A couple of years ago, we wondered about a vacant commercial space at the corner of 3rd & Catharine. Most recently home to a software company, this corner may soon be home to a new coffee and crepe shop, the third coffee shop in a roughly two block radius. Despite some opposition from neighbors, members of the Queen Village Neighbors Association (QVNA) agreed to support a variance for the shop with a proviso limiting operating hours from 6am to 8pm Sunday through Thursday, and until 9pm on Friday and Saturday. Trees will also be planted alongside either corner of the café as an additional proviso.

The building

“There’s a couple of neighbors who aren’t real happy,” said Mike Hauptman, of the QVNA zoning committee. “But I think it’s because they don’t want any more commercial on the corner.”

A new coffee…

By now, you’ve probably heard about the tragic three-alarm fire that took place over the weekend at Jack B. Fabrics at 4th & Fitzwater which claimed the life of Captain Michael Goodwin of South Philadelphia’s Engine 27. Not only did the fire completely destroy the building that housed the fabric store, but it also caused significant damage to neighboring buildings which contained businesses and apartments. According to an email we received from Queen Village Neighbors Association, several of the apartment dwellers lacked insurance and lost many of their possessions.

In the past

Current view

Demolition ongoing

In response to this tragedy, the Directors of QVNA have created the Fabric Row Fire Relief Fund, which will be used to aid in the recovery of local…

Tucked into a quiet pocket of Queen Village, a little jewel of a park pays tribute to Philadelphia’s most famous tenor.  Mario Lanza Park, named to honor the star of stage and film, occupies a lot between Catherine and Queen, just west of 2nd Street. Given that Lanza was born in 1921, we can deduce that this was not always Mario Lanza Park.  In fact, according to Phila Place, this square became the Trinity Episcopal Church exactly a century before the singer’s birth.  The photo below, taken from Samuel L. Smedley’s 1862 Philadelphia Atlas, gives proof of the church’s location.

The Trinity Episcopal Church and Burial Ground in 1862

By the turn of the century, many of the congregants and family members of those interred at Trinity had departed Southwark, making way for a wave of immigrant laborers and artisans.  The cemetery became a popular place…

In Queen Village, the handheld civic group has arrived. Well, kind of. This month, members of the Queen Village Neighbors Association (QVNA) launched a free mobile app for Android and Apple phones.

Community members receive a monthly QVNA newsletter, delivered door to door. Therefore, one would imagine that many Queen Village residents know there’s a civic group in the neighborhood and that is does “stuff,” said Jeff Hornstein, QVNA president, but “they might not know exactly what that stuff is.”

Screen shots

The QVNA mobile app is designed to answer that question. It contains features like a calendar of neighborhood events and meetings, news and announcements about timely community and city issues, links to important City sites like 311 and the Office of Property Assessment, neighborhood photos, and means for neighbors to connect with one another. It was designed by QVNA…

In Queen Village, a number of neighbors are benefitting from the City’s Energy Works program.

When members of the Queen Village Neighbors Association (QVNA) learned the City was offering a program that cut the cost of energy audits in half, they jumped at the opportunity to arrange a program for their community. “You can pretty quickly make a decision about if you wanna improve your house and where to put your money,” said Ed Bell, chair of QVNA’s sustainability committee, also an architect.

Image from the Energy Audit Institute

Energy audits are conducted by engineers that analyze building conditions in order to produce a report that measures energy efficiency. They check for things like infiltration, a measurement of how leaky the windows or roof might be. A 2011 New York Times article reported that a study that analyzed 19,000 affordable housing units…

Earlier this week, developers presented to a very small crowd at Weccacoe Playground Building for the monthly QVNA zoning meeting. On the agenda was the redevelopment of 512-14 S. Front St., a long-vacant lot that’s been used for parking for years. The lot wraps around the building next door, extending around the corner, and covers two addresses on narrow Naudain Street.

The lot and the house next door

On Naudain

The proposal, going to the ZBA next week, is for two structures on Front Street, with a four condo building to the north and a narrower two condo building to the south. Also included in the project is a third building fronting Naudain Street, with four condo units and a drive aisle to create parking for the four Naudain units and a few of…