The Beautiful Destruction of Market East

Snellenburg’s in 1915 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Library of Congress)

A few years ago I bought a $10 photograph at Mostly Books. My friend told me it was too much, but I didn’t bother to haggle and now it’s on my wall. It’s of Snellenburg’s at 11th and Market. I’m not sure where it’s from, but there’s a card glued to it describing the old department store. The card says the photo is courtesy the Community College of Philadelphia. I’ve assumed it was in the lobby of a since-closed building, but that’s just a guess.

Of course, I never saw that Snellenburg’s in real life. The store closed in 1962. By the time I was a kid, it had been altered and was unrecognizable to the building today. I live nearby, and I occasionally stopped by some of the stores in the building (on the way back from The Gallery). It was your usual Center City strip: City Blue, USA Boutique, Hallmark, an eyeglasses store, a cell phone shop, a dollar store, a scrub shop, a store called “FUNKY” I never set foot in.

Now those stores are gone. Over the past few months, the building has been demolished for the East Market development, a fancy new project that’s one of the many changes coming to the neighborhood.

The demolition started from the back — the Ludlow Street side — and moved forward. It seemed like “The Destructors.” It has been beautiful. I’ve taken photos with my phone every time I pass the demolition site for the past few months. Here’s a collection of them.

Market East Demolition

Your Eyes Are Important!

There was at least a month where you could walk by the site and see storefronts with absolutely nothing behind them.

Ice Age Jewelry

This was always my favorite store sign on this block. Is this jewelry for the New Age or for the previous Ice Age? Or is this store predicting a new Ice Age? Now that it's gone, I'll never unravel this mystery.

Gallo Clothing

Another eerie storefront.

Totally Kids

Another look inside the demolition.

Hallmark

Boo!

The Walkway

You can still walk on the south side of Market Street, as there's a covered walkway in front of the construction site. This was the view for a while.

Vision Center

Eventually, the facade began to come down.

Vision Center/PSFS Building

As construction continued, you started to be able to see buildings from the street you couldn't really see before.

City Hall Peeks Through

See, you could see City Hall from 11th Street! Normally you'd have to, um, go farther up 11th Street to see it. Okay, maybe it's not that exciting.

Demolition, From the Back

It became a game for me walking by. What would be changed this day? Eventually the building was almost completely demolished.

A Skeleton of a Building

Eventually, it started to disappear completely.

Almost Gone

It took a while, but after a few months the building was almost completely gone.

12th and Market

There used to be a cell phone store in this spot.

O'Neill Steel

The Steel Beam says O'Neill Steel Co., Inc. There's an O'Neal Steel — what a great name! — but I wasn't able to figure out what happened to O'Neill Steel Co.

Snellenburg's

As demolition continued, you could start to see the old Snellenburg's facade that had been covered over years before.

Almost Gone

The part closest to the center of the 1100 block stayed up the longest.

Reading Terminal in the Background

You generally only get a glimpse of the old Reading Terminal (and current Convention Center entrance). Seeing the whole building from more of a distance really gives you more of a sense of how cool it is.

Goodbye, Building

This was the final part of the building left. It's gone now.

Construction Site

Now, it's just a construction site. Bring on East Market!