The mosaic tile and black on white lettering at first glance tricks you into thinking it’s a hip place to stop for coffee, but the rundown facade leaves you with the realization that it stands as a ghost from Philly’s past. The Rittenhouse Coffee Shop at 1904 Sansom St. is rumored anecdotally to have had the Velvet Underground play there when the area could have be described as bohemian and when the building actually served coffee. It later became a soul food restaurant, which was there until the early 90’s.

Not anymore

Sitting just around the corner from La Colombe, and nestled in the shadow of the also-abandoned Warwick, this gem of a building is part of a large plot right off the park that sits deteriorating. The building is a three-story Spanish Renaissance stucco rowhouse built in 1855, and has been noted as significant by architecture preservationists.

Looking west

The Warwick

The Warwick was in use up until 2003, and its detailed architecture sits rotting at 1906 Sansom St., with the empty Oliver H. Bair funeral home at next door. Here is a great collection of photos shot inside of the Warwick after it was deserted. The Warwick and OH Bair properties back up to a large empty lot on Walnut St. that once housed the Eric Rittenhouse Square Theatres, which was demolished after a 1994 fire. A conversation in the comments section here gives some interesting anecdotal history to the theater, and this is a photo of the theater in 1994.

The fate of these buildings and lots, along with the parking lot to the west on Sansom St., has had a turbulent recent past, with developers battling historical preservationists after the PPA bought the property and kicked off their project by giving the Warwick’s residents 30-days notice to vacate. They planned to create a large restaurant, movie theater and parking garage complex with retail stores lining Sansom Street. The project was originally approved by the Historical Commission, but neighborhood businesses, residents and organizations increasingly fought the plans. This project was seemingly halted due to the inability to come to an agreement and perhaps ultimately because of a zoning issue that prevented large-scale parking facilities to be constructed south of Chestnut St.

In 2004, Michael Singer offered to buy and restore the old properties. In 2008 a new plan was offered and again battled to height issues and traffic concerns. It’s currently owned by Walnut Rittenhouse Associates, mentioned in this August 2011 Plan Philly article in regard to tax delinquent properties with particularly large debts.

All three Sanson St. buildings, looking east

With all of the action around the Square lately, it seems inevitable that these buildings and lots will be developed at some point in the years to come. Hopefully, whichever developer ultimately takes the plunge will make an effort to retain the architecturally interesting existing buildings that already line Sansom St. and incorporate them into a larger development plan for the surrounding vacant lots.

–Lauren Summers