The development team of John and Mary Turchi are awaiting the start of work on a 150-foot-tall building at 223 South Sixth Street in Society Hill. The 12-story, 193,589-square-foot structure, which is proposed to sit right next to the Dilworth House and preserve most of the older building, finally won approval from the Historical Commission just last year after 14 years of effort by the developers. Cope-Linder Architects is the designer for the slender high-rise, which will hold just ten residential units.
223 South 6th Street elevation. Photo by Cope-Linder Architects
Despite its comparatively low height, even when compared to some of the nearby structures, the building will stand out well when viewed from Washington Square, which sits directly to the west. The edifice will rise from a compact lot measuring an estimated 40 feet by 70 feet and will sit behind the Dilworth House and between the Athenaeum of Philadelphia and Locust Walk, a historic structure renovated into a condominium.
The building will feature a mixture of blue glass and dark gray stone cladding that will contrast with the tan and beige buildings surrounding Franklin Square. The wide northern and southern profiles will be left mostly blank with vertical window slits placed in a staggered pattern. Large terraces on the west side of the 10th floor and on the east side of the 11th floor transition the structure’s bulk to a crown that angles up to the north, with chamfered corners at the northeast and northwest.
Two zoning permits were filed back in December 2018, but preservationists and NIMBYs pushed back, citing the location in a historic part of the city. New renderings were unveiled in February 2019, and excitement rose among development watchers when the Historical Commission gave its final approval in May 2019. However, since that time, no signs of the planned partial demolition or new construction have yet been visible.
223 South 6th Street. Photo by Cope-Linder Architects
No projected completion date has yet been announced, though construction may be finished by 2023 or 2024.
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The property called “Locust Walk” is actually The Lippincott, the former headquarters of Philadelphia publisher J. B. Lippincott Company. Locust Walk is the name of the walkway between The Lippincott and Independence Place.