FOCUS: Philadelphia; 'Old City' Stirring With Life  

By Philip S. Gutis AUG. 3, 1986  

From the archives of The New York Times (entire article)

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THE Chocolate Works looms, large and Victorian, on one corner of the Philadelphia neighborhood known as Old City. On another corner sits Smythe's Stores with a handsome, cast-iron facade. Still another block features the Castings, a collection of industrial buildings dating from the 1700's that until recently was a foundry.

Block after block of the historic community along the Delaware River contains recently rehabilitated warehouses and factories.

In the last five years, more than 900 rental apartments have been carved out of former commercial structures, creating in the process an almost entirely new residential neighborhood.

For decades, the only residential area of Old City was Elfreth's Alley, the oldest continually inhabitated street in the United States. In 1970 the census found 80 residents of Old City. By 1980 the figure had increased to 300 and it is now put at close to 2,200.

The situation in Philadelphia is far from unique. Stimulated by tax breaks, hundreds of companies across the country have redeveloped 11,700 historic buildings since 1982, according to statistics from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Altogether, the total investment in historic properties has been $8.8 billion.

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But Philadelphia has perhaps enjoyed the most concentrated burst of such development. Hundreds of buildings have been rejuvenated - many of them in Old City.

In the 1970's, Old City ''was an interesting and viable neighborhood,'' said William A. Kingsley, president of the Old City Civic Association. ''It was mostly wholesale, with some small manufacturing.'' Today, the area has a new element. ''Talk about yuppiedom,'' Mr. Kingsley said. ''In a survey we did of Old City residents, we found that more than 50 percent of the people had postgraduate degrees, the median age for men was 36 and for women, 33. Half of the household incomes were above $50,000.''

Although some developers talk of a soften-ing of the market for high-priced rental apartments - charges are approaching $1 a square foot per month, steep by Philadelphia standards - it appears that building activity in Old City is as furious as ever.

Construction crews are finishing the 135-unit Chocolate Works at 231 North Third Street and the 165-apartment Bridgeview at 315 New Street, two projects of Historic Landmarks for Living, a Philadelphia-based company and the largest historic rehabilitation company in the country.

The Castings, a 61-apartment building being developed by the American Classic Development Company on Quarry Street, is scheduled for opening late this fall. And the Devoe Group, another local company, has about 75 new apartments, including the Smythe Stores at Front and Arch Streets.

Old City, which extends from Race to Walnut Streets and from the Delaware River to Fifth Street, once was Philadelphia's center.

In the 1800's, however, businesses such as banks and retail stores and the residential population began to move west. At this point, Old City became a district of warehouses and light-manufacturing plants, with streets filled with four- and five-story buildings.

Planners say Old City never seriously suffered the heavy urban blight that rolled through many of the country's manufacturing districts. ''There were not many vacant properties,'' said Warren E. Huff, the Center City planner for the Philadelphia Planning Commission. ''But they were certainly underused.'' Interest began to focus on Old City as a possible residential area in the early 1970's. Artists seeking large and cheap living and working spaces found the old warehouse buildings perfect. Rents then were about 40 cents a square foot per month, or about $300.

By 1975, the city Planning Commission had studied Old City, ''looking at the potential of almost each and every building,'' Mr. Huff said.

Soon people like Stephen E. Solms, a developer who is the chairman and founder of Historic Landmarks for Living, ''started walking around the streets down there.''

''I thought, 'This is like SoHo,' '' said Mr. Solms, whose company now operates in seven states. ''This reminds me of New York.''

At the same time, the Federal Government instituted the Investment Tax Credit, which provided for accelerated depreciation on historically certified structures that were restored. In 1981, the Government strengthened the legislation, providing 25 percent tax credits in addition to the accelerated depreciation. In doing so it created a historic rehabilitation industry.

Although the rehabilitators of historic properties have suffered through almost three years of uncertainty about the status of their tax credits, as the Reagan Administration and Congress have debated new tax legislation, analysts say it appears as though the credits have been preserved.

IN 1982, Historic Landmarks started its first large project, the 97-unit Wireworks.

