Bella Vista will be welcoming another new construction project of single-family homes in the near future. 1020 Catherine St. is currently a single-story building with a rounded corner stoop and glass block windows. Judging by aesthetics, the building seems as if it once could have served as a commercial property. An office space? A post office?

Interesting building

While we couldn’t tell you an extensive history of the building, we have determined that a public school once stood on this lot. After the school was torn down in the early-to-mid 20th century, the current building replaced it. According to a map we found on the Philadelphia Geohistory site, we determined that an Italian newspaper called this building home in the early 1960’s. In recent years, it’s been home/work studio until it was purchased by Perfect Properties Dev LLC back in December for $660K. As a result, this two-toned brick building with interesting lines and details will be demolished in the coming months.

The six homes planned for this site will front Warnock St. to the west and Alder St. to the east. There will be a curb cut on Catharine St., with a garage. Check out these renderings.

Frontage on Warnock St.

View from Catharine St.

The homes are designed by Philadelphia’s Harman Deutsch Architecture and each of the four-story homes will have garage parking via a shared center driveway. Renderings show a mixed materials facade with projecting bays on the upper stories. Each identical home has 3 bedrooms including the master suite on the fourth floor, and a roofdeck above that. The existing trees are kept in the current plans.

No doubt that this will be a successful project in an area that’s experiencing a ton of development at the moment. It’s just a shame that it will come at the expense of one of the more interesting looking buildings in the neighborhood.

–Lauren Summers