It's hard not to react positively to the volume of space and playfulness of the interior. On the other hand it shows such a hostile "face" to the public, i think it would practically invite vandalism.

Actually the exterior looks like a little Jim's Steaks w/o the deco. All it needs is a window where you can watch them add the Wiz

It does look angry. Like it's just daring me to come inside. I'm thinking you've got to have great wall art and sculpture to make that place work. .

Where is this?

Since Pal knew the area well enough to specify that the hustlers congregate to the right (not the left), Im assuming it's either in Center City (Phila), where I think Pal lives, or else he has rather colorful travel experiences!

I like some of the interior spaces that they carved out but it's not my favorite rendition of deconstructionism. I like the Tim Burton versions better. Pal, is the price in line for the square footage and the area?

To me it's very disjointed, and is not much of a domestic space.
I was feeling rather snarky, and came up with these "gut reactions" to the pictures. Meant to be funny, so please either smile or just move on......

Front Facade = prison work release halfway house

Main Level Interior=Airport Lobby, or badly done Contemporary Art Gallery.

Stairway = StairMaster 1.0

Kitchen = Utilitarian Commercial Kitchen...Ikea is too fancy

Sleeping Loft=Either "I don't care who sees and hears and knows ALL my business" exhibitionist , or Please don't really sleep here, it's never really dark and you have no privacy.

Outdoor Space=OK, my smoke break is over, back inside to my cubicle.

It's definitely my home town. I'd recognize the Philadelphia skyline anywhere. I'm not familiar with this house, though.

It's very institutional looking. I never care for big open spaces in a house. I don't even like the"open concept" that they are always jabbering about on HGTV. I like my house to give me a hug.

I was curious about the location of this house and it is actually located in one of Philadelphia's nicest neighborhoods. There is no public housing in this area. The houses to the left are fine old historic homes that are probably restored from top to bottom and would sell for a couple million. You can walk to fine restaurants and the best shopping from here.

If punks are hanging out here, they must have had to take the subway to get here and I'm sure the neighbors would be on the phone to the police in a heartbeat.

That doesn't make me like the house any more, but I'd give my eye teeth to own the house next to it. This area is totally charming and right next to Antique Row.

I don't mean to be argumentative with Pal. Sorry if I sound that way, but it does help to explain the price. Real estate costs in Philadelphia's fine neighborhoods are sky high and this house does offer parking which is a real bonus in the city.

Dedtired, I love the houses you speak about. I used to live in Bethlehem, PA, & made the occasional trip to Philly for the Flower Show or whatever. Gorgeous houses in that area...historic, classic & well-maintained. They just epitomize understated elegance! The house pictured doesn't exactly convey the same charm, does it?

I think the living room looks kind of attractive, thanks in part to the antiques & books! The kitchen is definitely a weak point, as Pal mentioned. It's like kitchens I've seen on aircraft carriers.

Golly.
Right in the middle of one of Philadelpha's historic neighborhoods.
I confess to being a fuddy-duddy about some things, and this is one of them.

While the experimental nature of the house is interesting, and I applaud the effort, putting it in that spot feels like a great big F-U to the whole neighborhood - maybe to the whole city. Insensitivity to neighborhood norms is a pet peeve of mine, and this is certainly a great big example.

Having said that, I still have a fantasy about turning an unused small warehouse into an inward-facing city house, with a roof terrace and a big interior courtyard with an openable glass roof onto which all the rooms open.

My DH says I can do that with my next husband's money...

Sorry ded.

I live a couple blocks away and also own a house right down the same street.

The houses next to this one are Section 8 rentals. You can't see the metal sign that says "No Loitering" on the fronts.
The house on the other side of the alley is a Dr's office, and next to those...more Section 8 housing.

If you owned the house next to it, you would be dealing with hearing people come out of the bar at 2:00 am most nights and picking up trash and empties off your stoop every morning.

I walk past this house every single day, I know exactly what the neighborhood is like. I looked at the house right across from this one, smaller by one story than those you see to it's left but of the same era: $350K.

The reason there is some illicit street life there is it's proximity to public transportation. But this is one of the streets that (male and trans) prostitutes (rather discretely actually) ply their trade.

To give you some historical perspective, Daniel Faulkner was shot by Abu Mumia Jamal just one block from this house. At the time this house was built the neighborhood was coming around but it was still a notorious area until the early 90s.

That's why the house is a fortress. But on the other hand it's all bluster, because the stone on the front is about 3/8" thick and the "rivets" are obviously stuck on with clear caulk.

You are correct ded in that this is a vibrant neighborhood with lots of great restaurants (a couple near this house), and an awful lot going for it. That's why I live here. But this is one of the few blocks that I would Not live on. The other thing is, that this is quintessential Philadelphia: you will be sitting outside of a nice restaurant only to be interrupted by someone tweaking on amphetamines or be interrupted by a bunch of ex-heroin moms cursing into their cell phones between their visits to the methadone clinic (also in this neighborhood) and Family Court (also nearby). But my Great Aunt lived here 50 years ago when it was a notorious slum, when her trust fund started to run out. She just didn't go out after dark. And there were a lot of other "respectable" people living here too, among the squalor. Philadelphians tend to live cheek by jowl no matter what their economic circumstances.