''It proved to be a major stimulus to development in Old City,'' said Carl E. Dranoff, president of Historic Landmarks. ''It brought in critical mass.''

Since then, Historic Landmarks has developed nine buildings in Old City, including the complex called Bank Street Court at 24-26 South Bank Street. Many others followed.

One, the Devoe Group, headed by Harry Devoe, has developed three properties in Old City. ''Mr. Devoe came in after Historic Landmarks and they've proven to be his biggest competitors,'' said Cynthia O. Hillsley, the vice president of the Devoe Group.

Florence Rosen, president of American Classic Development Company, said she did her first Old City building, the Chocolate Factory, in 1983. She said she was attracted to the area ''because it is always different.''

''There are new types of buildings,'' she said. ''History comes alive for you.''

While the area still has that excitement, some developers are beginning to talk of a slowdown in the rental market and in the development potential of Old City. The number of buildings suitable for large-scale restoration has declined dramatically, Mr. Dranoff of Historic Landmarks said.

And Mrs. Hillsley of the Devoe Group said that while the rental market ''will not dry up,'' the developers in Old City have to be aware of the ''decline in the yuppie population that started about five years ago.''

''The prospective residents are getting street smart,'' she continued. ''They want to know 'what can you do for me?' ''


Smythe Stores   100 block Arch St


The Castings 140 N Bread St

Know Your Neighborhood: Bridgeview Condominiums   

Arthur H. Thomas Scientific started in 1900 at the Freeman building at 12th & Walnut Streets in Philadelphia. During the early years, much of it's business was sales of Bausch & Lomb products and duty free imports from Europe. The company moved to West Washington Square in 1912 (1st photo), where they published their catalog that became the "bible" of the scientific industry.

In 1956, the company moved to 3rd & Vine Streets, on land once owned by the father of Betsy Ross. The new headquarters building had been the headquarters, warehouse and leather factory of England, Walton & Co., built in sections between 1913 & 1928. (2nd & 3rd photos))

Previously on that site, stood Francis Perot's Sons Malting Co.(4th & 5th photo)  One of Philadelphia's earliest breweries, Francis Perot's Sons Malting Co., was established on Front Street near the Delaware River in 1687 by Anthony Morris, who originally came over on the "Welcome" with William Penn.  Morris served as Philadelphia's 2nd mayor and later as a supreme judge of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  The brewery remained in the Morris family's hands until the 1820s, when it was turned over to Francis Perot. Perot went into a partnership with his brother, William, and in 1850, the Perots quit brewing altogether and focused solely on malting, the process of turning barley seed into malt, one of the primary components of beer. The company remained in Philadelphia until 1907, when the Perots moved the business to Buffalo, N.Y.

In 1983 Arthur H Thomas Scientific formally changed the name to Thomas Scientific, and in 1984, the company moved to a new corporate headquarters in Swedesboro, NJ.  The building at 3rd and Vine was converted to an apartment building by Historic Landmarks for Living in the late 1980’s, and later converted to condos. (6th photo)



Arthur H Thomas Washington Square building (now the Farm Journal Bldg.)

1910 map

1917 ad

Bridgeview today

Know Your Neighborhood: 401 Race St.  

As the new apartment building between 4th and 5th Sts. and between the bridge and Race St gets closer to completion, let's look back at what it replaced.

Stephen French Whitman, born in Philadelphia in 1823 opened his first candy store in 1842 just blocks from the Philadelphia waterfront on Market Street.   Philadelphians from all walks of life quickly flocked to the store.  Sailors were regular customers and helped make his candy well known along the Eastern Seaboard. 

Whitman's produced the first pre-packaged candy in 1854—a box of sugar plums adorned with curlicues and rosebuds. Whitman began advertising in newspapers shortly before the beginning of the Civil War and the business grew so large that in 1866 the company moved to an entire building at 12th and Market Streets. (1st & 2nd photos)   In 1877, he introduced Instantaneous Chocolates in tin boxes that became much-admired. 

