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PHILAPHILIA: Empty Lot of the Week - Broad and Not-So-Noble
Bart Blatstein, who wants to turn the Inquirer Building into a hotel/casino, may be the only one with the titanium mega-nuts required to develop this forgotten North Broad plot. A new building or an entryway to an elevated Reading Viaduct park could be the answer.
PHILAPHILIA: Empty Lot of the Week — Broad and Not-So-Noble
A weekly series of foul-mouthed investigations into empty lots, dead-ass proposals and other design phenomena in Philadelphia. Find more stories like this at Philaphilia.blogspot.com.
Bounded by North Broad, Noble, Buttonwood Streets and the Lasher Building — This lot is pathetic. It hasn't been able to be completely covered in construction for at least 60 years. What's worse, it may NEVER get built on. It's located at the northeast corner of Broad and Noble streets, but there's nothing Noble about it. This lot sucks ass.
The first major construction to occur on this site was three industrial buildings: the Horn & Brannen Gas and Electric Fixtures Factory, the H. Belfield Machinery Factory, and the B. Hooley & Son Silk Works, which stood behind the other two. At this point in time, gigantic freight tracks ran across Broad and the area was even smellier and dirtier than it is today.
The Not-So-Noble lot in 1894 with freight tracks in the foreground. Image from PhillyHistory.org, a project of the Philadelphia Department of Public Records.
In 1898, the freight tracks were buried 676-style in one of the largest civic projects of the time. By then, Horn & Brannen had a new building, and it now sat right next to the Broad Street Bridge, which technically still exists.
Horn & Brannen's new bulding with the bridge still under construction. Yes, this is North Broad Street. Image by PhillyHistory.org, a project of the Philadelphia Department of Records.
By the 20th Century, Horn & Brannen was massively successful, creating light fixtures and lamps for much of the new construction in the city. The Belfield Factory next door rented space to the Brown Auto Top Company, well known in their own time for their foldaway windshields. By the end of the 1920s, the construction of the Elverson Building (Inquirer Building) and the Terminal Commerce Center eliminated the Broad Street Bridge from view. The Hooley & Son Silk Works was demolished to make room for the illustriously awesome Lasher Building.
Horn & Brannen and H. Belfield lasted at Broad and Noble all the way into the 1940s. The Horn & Brannen building was then demolished and replaced by an Esso gas station. The old Belfield Factory became an industrial laundry works. I wonder if the guy from Breaking Bad was cooking meth in the basement.
1955. Inquirer Building on the left, Terminal Commerce on the right, and the Not-So-Noble Lot with Esso gas station toward the middle right. Image from PhillyHistory.org, a project of the Philadelphia Department of Records.
The old Belfield Building was demolished in the early '60s, so old at that point that no one knew when it was built. The Esso station expanded a bit and became a full-service repair shop. Fast-forward 30 years: The old Esso station was converted to a fast-food pad site and looked pretty damn pathetic. It was demolished in the late '90s, giving birth to the full-size, 39,048-square-foot Not-So-Noble lot.
Excitement came in late 2007 when the Church of Latter-day Saints purchased the lot for $4 million. This was to be where the new Philadelphia Mormon Temple would go. However, it didn't work out. The land is too polluted for construction. ... I guess all that industrial usage over the centuries did some damage. That means that any developer with enough balls to build on the lot would have to do an environmental cleanup, destroying their profit margins. This may cause the Not-So-Noble lot to stay empty forever.
Bart Blatstein, however, does indeed have some titanium mega-nuts. He has been making news lately about his outlandish plan to turn the Inquirer Building into a hotel with a casino on the block behind. A pretty bold proposal. Since the area of North Broad between Callowhill and Spring Garden seems to be his turf, he needs to be the one that finally turns the Not-So-Noble lot into a building. Get on it, Barty!
Alternatively, the Reading Viaduct's little branch that touches Broad Street runs right into Broad and Noble. If a building isn't possible, maybe the lot could be turned into a park that serves as the Broad Street entrance to the inevitably awesome elevated park. That might serve the parcel better than any building. We'll see what happens ... hopefully this lot could get developed some time in the next 5,000 years.
I'd be surprised if Blatstein couldn't work his magic and get something going on this lot, if he really wanted to. He's already working on the state offices at Spring Garden, and he's got the Inquirer building across the street.— thegreengrass- How interesting. Horn & Brannen was among the companies that supplied fixtures (now off site in storage) to the Boyd Theatre in 1928, and to many other local movie theaters.— HowardBHaas
- who wrote this, whats your real name? are you new at Citypaper?
very interesting. lets all pray that theres no casino!— ryan08
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