Kensington: Deconstructed Building Left Abandoned and Hazardous

This is all that remains of the old auto shop building on E. Letterly St.
This is all that remains of the old auto shop building on E. Letterly St.
Rubble is all that remains of the old auto shop building on E. Letterly Street.

Roofless and deconstructed, a grey building on the 1900 block of E. Letterly St. is nothing more than a pile of bricks, metal frames and shattered material.

What is shown on Google Maps of 1921 E. Letterly St. is what it used to look like before its deconstruction less than a month ago.  Leftover rubber from worn tires is part of the pile on the ground, reminding residents in the area the building used to be an auto shop.

Forty-five-year-old Maggie Attica, who lives on the same block, said her father used to be the owner of the building.

“The owner now is not taking care of it like he should,” Attica said about new owner, Morhaf Yousef. “We have called Licenses and Inspections, like 20 times.”

There has been no record found of violations to the property, according to the City of Philadelphia’s Licenses and Inspections registry.

The remains from its outer structure interfere with the sidewalk, forcing pedestrians to walk around or even on it and children on the block to ride their scooters out into the street.

“It’s a hazard and could fall on someone,” Attica said about the hanging frames.

As far as cleaning goes of the building, it looks like it won’t be happening any time soon.

The front of 1921 E. Letterly St. is a hazard to the residents.
The front of 1921 E. Letterly St. is a hazard to the residents.

“We plan on knocking down the [entire] property when the weather is nicer,” Yousef, who also owns the Quick Stop convenience store on the 2500 block of Frankford Ave., said. “We have structured the building to stand better, but people loot it for metal scraps.”

The building seems to be part of a common situation occurring in Kensington. One in every three properties in Kensington is vacant, broken or abandoned, as noted by Kensington Renewal, an organization which rehabilitates broken properties into quality residences.

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