Demolition begins on historic apartment building damaged in fire
Demolition began Friday morning on a historic apartment building seriously damaged in a fire this year - and, city officials said, more of the building will be preserved than originally planned.
Demolition began Friday morning on a historic apartment building seriously damaged in a fire this year - and, city officials said, more of the building will be preserved than originally planned.
The four-story building at 2122 Locust St., known as the Charles F. Gummey House, was built in 1899 and features an imposing brick facade with bay windows and an elaborately carved stone door surround.
City officials said in a news release that residents of the building's Rittenhouse Square neighborhood had been upset by the initial demolition plan, which called for only the building's facade to be preserved.
The new plan will demolish the interior, but preserve the building's four exterior walls. Contractors will entirely remove the fourth floor, which was structurally damaged by the Jan. 19 blaze.
Thirty-three trucks and 120 firefighters responded to the four-alarm fire, which fire investigators have said was not intentionally set. No residents were hurt and the fire didn't spread to any other buildings.
City officials said it will be difficult to demolish the building in such a tight space - it sits at the corner of Locust Street and Van Pelt, a narrow side street - and that officials from the Department of Licenses and Inspections will be on hand periodically to monitor the project.
215-854-2961 @aubreyjwhelan