Permits have been issued for the construction of a three-story single-family residential development at 2100 Master Street in the Cecil B. Moore neighborhood of North Philadelphia. The new building will replace a currently vacant corner property sited at the southwest corner of Master Street and North 21st Street. The structure will span 1,434 interior square feet. The development team is comprised of the Civetta Property Group as the owners (the Philadelphia Housing Authority also appears to be associated with the project), Moto Designshop as the architect, and Spruce Builders as the contractor.
Construction costs for the rowhouse project are listed at $111,500, which equates approximately to $78 per proposed interior square foot. This total allocates $79,400 for general construction work, $6,200 for electrical work, $6,500 for mechanical work, $18,500 for plumbing work, and $900 for excavation work.
2100 Master Street. Project map. Credit: Moto Designshop via the City of Philadelphia
2100 Master Street. Site conditions prior to redevelopment. Credit: Moto Designshop via the City of Philadelphia
The building is similar in style, dimensions, and construction costs to a number of other projects built and proposed by the same development team throughout North Philly. The vertically oriented structure, slightly taller than its proposed length, will measure 18 feet wide, 33-and-a-half-feet long, and 34-and-a-half-feet high to the main roof, or around 36 or so feet to the top of the parapet.
No roof access structure will be provided, as the proposal makes no stipulation for a roof deck. The latter omission makes for a waste of transit-accessible urban property, as does the absence of features such as a basement, a third-story rear balcony at the proposed setback, and a privacy fence that would surround the entirety of the nearly 40-foot-long rear yard, rather than only its 12-foot-deep house-adjacent section. While these omissions are understandable as a cost-cutting measure for what appears to be a city-associated housing development they are no less unfortunate (incidentally, an office building of the Philadelphia Housing Authority was built in 2018 at a nearby site at 2013 Ridge Avenue).
2100 Master Street. Site plan. Credit: Moto Designshop via the City of Philadelphia
2100 Master Street. Site conditions prior to redevelopment. Credit: Moto Designshop via the City of Philadelphia
More sensible, however, is the reuse of a rather attractive front facade design, seen in a number of other similar developments by the project team, which consists of sections of running bond and stack bond brick, contemporary in style yet deferential to the neighborhood’s prevailing prewar rowhouse vernacular.
Route 33 and 61 buses run in the vicinity, and the commercial corridor along Ridge Avenue sits two blocks to the northeast. The walled-in, Neoclassical Girard College campus sits within a ten-minute walk to the south, and Temple University is situated within a 20-minute walk to the northeast.
2100 Master Street. Zoning table. Credit: Moto Designshop via the City of Philadelphia
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From an aesthetic view, more important than the front facade is the large side wall along N. 21st. St., hopefully not blank paneled cladding without windows.
The posted photos and site plan are outdated. The illustrated three unit “Parcel B”, a combined 2102, 2104, and 2106 Master St., was nearly complete as of April 2025, as per Google Maps. The structure was framed, windows and doors were installed, and insulation was being placed. It is now likely finished.
The fact that fencing does not enclose the whole lot means open space, which when combined with that of Parcel B, provides a large unobstructed area with opportunity for neighbors to socialize and kids to play.
Both Parcel A and Parcel B are probably part of Philadelphia Housing Authority’s massive Sharswood redevelopment, a mixed income community of new and rehabbed apartments and homes.