As a new study suggests, the move of the Barnes Foundation was part of the nationwide rash of real estate and financial speculation during the Clinton-Bush era. Chicago's Art Institute gambled and lost heavily on its own expansion. That's a scary prospect for the new Parkway Barnes, whose projections contain no margin for error.

What was the Barnes Foundation experience really like for an immigrant art lover? How has it changed now that the collection has moved downtown? The founder of Penn's Arthur Ross Gallery recalls her frustrations with the old Barnes galleries and her exhilaration with the new.

Only 2% of American homes are architect-designed. But an innovative unemployed architect in Seattle may have found a way to make a living by servicing the other 98%. He could be the undoing of architecture's infamous star system.

The Barnes Foundation's priceless art collection, we're told repeatedly, must move to Philadelphia because it can't make a go of it in Merion. But a close examination of the numbers leads to the opposite conclusion: The Barnes can survive only in Merion, whereas a Parkway Barnes is bound for financial disaster.

The Philadelphia Orchestra has bankrupt leadership, a problem that won't be solved in court. The decision to move the Barnes Foundation was fraudulently obtained, and needs to go back to court. A great deal is riding on the proper resolution of both these issues, including perhaps the economic and cultural future of Philadelphia itself.