Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-02-04

This is Tie first Of a series of articles
/ which nW appear in the Ercni,ig Pub.
Tic Ledger from time to time describing
! little nO0hs and corners hidden dIcGk
in the heart of the city: byrays qudini
with the -qudinfncss of an Old World
city and filled pih the romance of q
| long ago past.
There are three approaches to Ounce
street. any Of which is as like as not
to beguilc the explorer. or equally as
apt to slight the notice Of the merely
casual pedestrian.
None Of the approaches is particular,
obscure. One of them. indeed. leads
from SO csotcric a thorOughfare as Wal
nut street. only few rods west OF
Eleventh street.
Another leads from where the Hellenic
nuancc of Locust street takes it's deep
est shade. The third is due west from
Eleventh street from the dark and
naked alleyway that is called st.
James street. solemn title that is no
doubt justified elsewhere In its course.
Ounce street is noticed by the City
Directory to the following extent: "Fr.
say, its entity is four blocks long
but it reaches from these boundaries
an indefinite distance nOrthward and
southward into the hetcrodox sections of
town under the designation Of Marvinc
street.
Ounce streets claim to the dignity
of tradition begins and ends in the half
block between Walnut and Locust
streets. Its Guaintness mainly is re-
crudcsccnt. Yet not wholly so. For
mary long year William j. Beattie,
survivor Of the race of horseshoers,
held the fort for tradition at No. 21O.
Tradition Goes to Smash
The invaders crowded Mr.. Bcattic
close. the strongest of them fanked his
forge. This was the :. :. White
Dental Manufacturing Company that
extended its factory back from Twelfth
street and filed Ounce street with its
trucks. and once each day with its
employees and their lunchcons. In the
handful cf old houses that remained,
there were only Negroes. apathctic to.
ward the fact that tradition was going
down in ruins about them.
ANYWAY, was not tradition going
down elsewhere. also: Piecemcal the
old streets were going Or had gone.
Better streets. Second street. for
example. where the rarest Colonial
stairways had been hacked out to make
room for Il furniture business or
dclicatcsscn grocery.
TO the bclcagucrcd Mr.. Bcattic it
seemed his passive fight against sQualor
on the one hand and commerce on the
other, was hopeless enough. when sud-
denly hope arrived from the most un-
expected quaTtcr. The T-SQuarc
Club. an association of architects. got
possession of the building three doors
above and twisted It into II thing of
delightful oddity. Architects arc archi-
tccts-though they may demean them
selves occasionally and erect sky
scrnpers and warehOuses--and 1t might
well be supposed that thereafter the
rhythm of Mr.. Beattic's hammer was II
little louder and little slrer than for
many years past
AnachronisIn in Lighting
On the east side Of Ounce street,
to Mr.. Beattir. are three houses two
stories high, plus dormcr attics, that
have been there II full hundred years,
or since the beginning Of building on
Ounce street. Some fifteen months aso
these were taken over by DR.. Eugene
Petit. an antiquarian. lie spent II con
siderable sum in having them restored
to an approx mation Of their original
~ appearance. IIc opened up tircplnccs
that had been sealed fifty years, scoopcd
ont chimncyS that were chOkc,l with
Of SCOT and dust. scrapcd
off layers of homeopathic wall papers
and washed from the woodwork heavy
,nasscs of coglomrratc paints.
From the front wall in the middle
housc DR.. Petit hung n street ian.
tern Of wrought iron. bu, condrsccnded
tn the anachronism of II blue incandrS- !
cent lamp. Thus. "1'hc Sign of the
Blue Lantern, the name given to the |.
tea room opened in the downstairs floor
of the house In the center.
On the ground floors on each side
are an antique shop ana an office. but
this is to be learned only after fairly .
close scrutiny, The second floor DIR. ,
I'cttit fas fixed into apartments which |
he lets. Into the atttcs, however. he
has nlpsel 'aars of his PARTIES, hns
". 2ss " v VI t,.ls ~, N a i.s VA t & }Y