Block 3

Borders: Lancaster Avenue,
39th Street, Spring Garden Street, 
38th Street. and Hamilton Street.

This vast, jumble of a block was super challenging to document. Four separate row house strips, mostly blur together, with the exception of the magnificent Hawthorne Hall.  Its connected19 properties scheme to bridge the block's tiny 5th side on Lancaster Avenue with two 45 degree curves. The recently renewed facades make it easy to imagine how grand it must have been when built at the end of the 19th century. The curved building on Hamilton was once a fashionable dance hall. Ten of the cornices sport elaborate ogee curves at the top which are echoed in the second story bays and the wonderfully curved double entries which span the separately deeded buildings.  

The block is extra long and until recently continued to have some of the lumberyard warehouses that dated to the 1800s. Replaced by several large student apartment buildings, it's easy to get lost in the various parts of the blocks, from the Parrish houses on Spring Garden, and some ill-conceived replacement rows built a half-story too tall.  

In looking closely at the block, my favorite discovery was a small door, hidden between the porches of 8 original row houses on Spring Garden Street.  With so little access to the rear yards, this hatch would be essential.