Prospect Park and Norwood development AND anniversary talk this Tuesday

 

Chester Pike had six toll booths between Chester and Darby. Toll Gate #3 pictured above stood at Lincoln Ave. and Chester Pike.

 

NOTE: The Chester Times covered building and development thru out Delaware Co. in the 1920''s in great detail. Below is an example from 1922

 

DEVELOPMENT OF NORWOOD AND PROSPECT PARK RAPID

Noticeable Activity in Real Estate Operations, Personal and Otherwise

Home development is going on at Norwood by rapid strides.  Early in the spring the Chester Realty Co. started four twin houses on lower East Winona Avenue.  The last of these are now about completed and sold.  Albert McVicker is the builder.  These were put on the market at $4,300 each and found ready for buyers.

Over on Delaware Avenue, M. Torrelli is having constructed six houses.  These are

semidetached, first story of asbestos shingles.  The lots are 25 by 130, nicely located. 

This is a speculative operation, and it is said the asking price is set at $4,600.

James Dyson has planned for the erection of six 7-room bungalows in this plot, the construction being of universal stucco and frame.  These are to be sold for $8,000.

At the intersection of Mohawk and Huron Avenues, Charles Wilbank is breaking ground for the erection of a residence. On upper Mohawk avenue, Theodore Taylor is undertaking an operation which includes the construction of four six-room houses.

On the west side of Norwood the amount of new construction, both completed and underway, is amazing.  The Staley’s of Collingdale, are developing this section.  On Leon Avenue, Milton Staley has completed 12 6-room semi-detached homes, the construction being almost equally divided between stucco and frame and stone and frame.  The prevailing selling price in this operation is $7,200 and almost all of the houses are sold and occupied by individual owners.

In the same locality, but on Urban Avenue, William Staley has an operation of 18 6-room semi-detached brick dwellings under construction. Some of these are sold.

John Bean and Joseph Calhoun, residents of Norwood, are also operating on a smaller scale on Leon Avenue.  Mr. Calhoun has just completed a seven-room stucco and shingle dwelling, while Mr. Bean’s building operations are pretty well advanced.

There is a brisk demand for rentals at Norwood, with absolutely nothing in the way of a vacant house to offer.  The real estate men assert they are simply deluged with rental inquiries.  Vacant property, susceptible to building operations, is showing a jumpy tendency.  Lots bought $360 in the spring are now being resold at $1000, giving the speculative holders a neat profit.

​            NO VACANCIES AT PROSPECT PARK - The real estate market at Prospect Park is hitting the high spots on the realty barometer.  Real estate agents report no vacancies whatsoever.  Rentals, therefore, when they do occur, are at prevailing high standard of rents. While there is considerable new building going on in all sections of the borough, this has had as yet no perceptible effect in reducing rentals in older structures. 

Not including permits granted for alterations or additions, there has been sixty permits taken out at Prospect Park already this season for home construction and it is conservatively estimated this figure will be further inflated to at least one hundred before the season closes.

Possibly the greater portion of this new construction is scattered about the section of Prospect Park generally referred to as Moore, along Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Thirteenth and Fourteenth avenues.  In these sections speculative building, on a large scale, is indeed active.  The construction runs the gamut from bungalow and colonial to semi-detached and detached, and the holding prices are from $5,500 to $8,000.

H.E. Carlisle and Charles Wilbank are operating along Eleventh Avenue.  While these operations should be classed under the speculative, yet it is being done with the individual buyer in mind.  All of the dwellings are attractive and should appeal to those seeking homes in a desirable community location. 

The residence of Dr. Sterner, of Norwood, located on the corner of Tenth Avenue and Amosland Road, is nearing completion.  Bert R. Parker, of Glenolden, is the contractor.  When completed and the grounds graded and laid out, the structure is destined to attract considerable attention.  The style of architecture is a sort of intermingling of Elizabethan and Queen Anne with Colonial. The material of the dwelling is of stone and frame.

On Ninth Avenue, Rev. Main of Philadelphia, is joining the ranks of up-builders. 

These are semi-detached, six-room and bath dwellings.