It’s fair to say that most Philadelphians walking along the 1000 block of Chestnut Street are totally unaware of the presence of a Midcentury Modern architectural gem on the north side of the block. In the middle of the 20th century, the Mercantile Library at 1021 Chestnut St. served residents, commuters, and visitors in this pocket of the city, and it was one of the coolest looking buildings around.
The Mercantile Library was heralded for its minimalist allure when it opened in the early 1950s. As was the case with many buildings constructed at that time, the library contained asbestos. Like, a lot of asbestos. By 1989, the cash strapped Free Library made the decision that addressing the asbestos in the building would be prohibitively expensive, resulting in the closure of the branch. Ever since then, this building has been sitting vacant and boarded up. A mural was added to the front in 2019 and certainly brightens things up, but the current situation pales in comparison to the building’s historic appearance.
The City sold the property to a developer in 2006, but they couldn’t do anything with it. An architecture firm bought the building in 2011, which coincided with our first story about the property. The property came back on the market in 2014, with the listing suggesting an overbuild atop the former library, with the property eventually trading in 2016. Alas, no overbuild occurred, and the property has remained vacant over the last number of years.
A recent application to the Philadelphia Historical Commission indicates that we might finally see something happen here at long last, but we can’t say we’re excited about the prospect. You may recall, we told you last year that the Philadelphia Parking Authority was looking to redevelop the Autopark at Jefferson, which sits on the corner of 10th & Ludlow and wraps around to include some frontage on Chestnut Street, next to the former Mercantile Library. It now appears that the owners of 1021 Chestnut St. will partner with the PPA on this project. The current proposal would demolish the library and the garage and build a new, larger garage on a consolidated parcel. This garage would include ground-floor retail and would reconstruct the front facade to replicate the historic library. The new facade at 1021 Chestnut St. would look very similar to the concept pondered back in 2014.
We have to say, this is a pretty disappointing outcome for this site. Don’t get us wrong, we’ll be thrilled to see this long vacant property brought back to life, sans asbestos. And an overbuild always made plenty of sense, given the location. Three retail spaces on Chestnut, including one in a new space built to look like the old Mercantile Library sounds great. And combining the former library into the larger PPA parcel is actually really smart!
But… a parking lot replacing a parking lot? When we previously covered the PPA’s RFP to redevelop this site last year, we noted the property had the zoning capacity to pack in a lot of building above a new parking lot. But from renderings from JKRP Architects, we can see that the project calls for a seven-story parking garage with no residential component whatsoever. This property has the potential to add some real density to this area that’s crying out for growth and instead just opts for more parking. That is indeed a bummer, and we can only hope that the new garage is constructed in such a way that it could potentially support an overbuild sometime in the future.
Somewhat hilariously, this isn’t the first time the Mercantile Library has been replaced with a parking garage. Prior to opening at the Chestnut Street location in 1953, the Mercantile Library had been housed just around the corner at 10th & Ludlow. The Frank Furness designed building was eventually demolished to make room for the parking garage that will soon meet the wrecking ball itself. Perhaps there’s something in the water on this block that makes libraries turn into parking garages. Hopefully you can forgive us for wishing for apartments, instead.