Architecture Wednesday: Tacony Saving Fund Safe Deposit & Title Company

This is the Tacony Saving Fund Safe Deposit & Title Company building at the corner of Tulip St and Longshore Ave in Philadelphia. Designed in a monumental style intended to instill confidence and trust in their customers, the building housed the trust on the first floor, a community library on the second, and a lodge room for Tacony Lodge No. 600 on the third.

Today the Tacony building is one of Philadelphia’s finest examples of adaptive reuse, offering the most discerning buyer a glorious melding of old and new, industrial and cozy, vintage and modern. Built in 1893, this handsome red brick building boasts prominent, full-story Sullivanesqe arched windows spanning both facades with a modern entrance at the west end.

Once inside, find everything you’d expect from such a commanding structure: sun-soaked open spaces, soaring ceilings, columns, steel beams, exposed ductwork and burnished metal. The patinaed hardwood floors, tin ceilings and vault honor the building’s previous lives and history and a freight elevator is a nod to turn-of-the-century industrial design.

At ground level is a spacious open floorplan filled with incredible architectural detail, yet uniquely suited to comfortable everyday living it features defined, cozy spaces while remaining open and loft-like. Here, a piano and music area take center stage against a backdrop of colorful art and plants. A gas fireplace in the corner reading nook anchors a cozy section of the room and provides a reprieve from the chill of crisp winter evenings.

The kitchen is practical and functional with painted black flooring, open shelving, and a door to the beautiful side garden. The industrial shelving, paper lantern light fixtures, wide transom windows, and corner fireplace meld seamlessly into the design of the room. A cheerful light-filled bedroom with a gold tin ceiling, an office, and a full bath fill out the main floor. Downstairs is a full basement with laundry, a workshop with elevator access.

On the second floor is a creative’s dream. Statement arched windows line the south wall, flooding the floor with natural light. Formerly the Jack Costello Boxing Club, this space holds a rich history in the neighborhood. A wide-open blank slate with columns and soaring ceilings allow for endless uses: a workshop, painting or ceramics studio, and gym are just a few ideas. A guest suite with a full kitchen and half bath are open to allow light to bounce throughout the space.

The third floor is currently home to a full-service recording studio carefully designed around the principles of room acoustics. A state-of-the-art control room and monitoring station, soundproof isolation booth, and a spectacular live room with exposed ductwork and vaulted tongue and groove ceilings create a wow factor. Also included on the floor is a traveling musician’s guest suite complete with a kitchenette, sunny bedroom, an office, and a renovated full bath.

Nestled in the Tacony a historic neighborhood along the Delaware River you’ll find a vibrant community with a rich history, industrial heritage, and a strong sense of civic pride. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016, the Tacony Disston District is distinguished by its large park and trail system and train access to New York and Philadelphia. In a neighborhood rife with historic architecture, this adaptive reuse is an architectural marvel. A truly exceptional property with charm and thoughtful renovations in a soul-filled building.

And for just $1M USD.

As always click to emBIGGERzate …

Dwell

Meme Dump ... Happy Pride!

Before Stonewall There Was Compton's Cafeteria

In the LGBT+ community, Stonewall is often seen as the turning point in the fight for our rights but there was another riot, on the other coast, about three years earlier. It was known as the Compton's Cafeteria Riot and it occurred in the summer of 1966 in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco.

George Compton owned several cafeterias in San Francisco from the 40s through the 70s, but it was the Compton’s in the Tenderloin where many transgendered people would gather. In those days—the 40s, 50s, and 60s—transgendered people were unwelcome in gay bars, so they began to meet at other places throughout the city and since Compton’s was open 24-hours, it made the perfect meeting spot.

At that time, transgendered people were commonly referred to by themselves, other gays, and non-gays as Hair Fairies, and because cross-dressing was illegal at the time, police could use the mere presence of transgender people in a bar as a pretext for making a raid and closing the bar down. However, like Stonewall, this hot summer night in 1966 would prove to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

That night, police were called to Compton’s because, allegedly, a group of transgendered people were being especially boisterous. The management felt they needed to go and called the police. One officer, accustomed to manhandling transgendered people, attempted to arrest a transwoman and she was not having it; she threw her coffee in the officer's face and it was on. Dishes and food were thrown; furniture was upended. The large plate glass window that fronted Taylor Street was shattered. As police called for reinforcements, the riot spilled out into the street where a newsstand was set on fire and a police car had all its windows broken. Many were arrested that night, but like Stonewall, it wasn't over.

The next evening more transgendered people showed up at Compton’s, along with the L, G, and B’s in the gay community. Militant hustlers and street queens, members of Vanguard, the first known gay youth organization in the United States, which had been organized with the help of radical ministers at Glide Memorial Church, came along as well. A lesbian group of street people, the Street Orphans, also went to Compton’s that night.

It was a more civil demonstration that second night, with the community simply picketing the cafeteria whose new policy was not to allow transgendered people service. And, as happens, when it became apparent that their quiet march was getting them nowhere, the group, before disbanding, shattered the newly installed plate-glass windows of the cafeteria again.

The Compton Cafeteria riots were a big deal in San Francisco in the 60s but have been largely forgotten over these last forty years. It wasn't until a documentary, Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria, that the story was reborn, and retold. On June 22, 2006, a memorial plaque was placed in the sidewalk in front of the cafeteria site, which is now the Oshun Center, a free clinic for women.

It may not have been as big as Stonewall, but it was just as important, and may have lit that fuse in New York City three years later.

The Funny Papers

Gary Huck, Dave Whamond, Mike Smith, Bill Bramhall, Nick Anderson, Rick McKee, Chris Britt, Max Espinoza, Pedro X Molina, Scott Stantis, Steve Sack, Clay Bennett, Daniel Boris, Michael de Adder, Lalo Alcaraz