At the corner of Juniper and Chancellor Sts., a historic building has sat vacant for the past few years.

Lovely

Looking north

Most recently a divey gay bar/club called Key West, the former carriage house has a fascinating history, according to Philly Bricks. The building, constructed in the mid-1860’s, was converted to architectural offices for Walter Mellor, Arthur Meigs, and eventually George Howe, in the beginning of the 20th century. In the 1940’s, the building was converted from offices into Mitchell’s restaurant, which had a nice long run in the space. Key West had a long run as well, operating from the early eighties until just a couple of years ago.

Image from Philly Bricks

In 2009, the bank foreclosed on the property, and has been trying to unload it ever since. Originally listed for almost $900K, the price has come down considerably for this near-shell condition 4,500 sqft space that probably requires hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work to bring it up to par. From what we can tell, the property is under contract for a price of $350K. No word on who is buying the building or what they intend to do with it just yet, but we’ll definitely fill you in if we get some more info.

In the meantime, we’re glad to see that someone is trying to figure out a way to restore this handsome old building.