First Look: Inside Harp & Crown

Harp & Crown: Michael Schulson’s latest on Sansom Street | Image via Harp & Crown

Harp & Crown is close. It is, by any reasonable measure, already finished. There are some plants that need to arrive. A few walls that need paint. Some stuff that needs to go up on the walls. But the big (seriously big) new restaurant from Michael Schulson (the guy behind Double Knot, most notably) is more or less ready to go. They were cataloging and polishing the glassware when we showed up this morning. Trying to staff up a place that seats more than 150 people (just counting the top floor). And it is gorgeous.

No, seriously. We’ve got the pictures.

Harp & Crown (which was a Gap outlet most recently, but exists in the space that was once home to Stouffer’s, for those of you who have memories that go back that long)  has a strange, antique, almost nautical feel on the main floor (something to do with the barn-wood planks on the walls and the massive lights hung from the ceiling by ropes as big around as my wrist), and the not-quite-hidden downstairs bar is a perfectly realized and almost stunningly beautiful pub behind a closed door labeled “Elbow Lane” (named for the street on which the original Harp & Crown, one of the oldest bars in Philly, once existed). Also, there’s a two-lane bowling alley down there, too, which is awesome and can be rented out by groups.

Check out the snaps and make your plans. Harp & Crown is opening to the public next Tuesday, October 11.

The upstairs bar at Harp & Crown | Photos by Arthur Etchells

The downstairs Elbow Room Bar at Harp & Crown

The banquette from which to see and be seen.

Harp & Crown [f8b8z]