Historic Rittenhouse Square Funeral Home to Be Demolished
A former funeral home, which also has the distinction of being the last vacant lot on Rittenhouse Square, is going to be demolished to make room for a new luxury skyscraper. “Old building gets plowed for tony condos” is not necessarily a compelling story in Center City, however. What makes this story interesting is that the funeral home is on the National Register of Historic Places and the real estate firm building the skyscraper had to appeal to the city to get permission to level it.
The former funeral home represents prime real estate off Rittenhouse Square, and it will be demolished to make room for a skyscraper.
The long-closed Oliver H. Bair Funeral Home was built in 1907 by renowned architect John T. Windrim. It received recognition on the NRHP in 1982 and made Philadelphia’s Registry of Historic Places in 1995. The actual business moved to Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. The building was last occupied by a men’s clothing store.
Last Friday, the Historical Commission convened to discuss the fate of the funeral home, located at 1918-20 Sansom Street. They voted unanimously to grant the appeal of financial hardship brought by the Southern Land Company, which argued that the building was in such bad shape as to be beyond repair and could not be used in their plans for the site. The Commission had conducted its own investigation, led by Real Estate Strategies’ Margaret Sowell, and came to the same conclusion.
The demolition proposal by Southern Land Company was amended from the original version, which would have also knocked down the funeral home’s neighbors, the former Warwick Apartments and the Rittenhouse Coffee shop, both of which are also under historic protection. Widespread protests from preservationists squashed that plan, however, and now SLC will be incorporating those buildings into future affordable housing in conjunction with Project HOME.
According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, “The Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia did not oppose the hardship application for the remaining building.”
