Demolishing, in many cases, is the right thing to do. By celebrating the history and legacy of this building, it's letting go in a much more humane way.

Joe Schilling, head of the Sustainable Communities Initiative at Virginia Tech's Metropolitan Institute, on Philadelphia's Mantua neighborhood, which held a "funeral" for the last house on Melon Street, before developers razed it on Saturday. A hearse-like dumpster will carry the debris down the block, trailed by a procession of drill teams, bands and local residents.