A fitting end for the ugly beast of Front Street. She had been catching my eye since I was 17, new to much of the city and especially the large stretches of rotting decayed structures. At four crumbling stories, she was covered in graffiti, windowless, beautiful. The main stairwell (one of the few concrete built parts of the structure) had open balconies at each floor. For a very long time I wanted to spend time on them, overlooking the El and the rest of the neighborhood of Fishtown. It was 5 years later that the numerous vagrant inhabitants had stopped frequenting it, and myself and Mekr went in for the first time. We saved the upper floors for daylight, navigating the weird mish-mash of rooms that developed over the years of it's life. We eventually made our way into a large, one floor warehouse section. The middle portion of the roof had caved in, but in one large piece. We sat behind it, on a pile of 2x4s, getting high and watching the blank slideshow effect of the lights of the passing train filtering through the collapse roof as it sped by. Many more trips over time made the place grow a place in our hearts for it's torn up filthy charm (as well as it's ease of access).
The building began around 1850 as the John A. Dougherty Distillery, which added on more wings and buildings to meet their growing production. Dougherty met it's fate during the prohibition era, and shortly after Parke's Coffee took over the property, manufacturing coffees and spices on the site until 1969 when they where bought by Consolidated Foods. Sometime after that, Fruchter Industries begain retailing furniture and appliances on the site. I can't find any record on when that business began or finished operating on the site.
At 230am on July 10th, the call went out for a 2 alarm fire at the site. By 245, it was raised to 3 alarms, and then up to 4 alarms by 325. It was fully engulfed, flames shooting high into the dark sky, and burning embers falling like snow for blocks around. It was right after the call went out that I by chance passed by on the bus, and saw the trucks gearing up. Myself and Mekr went back up at sunrise to see the scene. The fire was under control, but sections where still burning. Most of the neighborhood was foggy with smoke as the fire department pumped multiple stationary and ladder houses onto the building. The el train was shut down for hours, forcing SEPTA to run shuttle bus services in place of the train. This during the morning rush hour caused delays all over the system.
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