A pair of zoning permits have been issued for the construction of two multi-family buildings at 623 North 52nd Street and at 625 North 52nd Street in Mill Creek, West Philadelphia. The pair will replace a vacant lot situated on the east side of the block between Wyalusing Avenue and Girard Avenue. Each structure will span a footprint of 920 square feet. Billy Williams Jr. is the listed owner and Accrete LLC is the contractor for both properties.
The site has sat vacant for over a decade, but it is likely that it once held two two-story prewar rowhouses, similar to a type that lines the rest of the block. These rowhouses feature deep covered porches and second-story bay windows. Each structure was originally ornamented with cornice bands at the porch awning, the bay window, and at the parapet, which featured an elaborate, “batwing”-shaped broken apex pediment with a pedestal in the center.
The broken pediment is modeled after a classic Baroque design popularized by architects such as Inigo Jones in Britain in the 17th century. A classic Jones prototype would hold a bust at the central pedestal, and it is somewhat possible that the rowhouses were adorned with busts, as well.
Detail at 627 North 52nd Street. Credit: Google
Over the years, most rowhouses along the stretch lost much of their historical ornamentation or had it covered up with siding. However, a few retain their original decoration, most notably 625 North 52nd Street, the rowhouse adjacent to the proposal site, which was renovated and repainted with spectacular attention to detail some time between 2017 ad 2018. The renovation included plastering and painting over the lot wall, which is now adorned with a memorial mural.
Memorial mural at 627 North 52nd Street, which will be obstructed bynew construction. Credit: Google
Unfortunately, the new building will obscure the mural, which, if construction starts in the near future, would have existed for only around three years. This is just one of the many similar trade-offs in a city where thousands of muralists took advantage of large blank walls throughout the city, many of which were exposed during the postwar surge of depopulation and demolitions. However, this is a relatively small price to pay for the city’s ongoing renaissance where new buildings are once again filling vacant sites throughout formerly distressed neighborhoods.
A notable example of a compromise between new construction and mural preservation may be found at Mural West, a 363-foot-tall mixed-use high-rise proposed at 523 North Broad Street in Callowhill, North Philadelphia.
The new buildings’ design will all but certainly clash with their prewar neighbors. However, the city is no stranger to architectural diversity, and the quality of the design, rather than its general presence, will determine how positively the structures will affect the ensemble. But even in a worst-case scenario, the buildings will still close a gap in the street wall and contribute to the slow yet steady resurgence of a neighborhood that has seen little construction activity since the end of World War II.
We expect to see further construction along the street, which is also known as Absalom Jones Way, named in honor of the African-American abolitionist and clergyman who founded the Free African Society with Richard Allen in 1787. The 15 trolley runs at the north end of the block at Girard Street, offering commute options to University City and Temple University, two of the city’s main higher education hubs, both of which are experiencing major real estate booms. In addition, both the Market-Frankford Line on Market Street and Fairmount ark are each located in under a half-hour walk to the south and to the north, respectively.
623 and 625 North 52nd Street. Looking north. Credit: Google
623 and 625 North 52nd Street. Credit: Google
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Mural West preserves Meg Saligman’s 1999 adjacent 65-foot tall “Common Threads” mural. The project has three parts, a 363 foot tall mixed-use tower (with residential units and retail and commercial/medical space), a one-story restaurant and “Common Ground” — a landscaped plaza between the two structures. The mural remains, and remains highly visible from the street and the plaza. Good news indeed.