Turchi Plans Dilworth Condos on Washington Square

"It's not a big project, but it's an exciting one in a superb location," John Turchi tells GlobeSt.com. His firm, locally based Turchi Properties, is the developer. Though he declined to estimate a construction cost, he says he anticipates that units will command about $900 per sf., which would put each unit well into $1-million-plus territory. "We've already had interest," he adds.

Turchi commissioned Robert Venturi, a native Philadelphian, as architect. Among the projects on Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates' roster are Seattle Art Museum, the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery in London, San Diego's Museum of Contemporary Art and Mielparque Nikko Kirifuri Resort in Japan, among other notable buildings worldwide. Venturi is credited with helping to establish postmodernism and for his mix of classical architectural references with modern forms.

The Dilworth plan follows that philosophy. Necessarily narrow, it has a sleek facade, faced with limestone and brownstone, which complements Athenaeum, Philadelphia's first brownstone-faced building. Built in 1845, it is a National Historic Landmark.

While the Dilworth parcel measures 50 feet by 180 feet, Turchi says, "the new building will be just 110 feet wide in order to preserve light in the Athenaeum's great stair and rear garden. We wanted a simple, clean, classic structure that complements Washington Square's evolving architectural history."

The building will replace a brick replica of a 19th-century Chester County-style farmhouse, which was designed for former Mayor Richardson Dilworth in 1957 and is set back on the site. Dilworth Condominium aligns, street-side, with its neighboring buildings.

In discussing the timeframe for construction, Turchi emphasizes "optimistically" when he says groundbreaking will take place in six months. Completion, he says, "will be 18 months after groundbreaking."