Permits Issued for 10-Unit Building at 2006 West Girard Avenue in Francisville, Lower North Philadelphia

Permits have been issued for the construction of a four-story, ten-unit apartment building at 2006 West Girard Avenue in Francisville, Lower North Philadelphia. The development, sited on a partially occupied through-block lot stretching from Girard Avenue to the north to Cambridge Street to the south, with the three-story, three-unit prewar rowhouse on Girard to remain and the new building to rise from a vacant site on Cambridge. Designed by CANNOdesign, the new building will feature balconies in select units, two private roof decks, and parking for four bicycles. Permits list GRIT Construction as the contractor and a construction cost of $2.2 million.

2006 West Girard Avenue. Map. Credit: Google Maps

2006 West Girard Avenue. Aerial view. Credit: Google Maps

2006 West Girard Avenue. Zoning submission. Credit: CANNOdesign via the City of Philadelphia

2006 West Girard Avenue. Site plan. Credit: CANNOdesign via the City of Philadelphia

The structure, proposed at the alley-like, 30-foot-wide Cambridge Street, will max out its allowable zoning height, rising 38 feet to the main roof, 40 feet to the top of the parapet, and 48 feet to the top of the pilot houses. A schematic elevation submitted as part of the zoning filing shows a very plain exterior with tall, narrow windows.

Despite its apparent simplicity, the design may still come out very attractive if it is anything like the similarly scaled, four-story-tall building two doors to the north at number 2003B, where a similarly plain facade gains considerable curb appeal from a tasteful facade of red and gray brick and windows and exterior finishes executed in a matching black palette.

From what we could tell from the zoning documents, the development at 2006 West Girard Avenue is laudable for a number of reasons: preservation of the stately brownstone on Girard Avenue, dense infill at a rear vacant lot, and what so far promises to be a contextual design for the new building.

2006 West Girard Avenue. Looking south from Girard Avenue. Credit: Google Maps

2006 West Girard Avenue. Looking northeast from Cambrige Street. Credit: Google Maps

The development at 2006 West Girard Avenue, located two blocks south of Girard College, is part of a centrally-located, rapidly developing district that is seeing a surge of residential growth not in the least part due to its transit proximity (the Route 15 trolley runs along Girard Avenue and the Girard Station on the Broad Street Line is situated within an 11-minute walk to the east of the proposal site), as well as its 20-minute walking distance both to Center City to the south and the Temple University campus to the northeast.

2006 West Girard Avenue. Zoning map. Credit: CANNOdesign via the City of Philadelphia

2006 West Girard Avenue. Zoning table. Credit: CANNOdesign via the City of Philadelphia

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