Northeast corner of Shackamaxon Street & Delaware Avenue (2007).
Edward Corner Marine Merchandize Warehouse, 1921
1100-1102 North Delaware Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19125
© Stuart Paul Dixon,
Workshop of the
World (Oliver Evans Press, 1990).
The Edward Corner Marine
Merchandize Warehouse stands as one of the last vestiges
of Fishtown's association with maritime-related
industries. Three stories high with a basement, the brick
building has four upper bays facing North Delaware Avenue
and six upper bays along Shackamaxon Street; it forms an
ell that extends north to Allen Street. A change in brick
color in the top ten courses may denote a reworking of
the original roof line. Portions of the ground
story have been stuccoed. The majority of the structure's
window bays exhibit steel industrial sash with hoppers. A
limestone quoin on the southwest corner facing Delaware
Avenue reads "1921 E. C.", presumably the date that
Edward Corner, erected the building. Another limestone
quoin that faces Shackamaxon Street has "1870" carved on
its surface, possibly the year that Corner first began
his business in Philadelphia. An elevator tower tops a
shaft in the northeast corner of the building.
Advertisements painted on the walls of Corner's Marine
Merchandize Warehouse are visual testimony to the
building's association with Fishtown's maritime
industries. These include such notices as "Rope and
Canvas," "Anchors and Chains," "Canvas Covers," "Boat
Supplies," "New and Used Rope," "Blocks and Falls,"
"Blasting Mats," and "We Buy Old Rope."
In 1920 and 1921 Edward Corner purchased a number of lots
that comprise the current property. However, he was in
business in Philadelphia as early as 1874.
1
Corner, in
partnership with a Mr. Keighley, operated a scrap iron
and steel shop at 1080 Beach Street in Fishtown,
employing five men beginning in 1882. This property was
torn down shortly before Corner bought the Delaware
Avenue sites; the demolition was a result of the
construction of Delaware Avenue. The Corner family owned
the warehouse on Delaware Avenue until 1960, when the
Scandinavian Ship Supply Company acquired it. The supply
company subsequently sold the property to Trans World
Furniture, Inc., which currently uses it as a furniture
warehouse.
1 Kensington;
A City Within A City, pp. 541-542.
Update May
2007 (by
Torben Jenk):
Survives in poor condition.
Plans were floated for a nine-story residential building
on the site.