Now that the plans for the corner of East Piccadilly and North Kent Street have been made public, PHW would like to voice our concern over the wholesale demolition of this corner. All of the buildings inside the historic district are noted as contributing structures. We are especially concerned with the fate of the corner building housing Chopped Corner Tacos, which many residents will remember as the Stonewall Tavern. Although outside the historic district, the building housing Another Chance Church could be similarly rated as representative of the early 20th century and retaining a high degree of architectural integrity.
The demolition hearing for this request will be held at the Board of Architectural Review meeting on Thursday, July 19, 4 PM at Rouss City Hall. If you are likewise concerned about the loss of this early 20th century corner, please attend and speak at the public hearing. There is a way to both honor the character of this neighborhood and meet the goals for workforce housing, and we encourage the City to fully explore them before resorting to demolition. As we have seen before at the Winchester Towers site, redevelopment can often be a long time in returning.
You may wish to refer to the 2011 Architectural Inventory for East Piccadilly and North Kent, and past images of 202 E. Piccadilly (Stonewall Tavern) (Central Garage) and 204-210 E. Piccadilly. (An older image of the North Kent properties could not be located at the time of this writing, but please feel free to share any images you have with us at phwinc.org@gmail.com.)