Almost two months ago, we told you that St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church, located at 3rd & Reed, would soon be demolished. The church closed down a few months ago, and the lovely building which dates back over 120 years is indeed in the process of being torn down.

In the past

Last week

As you may recall, twelve town homes will soon rise in this location, replacing a House of God with houses of granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. We can certainly understand the market dynamics that lead to gorgeous buildings like this being torn down instead of being creatively reused by developers, but that doesn’t make the destruction of this building an easier pill to swallow.

Getting closer. It was (predictably) very dusty, despite the efforts of the demo crew

…

After stuffing our faces with cannoli at the Italian Market Festival, we found ourselves on the 1200 block of Carpenter St. and were surprised to see some new construction activity on the block. 1215 Carpenter St. was an overgrown vacant lot we’d never noticed, and now it’s framed out over two stories.

In the past

Current view

According to a zoning application from a few months ago, this will be a triplex that could rise as high as 60′ in the air. We’re guessing it will end up being four stories tall, as anything taller would require different framing for the first story, from what we understand. We were surprised to see construction here because though there are a couple of homes on the eastern end of this block, it’s not exactly a residential…

Over the winter, we noticed two huge holes in the ground on the 1400 block of Bainbridge St., and explained that they would eventually turn into two 61′ tall homes, each with nine parking spaces, a garage rooftop swimming pool, half-court basketball, and a couple of bowling alley lanes in the basement.

In December

We passed by this site the other day and discovered that framing was underway. As you may or may not be aware, such large buildings can’t be framed out of wood like most of the residential projects we see, but instead require the strength of steel. Check it out.

Steel is rising

Steel yourselves folks, these homes are gonna be mammoth.

We’ve probably written about the southwest corner of 10th & Carpenter half a dozen times in the last couple of years, often bearing the bad news that the latest business to call this little space home had closed its doors. From InFusion to Mazag Cafe to Filter Cafe to Bookz-n-Beans and then finally Brown Sugar Cafe, this space has surely borne the mark of the devil himself.

Last week, Down Dog Healing Cafe became the latest business to attempt to break the curse.

The corner

New signs

With recipes and a philosophy inspired by Ayurveda, this cafe will attempt to fill stomachs and spirits with natural and healing food and drink. And hopefully, they’ll have much more luck than those who came before them.

Tomorrow, the Graduate Hospital neighborhood will be abuzz with all sorts of activity, with volunteering opportunities in the morning, the dedication of a green space in the afternoon, and arts, food, drink, and entertainment into the evening. We’ll certainly be there, and you should too.

At 9am, early birds can go to Catharine Park at 22nd & Catharine to participate in Neighborhood Cleanup Day and help tidy up 22nd Street. By 10am, you’ll be able to enjoy coffee and snacks and meet your local police and firefighters at the park as SOSNA throws an Officer Appreciation Event. At noon, the SOSNA Arts Crawl will begin, with neighborhood businesses featuring works from community artists, and several businesses offering SOSNA-sponsored drinks. Participating businesses include Beauty Shop Cafe, Ultimo Coffee, SoWe, Sidecar,…

We were in Pennsport the other day on our way to get the old jalopy inspected and happened upon Karen Donnelly Park, a public green space we never knew existed. According to the South Philly Review, this little patch of public space at 230 Dickinson St. was originally established as a quiet resting place for area residents back in 1978. For years, it contained a few tables and chairs and several trees, but upkeep fell off and the area was leveled by the City in the 1990s.

In 2009

Around 2005, the City decided to sell the lot for redevelopment, but after a few years of pushback from neighbors the plan changed to refashion the space into a new and improved pocket park. The space, as you can see, has been totally rebuilt from the ground up with permanent tables…