neighborhood – SaveOld2StTree.org

Interview with Bruce Cheatham our Tiny House Design Winner

Posted on January 18, 2019Leave a comment

Bruce Cheatham of Cheatham Drafting and Design our Winner of our Tiny Home Design contest was nice enough to sit down with SaveOld2StTree and share some of his story.

Bruce sharing holding a sample from the winning design

Bruce and his partner from college Paige Jimenez work together at Cheatham Drafting and Design to produce some very creative works that can be seen at their website https://cheathamdrafting.wixsite.com/global

So here is our interview:

SaveOld2ndStTree: Bruce how old are you?
Bruce: 25

SaveOld2ndStTree: Bruce please share with us your education in Architecture?
Bruce: I have been interested in Architecture since attending high school at William Tennent High School. Drafting for 9 years in high school, college and after college. He went to Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster PA and studied Architectural Drafting where he met Paige Jimenez.

SaveOld2ndStTree: What made you take up drafting?
Bruce: While in High School an older brother of a friend brought home some drawing work and he really like the idea of drawing.

SaveOld2ndStTree: How did you hear about the contest?
Bruce: I saw the Facebook ad.

SaveOld2ndStTree: What made you want to participate in the contest?
Bruce: I love doing Tiny Home Concepts. And I recently did a concept for someone on a property st 19th and Ridge.

SaveOld2ndStTree: How many projects have you worked in the past?
Bruce: 5 or 6 during 2018. With two years of designing for house flipper, bathrooms and decks.

SaveOld2ndStTree: What are your hobbies?
Bruce: Golfing and drafting. His hobbies are his commercial endeavors: construction, drafting, concepts, real-estate,etc.
SaveOld2ndStTree opinion- Bruce is a real go getter and hard worker

SaveOld2ndStTree: How can people contact you for working together?
Bruce:
Email (CheathamDrafting@gmail.com),
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BCheatham013),
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bruce_cheatham/),
LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruce-cheatham/) and
his website (
https://cheathamdrafting.wixsite.com/global ) .

SaveOld2ndStTree: What are you looking for in the future?
Bruce: Moving back into Philly. I spend most of my time in Philly when I’m not home. I’m currently looking at developing a 1/2 Block property. My older brother has a construction company and maybe we will team up on future projects.

SaveOld2ndStTree: What did you like most about your design?
Bruce:

The Floating Stairs – with options for creating storage as with small houses storage is always and issue

3D rendering of the tiny house design showing floating stairs and roof changes

single closet storage available

1st Floor design with storage below stairs and a mechanical storage location in back

2nd Floor design with closet and variable levels making the house interesting with balcony

the Juliette style balcony for light inside and so it looks good from the outside

3D View with Juliette Balcony and Front entrance

Fun of designing with different pitched roofing

3D design showing different roof pitches plus sun lights. This is so Cool!

SaveOld2ndStTree: What do you think of some of the box architecture designs popping up around Philadelphia?
Bruce: Not a big fan. I’m not liking the fake extensions from the house designs, where they don’t use that space for something. They are just facades that add no functional use to the resident.

So we used Bruce’s design as a part of our Philadelphia Zoning Board hearing. Our statement to the Board “I could see myself Living in this House! It is really Cool.”

Again this was a Great Design! Thank you Bruce.

Dating the Tree alongside the Neighborhood

Posted on July 26, 2016Leave a comment

History from 1962 recorded with our Tree

Long before this issue with the tree and the development came along we had found the picture of the tree in a 1962 photo posted by the www.PhillyHistory.org. Here you can see the tree and even in 1962 it was pretty big and we estimate at least 20 years old. During our walks around the neighborhood, many older residents have said they remember the tree from when they were kids and they are in their 80’s. Permission was granted by www.PhillyHistory.org to share these images with you. The picture below can be found at http://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Detail.aspx?assetId=71801

Tree in 1962 on manton and 2nd — Tree in 1962 on Manton and 2nd

Neighbors commented during our petition walk about that they remember swinging on the old tree in the 60’s and landing on old mattresses in the empty lot. We are hoping to get some stories for another post.

Here are some additional pictures from around the neighborhood in 1962.

Please don’t forget to sign and share our petition to save small open spaces in new developments in Philadelphia.
https://www.change.org/p/councilman-mark-squilla-save-old-2-st-tree

https://www.change.org/p/councilman-mark-squilla-save-old-2-st-tree

The Tree Brings Neighbors Out for a Night Out

Posted on July 26, 2016Leave a comment

Neighbors and Friends Out for a Night Out Under the Tree and a Movie

Trees can be amazing neighborhood builders. Our efforts to discuss development, open space, zoning, trees and development have brought out the neighbors for a night out. On Saturday, July 23, 2016 about 30 plus neighbors and friends sat with the tree in the background and had Ice Treats and watched the movie The Lorax.

Everyone loved the movie night and we got more signatures from friends and neighbors for the petition.

A special Thanks goes out to the Friends of Jefferson Park (https://www.facebook.com/groups/FriendsofJeffersonSquarePark/) for loaning the equipment and Chris of D’Emilio’s Old World Ice Treats for stopping by and providing Ice Treats. It is great when we can support local neighborhood business (https://www.facebook.com/OldWorldIceTreats/)

We learned a lot about holding block parties and getting a permit for the party. We included a link to Philadelphia’s online Block party permitting application

https://secure.phila.gov/Streets/BlockParty/

Some key points is that the weekends are easier to get and cost less than weekdays and that the signature for the permit has to live on the block. Owning the corner property does not count. Everyone on the block was great and very supportive of the event and pretty much all signed the petition. We only missed people if they were not home. We also learned that even the Friends of the Parks have to get permits for their events. Go figure that one out!

Why the Lorax?

Well, when we were researching the movie “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”, we saw this movie The Lorax and it was a perfect movie. From Wikiepedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lorax)

The Lorax is a children’s book written by Dr. Seuss. It chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax, who speaks for the trees against the Once-ler. As in most Dr. Seuss works, most of the creatures mentioned are original to the book.

The book is commonly recognized as a fable concerning the danger corporate greed poses to nature, using the literary element of personification to give life to industry as the Once-ler and the environment as The Lorax.

This was perfect movie for adults and kids showing how greed and over development can easily wipe all the trees off the neighborhood.

Here is a clip link:
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If you are interested in playing movies for public consumption there are basically two places to go to and you have to purchase the movie license for the night.

We got the Lorax license to play the movie from Swank.com (http://www.swank.com/)

We are still thinking about the other movie and that can be licensed from Criterion Pictures USA (http://www.criterionpicusa.com/)

Please don’t forget to sign and share our petition to save small open spaces in new developments in Philadelphia.
https://www.change.org/p/councilman-mark-squilla-save-old-2-st-tree