St. Lawrence’s Church in Philadelphia could be replaced by an eight-story apartment building

The Philadelphia Department of Licensing and Inspections on Wednesday issued a zoning permit for an eight-story multi-family residential building on the site of St. Laurentius Church, the historic Fishtown landmark that will be demolished.

According to plans submitted to the city, the owner, developer Humberto Fernandini of 1600 Berks LLC, intends to replace the brownstone church built in 1882 with a building of more than 45,000 square feet and 49 residential units at the corner of Berks and Memphis streets. . The building will include 17 bicycle parking spaces and automated parking on the ground floor for 15 vehicles.

» READ MORE: L&I Grants Demolition Permit for St. Lawrence Church in Fishtown

L&I issued a demolition permit for the church in September, agreeing with the owner’s engineers that the entire building – not just the twin spiers that define the Fishtown skyline – is structurally unstable and in danger of collapse . This decision follows years of efforts by some members of the community and the town to preserve the church and years of requests by the owner to demolish it.

The former Roman Catholic church was built with donations from 19th-century Polish immigrants. It will be demolished almost entirely by hand due to its proximity to townhouses and a school.

» READ MORE: St. Laurentius sold to a new developer

A former developer’s plans to preserve the church, which has a place on Philadelphia’s Register of Historic Places, and convert it into apartments have failed. When the current owner bought the site in January 2020, he said he would try to preserve the building and convert the interior into apartments or offices.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia closed the church in 2014 after engineers said the building was unsafe.

When the Philadelphia Historical Commission approved the demolition of the church’s deteriorating 150-foot towers last year, it demanded that the church’s facade be retained or rebuilt in any new development. That requirement remains, a commission spokesperson said in September after the city issued the full demolition permit.