Sunday - October 28, 2001

Poster puts Conshohocken in spotlight
Photographer creates collage that celebrates architectural landmarks


Brian "Butch" Coll, left, and his father Jack Coll, co-owners of Coll's Custom Framing Shop and Gallery, joined forces to create a collage poster that highlights the many architectural landmarks of Conshohocken.

By M. English

CONSHOHOCKEN - When diehard Conshohocken booster Jack Coll and wife Donna drove cross country two years ago, he was struck by the variety of local souvenirs available at most of their stops - representative mugs and glasses, decorative plaques, dish towels, cookbooks... you name it.

Always looking to plug his adopted hometown, Coll subsequently used his skills as a professional photographer to create a "poster collage" of Conshohocken landmarks. He introduced the 24 by 36 inch wall hanging at the borough's recent FunFest.

The poster was a collaborative effort with son and business partner Brian Coll, although the two credit borough Mayor Bob Frost as their "design consultant."

"The whole idea was to create something that people could look at and say, 'I know where that is' or 'that looks I familiar' - basically, to engender a sense of pride in the town," says Coll, who just moved the family's four-year-old framing business into new quarters at the former Charles Guarino hair salon near West Fourth Avenue.

Coll retells a grizzly tale

The Colls began doing business at their newly renovated location, 324 Fayette St., on Oct. 15 and plan to hold a special open house in November. In the meantime, they're happy to swap remodeling stories with anyone who cares to drop by.

As Halloween approaches' visitors may even get Jack Coll - an avid history buff - to recount the tale of the dead body that was dumped in front of the building some 70 years ago.

'`The way I understand it, the property was occupied by the offices of a Dr. Hargreaves, who was the attending physician on a famous shooting in 1931," he says

"A guy named Ralph Spanish was gunned down at the foot of the Matsonford Bridge. It was the early 1930s - so you had Prohibition in full swing and the mob was involved in some speakeasies and gambling here in town.

"Apparently this Ralph Spanish would go into some of these places, take side bets and give 10 percent of his earnings to the man at the door.

"Supposedly, the mob got a report that Spanish had double crossed them... something about some one-armed bandits... so they let him have it. Then someone drove him up to Hargreaves' office and laid him out front on the sidewalk. He died on the Doctorís doorstep."

A few years ago, Coll- also a veteran local journalist- rewrote the original newspaper account of Spanish's murder for contemporary readers.

His article prompted a surprise visit from...

Well, that's another story.
- M. English

  

"This town has a very rich history, and that history is evident in the many beautiful old buildings we have. Brian and I thought a poster would be the perfect way to highlight the town's beauty. To be honest, he and I kicked a number of ideas around. For example, we considered doing an aerial shot of the whole town, but then Bob Frost mentioned that he had seen a collage poster somewhere, and we thought that was a great idea."

The colorful new print includes everything from the turreted exterior of borough hall to the signature red doors at St. Matthew's, Conshohocken's new War Veterans Memorial and Washington Fire Company.

Other shots depict familiar local businesses like Casmar Cafe, Tillie's Place and Viggiano's. Some 80 in all. Another 100 commercial signs and logos are melded into a subsidiary collage that spells Conshohocken in letters designed by Schank Printing.

Although most places are instantly recognizable - including an overview of the Matsonford Bridge and the -riverside office towers at borough's edge - a few are subtle enough to provoke a Little head-scratching. But, Coll notes, that's part of the fun.

"The final editing really came down to what was aesthetically pleasing," he says. "What flowed. Not so much, 'we're using the Catholic church so we have to use al1 the churohea. is full of architectural gems, entire barrages of neat rooftops and all kinds of neat little hidden treasures. It'd be impossible to show everything."

The vast majority of the photos used - "probably 99 per cent" - were shot during the iast eight months.

"We made a conscious decision to do this as a poster of present day Conshohocken," Coll says. "It would have been easy to use vintage photographs, but we thought it was better to depict places and things that today s residents could identify with... especially with all the new people in town - people who didn't grow up here or spend most of their lives here. We pulled a couple of pictures from the archives, but they're mainly present-day shots."

Coll figures the poster's initial success - like its genesis - is due to hometown pride.

"I think we accomplished what we were trying for," he continues. "We got permission to use every shot you see here, and everyone we approached was happy to be part of the project. The reaction down at the FunFest was great. We'd have a family group looking at the pictures, and you'd have one of them saying, 'There's my school,' and another one saying, 'There's my church' and the other one saying, 'There's that wall we walk on on the way to school' - everyone laughing and having a good time.

"It made me feel good to see that. But I guess the bottom line for this project was, I have a love for Conshohocken that burns in my belly and won't go away, and I just wanted to come up with a way to share that with people."

The poster prints are now available for $40 at Coll's Custom Framing; 324 Fayette St., Conshohocken. Framed mpies are also available. Visitors to the Coll family's new shop can park on the street or in the lot at the rear of the property on Forrest Street. The store is open 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; until 8 p.m. on Thursdays; and 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays. For additional information, call (610) 825-7072 or visit Coll's website at www.collscustomframing.com.
Coll's Custom Framing • 324 Fayette Street • C onshohocken, PA 19428 • 610-825-7072