This house is house is currently the highest listing in the zipcode.

Everything in this part of town is right in the middle of a historic neighborhood, but some houses were too far gone to be restored. There are lots of fires here, too, so the ones here may have burnt.

There was much abandoned real estate in this area just a few years before they started to build this. So some blocks are much more intact than others.

But this house does kind of give an FU to the neighborhood.
Perhaps at the time, they felt that's what the neighborhood deserved. I remember at the time it was finished, one of the owners said something about trying to avoid the banality of the ubiquitous double parlor and fireplaces, which is kind of a big FU to the entire historic fabric of the city:). It's been on the market for years and it's gone Up in price, so we shall see.

I grew up at 20th and Delancey and until recently worked at 15th and Walnut. I've lived in the city long enough to remember well when Society Hill was a borderline slum and a spot where no one would venture if they did not have to go there.

I agree that Phila can change from block to block, but I don't think this block is as bad as you describe it. There are a number of vacant store fronts as there are all over the city and suburbs due to the downturn in the economy.

Officer Faulkner was murdered 30 years ago while making a traffic stop. He had the misfortune of running across of a couple of crazies who did not live in the neighborhood. I'm glad Mumia is rotting in prison and I'm sorry he is not on death row.

Well, those are the nicest looking and cleanest Section 8 housing I've ever seen.

I still lived outside Philadelphia when Officer Faulkner was shot and remember it well. Ded has those facts right. I am also in total agreement with her assessment of the murderer and I am sorry he was moved from a maximum-security prison to a medium-security prison.

It's not a dangerous area, its just not the nicest block, and it is surrounded by better. The nuisance factor is higher than most of the neighborhood. I live here Now, around the corner, and own a house two blocks further down and I am describing what happens at night, not during the daytime. My tenant used to do periodic twitters of how many hustlers were congregated across the street from my house when she got home at night. I don't think I am exaggerating, sorry.

It is going to be a very rare buyer who has $6M to spend that will want that house when there is so much more to offer for less money.

There is a fair amount of Section 8 in the neighborhood, this is Not the same as public housing, it's rental assistance. Most of them are very well maintained, and landlords like it because it is guaranteed income. The initial plan was to start them out as Section 8 and then convert them to conventional rentals but the landlords like the waiting list and not having to get tenants on their own.

I like it. I especially like the concrete floors and the catwalk but I've always been a sucker for those two elements in a home.

I don't like the furniture - almost trying a little too hard to be quirky. I would have loved to see some huge green plants in there (no silk for that space, please) like something in the pic below.

Pal, I am sure you are correct. I just don't want people to think that someone is asking $6.2 million for a weird house in a decaying urban area. Thanks for pointing out this strange place. It would make a great police station!

IMO buildings like this should only be used as airports, art galleries, or libraries. Anyhow places one doesn't have to stay too long. It's sooo not to human scale as to be uncomfortable. Very cold and extremely bad feng shui. Can't even imagine what the heating bill would be. The kitchen is the best of it's features - I don't mind industrial-looking kitchens especially in lofts. The last pic looks like a MCM gas station.

This building must have been designed by a psychotherapist moonlighting as an architect to drum up business. ;-)

Thanks for showing a different world, makes me appreciate mine even more!

Ded, Really: Me, live in a decaying neighborhood? Shhhhhhhhreeeeeeeeiiiiiiik :c)

But I wanted to put this house in Context, because there are only Three listings in the city proper that are higher: A $15M condo and a $10M condo right on Rittenhouse Square in the same building, and a $10M house that is in the Park almost out of the city. (There is also an $8M package of 31 houses right near CC).

The next highest property after the deconstructionist house is $1M less, but it works out the same per month because of the $36,000/yr HOA fees: but let's take a look.

The view out your windows and the lobby

Living Room and Kitchen

Gallery and Bedroom

Bath

Its only 4-1/2 blocks down the Street from the Deconstructionist house, but a different atmosphere altogether.

They made fun of the Glessner house, too, when it was new. "Too fortress-like!"; (all its windows opened onto an inner courtyard.)
So this new interpretation of that idea gets a thumbs-up from me, for the subtle nod to HHR, who was the greatest ever.
Casey

I like the concept behind this one, but the workmanship is not so great. There was a really Good example of the blank facade in the modernist vein also in Chicago like the Glessner house, but I can no longer find a picture.

If the Stonework didn't look so chintzy on this one at street level, I would like it a lot more. I feel like I could pick the studs off with my fingernail

It seems like a mash-up of art gallery, restaurant, and office space vs. a private home.