Chris Hytha, a 26-year-old Phoenixville native, fell in love with the Philadelphia skyline in middle school during a family visit to Center City, writes Kevin Riordan for The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

“That experience is really what led me to study architecture, to explore the city, and to try to find a way to get to the tops of those towers,” he said. “I couldn’t get enough of Philadelphia.” 

He moved to Philadelphia in 2015, got a degree in architecture from Drexel University, worked for a local architecture firm, and then established himself as an independent photographer and artist. 

In 2021, he started photographing Philadelphia rowhouses, which led him to create his online gallery and landed him a deal for a coffee-table book. 

His newest project is called Highrises. It is an online gallery featuring drone images of skyscrapers built in art deco, Gothic, beaux arts, and other styles that were dominant in the late-19th and early-20th centuries nationwide. 

“An incredible variety of designs and materials were used in building these towers,” said Hytha. “The care and the craftsmanship that went into them! We’ll never be able to build buildings like them again.” 

Read more about Chris Hytha in The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

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