245 S. 45th Street earlier this week. (Photos by West Philly Local)
We’re catching up on the news of an old house being demolished on 45th Street between Spruce and Locust. Naked Philly reported last week that demolition work had begun on an old home in Spruce Hill at 245 S. 45th St. Well, the building, which is a 3780 sq. foot condo home built in 1935, was demolished earlier this week to make way for an eight-unit apartment building, according to the licence. The building was sold in June for $275,000 to Dvora Properties.
The property has been vacant for years. It was in deteriorating condition and had multiple code violations. It’s zoned RM1, which allows construction of multi-unit housing.
Dvora Properties is reportedly associated with Glasberg Properties, a developer who’s linked to student housing near Temple University, which “looks like the standard no-frills new construction you see around town,” according to Naked Philly.
By the way, speaking of the 200 block of 45th Street, some of you may have noticed that the Watusi II was undergoing some renovation. The restaurant has a new owner – Ethiopian American Temsgen Wolegzi. He purchased the property in July and reportedly has plans for a more formal restaurant to go along with the bar. Wolegzi presented plans for the restaurant, which has been renamed New Tavern (pictured left), to neighbors and the Spruce Hill Community Association over the summer, even presenting a proposed menu.
The city shut down the bar, which then was under different ownership, for several weeks last fall for failure to pay back taxes.
October 23rd, 2014 at 5:43 pm
You are incorrect about the date of construction for 245 South 45th Street. 1935 might be as far back as real estate records go, but the row that this house was a part of was built 40 years earlier. According to the street by street inventory completed by the National Park Service for the West Philadelphia Streetcar Suburb Historic District in 1997, the row consisted originally of 11 houses and dates to about 1895. It’s actually a pretty sad loss for the historic fabric of the block. Not sure what condition the facade was in but if the developer tried hard enough, it most likely could have been saved.
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:59 pm
I believe Michael is 100% correct. My own house, a Victorian “Twin” that is c.1895, was listed in real estate records as being built in “1930.” Seriously??!!! I still have the original pre-electric gas lines for lighting ceiling fixtures and wall sconces and victorian decorative elements in the stained glass windows and fireplaces. What distresses me is the probability that the new construction will not be something attractive or well designed but some generic and ‘built as cheaply as possible’ (!) student housing like they’re doing in “Templetown.”
October 23rd, 2014 at 7:02 pm
Bottomfeeders, Michael, that’s who our neighborhood is attracting now, unfortunately. The outfit that tore down this building is one of them. Guess what the mailing address is for Dvora Properties: a mail drop in California. Yeah, sure, lots of legitimate businesses in Philadelphia use mail drops in Southern California. It’s clear what kind of a structure he aims to erect;just check out his website:http://www.glasberg-properties.com/#!properties/c1jif.
Cheap, ugly construction, with rents marketed “per bedroom”. If anyone was thinking that anything he will put up will even remotely justify the demolition of the house that was there and the ruin of the integrity of the block’s appearance, they should think again.
October 23rd, 2014 at 7:56 pm
What a shame! I’ve watched this gracious old house being torn down bit by bit until now it is just the foundation and a bit of the South wall. But to hear it is being replaced by a building? Yuck, how is that oddity going to look in a block of stately homes? The home owners on that block must be devastated to see this happening. Wonder which house will go next?
October 23rd, 2014 at 8:33 pm
To be fair to all involved, the house was absolutely squalid and was VACANT prior to being torn down. I live around the corner and walked by every day, and I was always concerned that the porch was going to topple over. I hope that the developer puts a bit more effort into the construction than they did in some of the “renovated” row homes that Playfair linked to (hey, a girl can dream)… Honestly, though, I would rather they don’t try and put up some faux-Victorian nonsense. A tasteful, clean, and affordable apartment building doesn’t have to pretend to be from another era to be cute and in-tune with the neighborhood.
There are only so many ways that this neighborhood will continue to be economically diverse. One of those ways is the construction of new, multi-unit buildings that can absorb some of the demand for student housing and thus take pressure off the rental supply of single-family homes.
I’m excited for New Tavern. I saw them putting in a new door the other day and was encouraged to see some attention paid to the building’s appearance.