of Philadelphia’s Grand Lodge. Interviews explore the monument’s history and reveal the significance of this lodge to its current Freemason members.

In this episode, producer Özlem Yıldız traces the many lives of the iconic Galata Tower in Istanbul, which has served many uses through the centuries from a fire station to an astronomical observatory and recently reopened as a museum.

In this episode, producer Kendra Schmit dives into the history of Philadelphia’s iconic City Hall and explores how its architectural style actually fell out of fashion rather quickly.

In this episode, producer Michael Lally investigates the early years of the Fairfield Hills Hospital in Newtown, Connecticut and the decade of abandonment that drew urban explorers and ghost hunters, and contemporary debates about the town’s “Master Plan” for the site.

In this episode, producer Nicole Emser Marcel asks: How can artists intervene in or mediate an existing monument? And could these interventions bring about long-term change?

The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship is a Sufi Muslim community located just outside of Philadelphia. Producer Michael Ernst visits the Fellowship to learn that the real monument to Bawa Muhaiyaddeen is not the building, but the community itself.

In this episode, producer Sara Potts investigates multiple overlapping histories at Gettysburg National Military Park: from the official account of the National Park Service to the long ignored African American presence at the site.

The Painted Bride Art Center has long stood as a cultural monument in the city of Philadelphia. In this episode, Alexa Smith traces the Bride’s longer history, as well as the recent controversy around its sale.