The Drunk Tank. If you’ve ever consumed what others may consider to be too much alcohol and gotten mixed up one way or another with the police, you might have ended up there. In Philly, it’s known as The Roundhouse, located at 700 Race St.

The Roundhouse

This year, the building is listed on the Preservation Alliances Endangered Properties list. When the Philadelphia Police move their headquarters to another building on the list from years prior, the Provident Mutual building at 46th and Market, a move that is expected to take a few years, the Roundhouse will be left unoccupied.

Could be vacant in the coming years

It was constructed during the 1960s and regarded as a watershed moment in the redevelopment of Center City spearheaded by Ed Bacon and Richardson Dilworth (You’ve heard of Dilworth Plaza, now under construction? Remember, it was Occupied last year by protestors?). Before it was the Roundhouse, the lot was part of Franklin Square Garage, according to a 1942 Work Progress Administration map. Seen from above, the curved contour of the structure makes it look almost like a spaceship, or a water molecule. It is considered a landmark of the Philadelphia School and architects Geddes, Brecher, Qualls & Cunningham, who designed the building using an innovative precast, pre-stressed concrete system known as Schokbeton. Engineered by August Komendant as one of the first of its kind in the United States, the building was assembled from individual precast panels that fully integrate the building’s structural and mechanical systems.

A similarly shaped building that was rehabbed

When the building becomes vacant, who will occupy said space? Or will an occupant be found before the Police fully move out? Might the City keep the thing, or sell it off? The location affords a potentially nice view, with the historic Franklin Sqaure across the street. Of course, there is the whole Vine Street Expressway thing that takes away from its charm. The Preservation Alliance has recommended the building be included on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, fearing demolition may occur otherwise.

Franklin Square across the street

Seems like a slam-dunk condo conversion, if you ask us. Let’s just hope a developer with deep pockets agrees.

–Lou Mancinelli