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Despite being protected as a historic building, the former Oliver H. Bair funeral home at 1918-20 Sansom St. will be demolished for a multifamily high-rise.
Southern Land Co. applied for and was granted a hardship by the Historical Commission due to the building's failing brick structure, which both sides agreed would be financially untenable to preserve, according to PlanPhilly. The Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia offered no opposition to the teardown.
Initially, Southern also planned to demolish the neighboring historic buildings — Rittenhouse Coffee shop and the former Warwick Apartments — but after being met with opposition, the company plans to instead collaborate with Project HOME to renovate the buildings into affordable housing, seemingly to the chagrin of Southern CEO Timothy Downey.
“I’ve learned that I need to be a lot more careful what I promise in the future,” Downey told PlanPhilly. “I’m going to do that, I’m going to keep my promise. It’s just never-ended, how much more and more it’s costing to save [the Warwick Apartments].”
Critics of the decision to raze the funeral home pointed to this, and the Toll Brothers' fight for their Jewelers Row project, as examples of Philadelphia developers failing to respect the historic buildings of the city.
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