Jumping off from a post in a zoning thread, where I wrote:

"Now if only there was some way to get rid of the blighted north side of South in the 1900 & 2000 blocks. I'm thinking especially of the nearly block long Philadelphia Management apartment building in the 2000 block that, save for a main entrance in the middle, turns its arse to face South (well at least the parking is in the rear), featuring exit-only doors with no knobs on the outside."

Here are a few photos of exhibit A:

__________________
Cheers,
Jayfar
--
“I am indeed well aware of the history of Conventional (sic) Hall, both globally and locally, and can assure you that we are carefully exploring avenues for its future.” -- Penn President Amy Gutmann 5 days before demolition began.

I walk by those apartments every day and they always reminded me of a howard johnson's. They should take a note from all those great places on lombard with the ironwork gates--love those.

Looks to me more like a minimum-security prison. Blight, indeed. Where's NTI when you need it? (facetious)

Walking by those places immediately gives you a "where the f- am I? I shouldn't be walking here alone" moment. It's a shame since for their era, they are rather interesting buildings otherwise.

I find the boring iron bars to be the most offensive. They cover opaque windows that do not appear to open. It's like a prision. In the scheme of things, with current real estate values, a fix shouldn't be an extreme investment. It could be as effective without a less negative street impact. Glassblock would seem to be an inexpensive alternative.

It's interesting that they would have invested to build that block long development back when the Graduate Hospital area seemed to need such ramparts, but didn't think to invest a little in making the neighborhood more attractive to potential residents by using less brutual alternatives.

I see a similiar but converse thing going on in the lower Northeast as new residents move in from less safe parts of the city, they put bars on their windows. It's really disconcerting. It makes the neighborhood look like a warzone but really is pointless since there are cordless tools right now that will rip through that stuff lickity split.

I wonder how we as a city we tame this stuff.

__________________
"Things are starting to get interesting right about now"

Scoats - publician, writer, artist.

All comments made by me on his board are given freely and probably worth what you paid for them.

Yeah, I walk by those places daily. IMHO, although not unattractive those places don't fit in the Philadelphia colonial look at all. They probably come from a time when anything South of that wall was pretty sketchy. So at the time street level entrances would just be more cause for crime.

i completely agree. i live relatively close to these apartments and there is an insane amount of rehabbing going on in the neighborhood. one of the most recent additions was a 3-level red brick home that was brought in on trailers one floor at a time and assembled in less than 2 days. it was really something to see. and there's a particularly hideous pair of condos with green facade that have just gone up as well. i'm grateful for the neighborhood rejuvenation, but some mornings i'd rather see a boarded up entrance and broken windows than those green condos.

I agree that these are not the most attractive structures, but they're lovely compared to most of the boarded up graffiti covered store fronts on South on the east end (my end) of GH. I swear, I will find an excuse to frequent any new place that opens on this end. I want so much for it to be mostly charming with just a touch of grit, rather than the other way around. I'm so happy to hear some new construction on the 1600 block of South will include 3 new store fronts. If you want to open a business, please do so. I will buy something, really I will...maybe several things.

Heh, I lived in one of those very apartments several years ago.

lilmisstrouble...

I think you are talking about 20th between Catherine and Fitz right? Sure the prefab was interesting to watch but that is really an unattractive building...ON THE CONTRAY...the two set back new buildings closer to Catherine, the green ones...they are really wonderful...it is nice to see some original thought, creativity and design sense being put into new construction...its funny we had such a different reaction...

So, can you explain to us what they're like on the inside? I've wondered. And did you ever use the exit-only door? As a security measure, they're a bit compromised, anyway, since the hinges seem to be on the outside where someone could just remove them and go in . . . but maybe South Street has enough traffic these days that you wouldn't be able to pull that off.