Demolition Permits Filed for 6154 Reinhard Street in Kingsessing, Southwest Philadelphia

Demolition permits have been filed for a two-story rownhouse at 6154 Reinhard Street in the Kingsessing neighborhood in Southwest Philadelphia. The demolition of the vacant single-family structure will be undertaken as part of a City of Philadelphia demolition program. The stated cost of work is $10,972. Erick R. Wood is the listed owner and Pedro Palmer Construction Inc. is the listed contractor.

The building is located on the southeast side of the block between South 61st and South 62nd streets, in an isolated southwestern corner of Kingsessing, cut off by a rail line and industrial blocks from the neighborhoods to the south and with Mt. Moriah Cemetery stretching a block away to the north and west. The 1,200-square-foot prewar structure has sat boarded up for at least eight years, and since the process is carried out by the city, it is likely that the objective is to get rid of a nuisance structure rather than to make way for new development.

Even in its dilapidated state, the structure remains a modest but quintessential example of the Philadelphia rowhouse vernacular, with a spacious porch (albeit missing the superstructure), a brick façade, stone sills and lintels beneath and above the windows, corbelled projections at the corners near the top, and a floral garland-adorned cornice with projecting turrets at the corners. Judging by adjacent structures and other rowhouses up and down the block, buildings of the same design once likely lined both sides of the block from end to end.

In the postwar period, the once-dense residential block has experienced extensive demolitions, with just over a quarter (ten out of 35) of the original structures still standing on the southeast side of the block, with the opposite side faring only slightly better.

Reinhard Street, with 6154 Reinhard Street on the right. Looking east. Credit: Google

Reinhard Street, with 6154 Reinhard Street on the left. Looking south. Credit: Google

Reinhard Street, with 6154 Reinhard Street in the distance. Looking southwest. Credit: Google

Despite its isolation and desolation, the area retains potential for viable residential development, with the University City and Center City-bound 13 trolley running along Kingsessing Avenue a block to the north and the 11 trolley located three blocks to the southwest on Woodland Avenue. Given the ongoing surge of development in University City two miles to the northeast and its effect on the surrounding neighborhoods, it is possible that the development wave will eventually reach the block at hand, as well.

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