The northeast corner of 12th & Locust Streets sits in the center of a neighborhood teeming with restaurants, bars and apartment buildings. In several of its past lives, however, this location primarily served the interests of education. Bryn Mawr College tells us that a school was erected here between 1827 and 1828. The Locust Street Grammar School would operate here through the rest of the 19th Century. Hexamer & Locher’s Philadelphia Atlas shows the site of the school in 1858.
Philadelphia Architects and Buildings shows that the school continued to serve the children of its neighborhood right up to the turn of the century. The wood cut pictured here is dated to 1897.
Shortly thereafter, the Grammar School would close, leaving the house of learning temporarily vacant. The Philly History Blog reports that it was also around the turn of the century that the city began grappling with the challenge of keeping young citizens in school. Many were discouraged from pursuing their studies by the imperative of eventually joining the practical labor force. This prompted the 1906 founding of the Philadelphia Trades School. The Department of Records photo below shows the early model of vocational education shortly after its opening in 1907.
The school provided a basic education in math and English while also dedicating half of each day to trades such as carpentry, architectural drawing, electrical construction, pattern making and printing. The 1908 Department of Records photo below shows a hall of young students refining their architectural skills.
Another Department of Records photo, from 1912, shows a sign-making workshop.
The school’s exterior is shown here below in a Department of Records photo from 1916.
At some point in the middle of the century, the school would be closed. The neighborhood around it would descend into a collection of peep show revues and other less-than-savory nightlife spots. But with the revitalization of the Washington Park West neighborhood in the ‘70s and ‘80s, this corner would get a whole new life as host to a revolving line of restaurants. While we aren’t sure when the 7-story building was installed at the corner, a review by Craig Laban tells that the first floor was occupied by the Pamplona, a Dimitri Chimes restaurant, at one point in the 1990s. In 2001, Thai themed Sukhothai took over the space. Today, Knock Restaurant and Bar operates out of the corner commercial space.
