Catalina Plus Three
The Frozen Row
On a stretch of Front Street that has seen a half dozen (and counting) demolitions since 2016, a group of storefronts manage to hang on — for now.
Behind the rusted scissor gates of the first property, antiquated hardware store goods either languish on dusty shelving or hopelessly dangle from pegboard hooks. Its adjoining storefront displays an assortment of sun-bleached Catholic literature, china, and other miscellaneous housewares. The following storefront is obscured by boards, but next to it is a fourth one with old suitcases piled atop one another. Together they form a scene of retail purgatory; these items have been here since I was in grade school. With each passing decade I can’t help but feel like I am witnessing the incubation of a museum exhibit.
In reality, Philadelphia has always been a living museum exhibit. While some “artifacts” are identifiable in plain sight, others blend into the environment and can be uncovered with a slightly more careful eye. For example, if you look down into the walkway of the suitcase-riddled storefront, you will find the name of a long-gone merchant inscribed into the floor’s red and white tiling pattern — Strumpf’s.
Over a century ago, a man named Samuel Strumpf operated his shoe store from this location. He was a member of the Kensington Business Men’s Association and served as the second vice president of the Philadelphia Shoe Retailers’ Association. His brother David, also a fellow shoe retailer, ran a store on the next block. An occasionally down-on-his-luck businessman, Samuel had been adjudged involuntarily bankrupt in 1904 and his inventory was subsequently auctioned off. Misfortune struck again in January 1922 when a store fire destroyed a large quantity of shoes and inflicted $500 ($7700 in 2021 dollars) worth of damage to the building. By the year’s end, his store inventory would be up for auction a second time.
Like its neighbors to the left, the Strumfp’s building began its life as a three story structure; in 1937, the top two floors were removed. A number of different tenants occupied the structure after the shoe store, including a window cleaning company, an arcade, and a luncheonette.
Alfred Caltabiano opened his hardware store, the Catalina Company (also know as Fred Catalina), at 2214 N. Front Street in 1961. Over the next two decades he would acquire its three neighboring buildings, as well as the two vacant lots containing 2222 and 2224 N. Front Street. Although Alfred died in 1993, ownership of the properties remained in the family. The lots of 2222 and 2224 N. Front Street were sold in 2006.
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*Update* Demolition permits were issued in June 2021 for the remaining properties. As of July 2021, demolition is underway.
