Philadelphia YIMBY’s recent site visit has confirmed that construction is complete at a mixed-use development at 2301 Frankford Avenue in Fishtown. Designed by Ian Smith Design Group, the project adds a three-story rear addition to a three-story prewar building and two smaller adjacent structures at the eastern corner of Frankford Avenue and East Dauphin Street. The finished structure will feature ground-floor commercial space and six residential units, as well as a cellar. Permits list Black Oak Builders as the contractor and a construction cost of $312,000.
The final project fairly closely resembles the original rendering, and, arguably, looks better than the computer-generated image. While the render promised a crisp, if unremarkable Modernist addition, the built structure follows the design shown in the image yet significantly upgrades its appearance via a well-made choice of an attractive, high-quality brick exterior that complements the original prewar rowhouse while maintaining its own contemporary identity.
2301 Frankford Avenue. Rendering credit: Ian Smith Design Group
2301 Frankford Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller. February 2023
2301 Frankford Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller. February 2023
2301 Frankford Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller. February 2023
2301 Frankford Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller. February 2023
2301 Frankford Avenue. Site plan. Credit: Ian Smith Design Group via the City of Philadelphia
2301 Frankford Avenue. Site plan. Credit: Ian Smith Design Group via the City of Philadelphia
2301 Frankford Avenue. Building elevation at Frankford Avenue. Credit: Ian Smith Design Group via the City of Philadelphia
2301 Frankford Avenue. Building elevation at East Dauphin Street. Credit: Ian Smith Design Group via the City of Philadelphia
2301 Frankford Avenue. Zoning table. Credit: Ian Smith Design Group via the City of Philadelphia
The new structure rises around 38 feet to the top of the parapet, a couple of feet higher than the peak of the roof of the original building. Construction involves a shallow concrete foundation and a light wooden frame superstructure. The three-story corner building will remain generally intact and will receive renovations, mostly at the interior. Notably, the single- and two-story rear wings were not demolished, but were instead incorporated into the three-story extension (thus qualifying the project for our “vertical extension” category).
2301 Frankford Avenue. Looking east. Credit: Google Maps
2301 Frankford Avenue (rear portion at the site of the new addition). Looking east. August 2910. Credit: Google Maps
The only full demolition that took place is that of a two-story rowhouse at the eastern end of the site at Dauphin Street. Despite its old age and onetime status as a carriage house, the structure was in a dilapidated condition and was an unlikely candidate for preservation.
The rear wing and the carriage house offered minimal interest in terms of architecture, yet their arrangement around a vacant front yard and side stairs read as an interesting bit of historic construction. Still, the development team can be commended for doing minimal damage to existing historic structures as it utilizes mostly vacant land while preserving the most notable portion of the building at the site. Although the quixotic side yard is lost, the new wing reinforces the streetwall and contribute much-needed contemporary housing to the neighborhood at the junction of Fishtown, East Kensington, and Olde Richmond.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
Kudos to the developer for preserving the corner building
Love the chamfered corners on both the original building and the new addition. The “commercial space open area” as described in the ‘use diagram’ makes for an ideal spot for outdoor dining or drinking while watching the parade of people on the avenue.
Adaptive reuse is almost always a win, preserving history, reducing waste, often costing less, reusing quality materiel and is aesthetically more pleasing.
One minor quibble, and this is subjective, but the glass block on both Frankford Ave. and Dauphin St. might have been replaced with a more welcoming transparent glazing.
Agreed, this turned out much better than expected and I’m hopeful the commercial space doesn’t remain vacant too long.
The glass block windows do need to go.
Clearly the designers have some skill in what they have brought to the new structure. I would agrue that the choice of brick is out-of-keeping with the colors of Philadelphia row houses and the casement windows don’t speak to the residential nature of the buildings….the old buildings, as sad as they are now have character and personality. Yes, they are now sad. The new building has some skillful brick corner turning but none of the charm of a home. I am all for the modern interpretation….I think this gets closer to many presented here in the last few weeks, but could be still better and more in keeping with the neighborhood.
That side door is gonna be covered in piss. Lolz.
Wow. This great. We should have a 1 year and completion retrospective on all Fishtown projects and how they compare to the developer promises for everything. Great stuff. Kudos to this contractor. And I don’t say that often.