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Fri
Oct 5
2012

Collapsed House on Ellsworth Street Demoed, Next Steps Unclear

A couple of weeks ago, 2327 Ellsworth St., an occupied home in Point Breeze, collapsed. Remarkably and thankfully, no one was injured, even though a few people were inside when this occurred.

Image from Philadelphia Speaks

Within a few days, the remnants of the home were torn down by the City and according to several news reports from the day of the collapse, the owners of the property will be responsible for the demolition costs. The property owners, in a couple of interviews, seemed to believe that the home’s structural integrity was undermined by the home next door, which was recently constructed. We spoke with a couple of builders who all indicated that the fact that the home collapsed on the western side, opposite the new construction, means that the construction could not have been the problem.

Demolition complete

In the NBC report about the building’s collapse, the owner made a comment that was consistent with what the builders we spoke to suggested- that the structure was probably damaged when the building immediately to the west was demolished years ago. Who owns the vacant lot next door, you may ask? Why, the City of Philadelphia, of course! Since at least 1979. That’s right, the City owns 2329 and 2331 Ellsworth St., which have been vacant for many years.

Hole next to the house that remains. Has hopefully been filled in by now

Kind of makes us wonder whether the collapsed home would still be standing had new homes been built next door over the last decade, either by the City or by another party that was somehow able to purchase the lots. Ah, no, but that’s crazy talk. Why would the City want to redevelop or sell off any of its 400 plus vacant lots in Point Breeze? If you ask us, they could probably benefit from owning a few dozen more…

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COMMENTS
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Posted in Point Breeze | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments
  • _dan

    Crazy, must have been quite scary for the people in the house.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=682299931 Christopher Sawyer

    It’s tragic, and it’s criminal that the City would even think of dumping the demo costs on the homeowners. I wish Community Legal Services could help them and if they can’t get legal assistance, I wonder if Habitat might be able to jump in?

  • Dinsdale

    Why do the 3rd floor ceiling joists run from front to back while the 2nd floor joists run side to side? Don’t Philly rowhouse joists always run from side-wall to side-wall? Maybe the 3rd floor was an addition to the original structure. If the joists on the 3rd floor had run side to side then that would have added some structural rigidity to the brick wall, possibly preventing the collapse.

  • DInsdale

    Don’t worry. The costs will be covered by their homeowners policy.

  • http://twitter.com/F1rstCitizen First Citizen

    Wait so taxpayers should pick up the tab for what the owners’ homeowners insurance should cover? It’s a tragedy for sure, but not the city’s responsibility to bear the costs of faulty private property. The city has its hands in too many things it shouldn’t be involved with in the first place.

  • http://twitter.com/F1rstCitizen First Citizen

    What you’re seeing is the dropped framing for the plaster ceiling, which runs perpendicular to the roof joists. The roof joists do run side to side but they’re hard to see in the picture.

  • http://twitter.com/F1rstCitizen First Citizen

    The city owned vacant lots next door were probably acquired by the city when the three houses there collapsed/were demolished and they had so little value the city took ownership. That block is missing a lot of houses which suggests most of them have structural deficiencies.

    There was an existing building next door to the collapsed one which was demolished and the new house actually is built on top of the existing rubble foundation. That developer avoided excavation and it would be hard to pin any blame on them as a result. On the other hand, I’d be concerned if my new houses was built on an old foundation when every house around it has collapsed and/or needed to be demolished…

  • personman

    Dinsdale may not be wrong. Yes, it is hard to tell from the picture, and sure maybe it is the roof joists, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t. When we bought our house in this neighborhood, the second floor in the back of the house was sagging because the joists were, in fact, going the wrong way. We had to tear open the ceiling and literally jack the floor up from the basement to the first floor to the second and rebuild the joists. Whether or not that is what happened, I don’t know, but like I said, it wouldn’t surprise me.

  • http://twitter.com/F1rstCitizen First Citizen

    Well in this case the joists do run side to side. The problem is the side wall itself collapsed, bringing down everything that was bearing on it.

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