Gayborhood Hotel Evacuated After Fire
A fire late Monday afternoon at the Parker Spruce Hotel in the Gayborhood forced the evacuation of at least 54 residents. The one-alarm fire was under control in 10 minutes, but still forced scores of residents to leave.
They were apparently taken away from the scene on SEPTA buses.
https://twitter.com/LynchChaz/status/524343670938828801
The Parker Spruce, which sits at the corner of 13th and Spruce streets, was originally designed as a “bachelor’s apartment” in 1925. Now it’s Center City’s cheapest and dingiest hotel. While with Philadelphia Weekly years ago, Philadelphia magazine’s Steve Volk spent a night in the place.
“It was a den of iniquity when I started on the force,” Michael Chitwood Jr. told Volk in that piece. “And a den of iniquity when I left in 2004.”
A SWAT team just entered the Parker Spruce. pic.twitter.com/5QTFgbxbsu
— Dan McQuade (@dhm) March 31, 2014
The Westbury, a bar in the Parker Spruce which originally sat in the Westbury Apartments at 15th and Spruce, moved a few blocks east into the Parker Spruce in 1988.
Residents displaced by the fire were taken to a shelter at CAPA by the Red Cross. Three cats were also displaced by the fire and were being cared for. No injuries were reported.