After a fire in 1880, Whitman’s Candies moved to the 600 block of Cherry Street and, in 1906, to 4th and Race Streets. By the turn of the 20th century Whitman’s Candies were on the shelves of drugstores across the region and beyond.  Whitman's introduced the perennially popular, and still best-selling, Whitman's Sampler in 1912, marking the first use of cellophane by the candy industry. 
(3rd photo is 1922 ad)

When the company unveiled the Sampler in 1912, the patterns on its box were meant to remind customers of an even earlier, homier era. As legend has it, Whitman’s president Walter Sharp used a piece of embroidery, or “sampler,” made by his great-aunt as inspiration for his new line of fancy boxed chocolates. Consumers seemed to enjoy the vintage look and crafty appeal of the packaging (over one billion Whitman’s Samplers have been sold since 1912) as well as the implicit invitation to “sample” the different chocolates from Whitman’s most popular boxes.

As the popularity of the Sampler grew, Whitman’s collected actual samplers. Between 1926 and 1964, the Philadelphia-based company bought embroidery from all over the world, spanning from the 17th to 20th centuries.  

In 1946, the company helped General Electric develop a refrigerated display case to guard the product against melting in warmer temperatures and extend the selling season through the summer.  

Whitman's had a longstanding tradition of supporting American servicemen and servicewomen during wartime.  During World War I, millions of tins were shipped to American soldiers throughout the world. During World War II, women at the Whitman's production line secretly slipped handwritten notes of encouragement into candy boxes to help soothe soldiers' homesickness. (4th - WWII ad)

The company expanded it's facility up Race Street to 5th in phases. Designed by engineering firm Gravel & Duncan, the first phase of construction occurred between 1941 and 1942. The second and largest phase was completed in 1946, and a third floor addition was built in 1947. (5th, 6th, 7th photos)

In 1961 the company was bought by Pet, Inc. and operations were moved to Northeast Philadelphia. The older buildings at the Old City production site were demolished (4th St side) and the facility was taken over by Pincus Brothers. Here they manufactured and sold Bill Blass suits among other name brands until the early 2000's, after which the buildings sat empty until it's demolition. (8th photo)

The embroidery collection was donated to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1969, which occasionally displays selections from the collection. (9th photo, courtesy of PMA)

Whitman's 12th & Market, 1869

Interior, 1894

1922 ad




WWII ad

1954 Whitman's complex

1964

1964

2016

Know Your Neighborhood: The Wireworks, 301 Race St.  

Moore's Wireworks was founded in 1821 by an English immigrant who originally made wire for bonnets and hoopskirts and then began making insulated copper wire. They supplied Samuel Morse with the wire he needed for the 1st telegraph line (from DC to Baltimore) in 1844.

The current building (in the Renaissance Revival style) at 301 Race St. was built by Alfred Fitler Moore (grandson of the founder) in 1900 and was designed by noted architect John T. Windrim.  Windrim is best known for such buildings as Philadelphia Family Court (adjacent to Central Branch of Phila. Free Library), The Franklin Institute & the original Wills Eye Hospital (on Spring Garden St.).

The Wireworks sports the typical Renaissance Revival style features including Palazzo-like massing; brown Roman brick, brownstone, and terra cotta; and classical details such as engaged columns, colossal brick pilasters with capitals, and a modillioned cornice

It's unclear how long Moore's Wireworks occupied the building, but by the 1970's, the building housed a furniture store.

The Wireworks was one of the first conversions of factories in old city, first converted to apartments in 1984 and then to condominiums. At the time of conversion, 305, 307 & 309 Race were all connected to 301 Race to expand the apartment building. 305 & 307 Race were built in 1840; 309 in 1855.

1972, 3rd St view

305, 307 & 309 Race, 1972

1972, Race St view

Today

Know Your Neighborhood: 411 - 19 Vine St 

W.G. Ellis & Co. Knitting Mill was the original tenant of a smaller building at 415 - 19 Vine St built ca. 1880 (photo 1). They manufactured socks and hosiery there until approx. 1905.

