We've gotten the occasional question about 1108 Federal St. over the last several months, resisting the urge until now to cover the project because it's not too exciting. In short, this property is a double-wide two-story home which was listed for sale for about a year and a half before someone bought it at the end of last summer. The buyer made the purchase with an intention to subdivide the property into two homes, and permits indicate that the newly separated units will each get a third-floor addition. PSCA didn't oppose the project and the ZBA gave their approval in November. So look for this thing to happen sometime soon.
As we said, the project isn't so exciting. So why do we bring it to your attention at last? We're covering the project in part because we feel like we should answer the handful of people who have reached out about it. But it also gives us an opportunity to point out the Federal Street Burial Ground, located immediately next door.
Did you know that there's a cemetery on the 1100 block of Federal Street, next door to the Jackson School? Well now you do. According to the historical marker next to the cemetery, it was founded in 1849 by Congregation Mikveh Israel, a synagogue founded in 1740 and still around today. The synagogue is not only known as a really old congregation, but it's also famous for its first cemetery, located in Center City at the corner of Darien & Spruce. Many important Jewish Philadelphians are buried here on Federal Street, as are several Civil War veterans.
Sure, this is an interesting historical landmark and it's not to often you'll encounter a cemetery (these days, at least) while walking around this section of South Philadelphia. We do wonder though, whether the adjacent cemetery will do anything to depress interest in the residential project that brought us here in the first place. Maybe we're just superstitious, but we wouldn't want to live next door to a graveyard. Would you?