Drexel Development Historic District

Row houses and small commercial buildings in West Philadelphia, largely built between 1870 and 1885 on speculative lots assembled by real estate broker Annesly R. Govett and banker Anthony J. Drexel. The district includes a large c. 1865 mixed residential and commercial building at the northeast corner of 40th and Baltimore, attributed to Samuel Sloan, with a tripartite facade, stuccoed walls and neo-grec shopfronts. Houses on Pine and Delancey show Italianate and Second Empire designs, including mansard roofs with slate shingles and bracketed dormers. The later Drexel rows, begun about 1883, have pressed-metal cornices and terra cotta panels. The nomination regards the group as a clear example of late nineteenth-century speculative housing, with architectural quality above the typical Philadelphia row and documented ownership transfers that show how builders and investors shared the risk of construction.