In 1793, William Elder and Jonathan Jenks created Elder & Jenks, Inc. which would persist into the 21st-century to become the oldest brush manufacturer in the country. Their original factory was at 5th & Cherry Sts. (photo 2) and they moved to the old Ellis Mill building by 1910. In the mid 1920's the building was expanded to it's current size.  Elder & Jenks continued operations on Vine St until approx. 1960, when the company was bought & operations moved to Bayonne, NJ, where they continue to manufacture paint brushes. You can still see their "ghost" sign on the building. (photo 5)

In 1962, the building was bought and continues to house Camitta Brothers Wholesale Shoes. (photo 6)

W.G. Ellis & Co.

Elder & Jenks building at 5th & Cherry Sts.

1970's - you can see the sign for brushes

Today (brushes sign still visible)

Know your Neighborhood: What became of Callowhill   

Callowhill St. today is a no mans land with the Vine St Expressway to the south and an uninteresting assortment of buildings and businesses on the north side. It seems nothing of interest could have ever happened in the area.

The present day, however, can be deceiving, as we'll see by looking at just one spot. The north side of Callowhill Street on the west end of the block between Fourth and Fifth Streets. once contained a church, a museum, German language theater (one of the last of its kind in the nation), and one of the largest and most popular breweries in the country.

Built in 1823, the Second Universal Church stood at 417 Callowhill Street. A sugar refinery operated on the rear of the property, facing Willow Street. (drawing #1)

In 1853, the church moved to a new location on (8th St.) and the building was converted into the City Museum (#2 & 3). The City Museum combined art, natural history, and education.
It also had a theater on the 2nd floor; its goal was “to blend moral amusement with scientific instruction.” Even so, over time, the museum became a rowdy spot featuring dancers, jugglers, and magicians.  A beer garden supplanted the City Museum in 1860 and its name changed to the Melodeon, which advertised itself as “The Cheapest Place of Entertainment in the World.” Later renamed the Atlantic Garden, the building was destroyed by fire on November 25, 1868.

A larger theater was built on the ruins, The Concordia. It offering serious drama and variety shows, sometimes in English but often in German, for the surrounding German community of Northern Liberties.

As the neighborhood became increasingly industrial, The Concordia declined and went through several name changes in the late 1880s. Finally, in 1890, the old theater was incorporated into the John F. Betz & Sons Brewery and was converted into a bottling plant.

German-born John Betz came to own the sugar refinery facing Willow Street between Fourth and Fifth. Betz transformed it by 1880 into one of the largest and best known breweries in the country. The six-story building was a block wide and had a four-sided clock tower. (#4)

The Betz Brewery remained in business until 1939 (#5), and was later demolished. The old Concordia theater escaped demolition to became a warehouse. (#6) The building survived until the late 1960s when the entire Callowhill neighborhood was leveled in the Callowhill East Redevelopment Project.

Some twenty city blocks (from 2nd to 9th, Callowhill to Spring Garden) were largely leveled (#7). Hundreds of eighteenth and nineteenth century dwellings, stores and workshops were torn down, and countless residents were displaced. Unfortunately, by this time, manufacturing in Philadelphia had declined & few businesses were interested in investing in new factories in the area.

The district is now largely an urban wasteland cutting off Old City from Northern Liberties, separating what had been, since the 17th century, a natural link between two vital areas of the city. The Vine Street Expressway did not help matters, as it removed six city blocks from Second to Eighth between Vine and Callowhill Streets.

Future posts will look at more of Callowhill and the neighborhood lost to the Vine St. Expressway.

(Thanks to Hidden City Philadelphia for background info.)

Sugar refinery on Willow St

City Museum poster



The “City Museum Polka” (1854). This is the cover of sheet music written to commemorate the opening of the City Museum on September 12, 1854.

Betz Brewery

Betz in 1901

Concordia Theater

Area cleared for Callowhill rehab.

Same spot today

Know Your Neighborhood: 318 N. Lawrence St.  

