Real Estate Showdown: A Tale of Two Delancey Street Townhouses
Whether it’s located amid the early-American charm of Society Hill or in tony Fitler Square, a townhouse on Delancey Street is a prized possession. Here’s what $1.5 million will get you on the street.
A tale of two Delancey Street homes / 522 Delancey Street photographs by William Stark; 2210 Delancey Place photographs by Brockimaging
Whether it’s located amid the early-American charm of Society Hill or in tony Fitler Square, a townhouse on Delancey Street is a prized possession. But do you like your Delancey Street townhouses straight up or with a twist?
522 Delancey Street, Society Hill
Most who prize them go for specimens like this vintage-1800 Federal townhouse in Society Hill.
The home got a contemporary reset that added an open main floor and subtracted a stair hall but otherwise channels the dawn of the 19th century, at least in spirit.
(Though upstairs things are more au courant via a primary bedroom suite with a spa bath and a roof deck.)
2210 Delancey Place, Fitler Square
Then there are those who march to a different beat, like the buyer of this 19th-century townhouse near Delancey’s western end. It was built in 1860, but sometime during the Depression architect Harry Sternfeld turned it into an Art Deco–inspired masterpiece.
The home welcomes with an arched vestibule and a library whose fireplace has a 16th-century Italian mantel. Meanwhile, its upper-floor bedrooms and roof deck follow a simplified Moderne aesthetic.
But no matter what, a house on Delancey Street is always dignified, and so are these. Their owners just let their hair down a little.
Published as “A Federal Classic vs. an Art Deco Icon” in the August 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
