SOUTH PHILADELPHIA. The Italian Market has lost its king … at least for a little while.
The iconic mural of former Mayor Frank Rizzo painted on the side of a row house at Ninth and Montrose streets in 1995 was painted over this week as a complete restoration project begins. A resurfacing the last two days has left the three-story wall a blank slate of stucco.
An official with the city Mural Arts Program said yesterday that original artist Diane Keller will return May 1 to redo her Rizzo mural over a fresh coat of stucco.
“She’ll use the highest quality paint, UV resistant. It should last 20 to 25 years,” Mural Arts operations manager Seth Turner said.
He said chunks of the old stucco were falling off the side of the house in recent months and a big reason the Rizzo mural degraded quickly is that it faces south, giving it many hours a day in direct sunlight.
The new coats of stucco will be given three to four weeks to dry before Keller begins applying her first paint strokes.
The Rizzo mural, one of the most famous among the thousands throughout the city, has become a very popular backdrop for politicians both local and national in campaign photos over the last decade and a half.