The corner property at 318 N. Lawrence Street dates back to around 1920. Originally housing the General Express shipping company (1st B & W photo, 1931); later it functioned as a loading building for a pharmacy  It was almost demolished in 2004 after being declared imminently dangerous, but instead was repaired and saved from the wrecking ball. In 2016 - 17, a one-story addition and terrace was added to the roof of the 2,000-square-foot property & the building converted into a modern residence.

1931

Today

Know Your Neighborhood: The Chocolate Works Apartments   

Henry Wilbur, a Vineland, N.J. hardware store owner, teamed up with Philadelphian Samuel Croft in 1865 to manufacture candy and chocolate(1st photo - ad for their 1st store). In 1884, Croft and Wilbur parted ways, with Wilbur focusing on chocolate, and three years later, with business growing steadily, he built his third - and what would prove to be his company's last - chocolate factory in Philadelphia, on a plot of land bounded by Third, New and Bread streets in Old City. It was in this building that, in 1894, the first foil-wrapped chocolate drop candies - Wilbur Buds - were produced (2nd photo - ad). The company continued to grow and expand through the early 20th century, where it went from a single free-standing building to five architecturally distinct buildings on its Philadelphia site and expanding a plant in Lititz, PA.

The tall building at 231 N. 3rd Street (visible in last photo) from 1909, is an example of Colonial Revival architecture.   Architect Walter Smedley utilized many of the typical features of the style to bestow this factory building with a sense of dignity. White terra cotta classical embellishments, which contrast with the red Flemish bond brick, include keystones, plaques, belt courses, and a cornice. Most noteworthy is the arcaded first-story façade with full arched openings and engaged Doric columns. Sadly, the roofline cornice has been lost.  

The company phased out its Philadelphia operations between 1930 and 1933 (in part due to the depression). The construction of the Ben Franklin Bridge, which began in 1922, had already sliced off a piece of the Wilbur plant prior to its shutdown (3rd & 4th photos). While Wilbur Chocolate Co. remains in business today, making chocolate in the Lititz plant, its days as a well-known consumer brand are well behind it.

The buildings use from 1933 to the 1980's are not apparent (5th photo is from 1960). In 1984 it joined the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. In 1986, developer Carl Dranoff's Historic Landmarks for Living converted much of the former Wilbur Chocolate factory into an apartment complex, The Chocolate Works (6th photo).   While it's chocolate making days are long past, you can still see the Wilbur's sign as you pass the building on the Ben Franklin Bridge (7th photo).

The Power Plant, 230 N 2nd St. was originally part of the Wilbur Complex, but remains a separate commercial property.

1911 ad

1960's era photo

Today


Wilbur's sign still visible from the bridge

Know Your Neighborhood: Lost Island(s) of the Delaware River    

Few people today know that there used to be an island in the the Delaware River between the downtown areas of Philadelphia and Camden.

The presence of a land formation in the Delaware River was noted by Thomas Holme, the first surveyor general of Pennsylvania and designer of Philadelphia’s street plan, who observed “muddy mounds” opposite the city. Over the years, sediment, sand, and silt from the river accumulated on these shoals to form a single, twenty-five acre island. The hull of a ship, discovered later by dredgers removing the islands, may have contributed to the accumulation of sediment and debris and the formation of the island.

The island, off of what is now Penns Landing, was named for the windmill that was erected (in 1746) on the north end of the island (1st photo - 1776 map). Windmill Island was later developed as an island resort in the 1820's, used by (primarily working class) Philadelphians throughout the 19th century as a summer getaway and picnicking spot. In 1838, a short canal was dug through the middle of the island to allow more direct ferry service between Philadelphia and Camden. The northern half was renamed Smith Island and the southern half retained the name Windmill Island. A hotel, restaurant, beer garden, pool, public baths, and the river’s breeze all helped hot city dwellers find respite from the summer heat.

In 1893, the federal government decided to remove the islands through dredging to allow larger ships to dock along the city’s waterfront. By 1897, the islands had been removed and are now nothing more than an historical footnote.

1776 map

Swimming on Smith Island

Smith Island Beer garden

     Steamboat John Smith at Smith's Island 1880

1882

1890 view