The Ajax Metal Company, Frankford Ave. and Allen Street, Fishtown, North Philly.
The Workshop of the World site has a fantastic page on the Ajax metal company, complete with an old timey photo. “One vestige of the recent past is the Ajax Metal Company complex at 1000-1052 Frankford Avenue. Consisting of four buildings constructed between 1893 and 1944, this complex, once devoted to the smelting and refining of metals…”
There is definitely activity going on in the building now — work on the roof, dumpsters around, etc. I was even able to take a peek inside because the garage doors were up and the place looked cleaned out.
I wonder if this is a part of “Penn treaty Village,” developer Michael Samschick’s plan to develop “ten city blocks, with residential and commercial uses, effectively linking Northern Liberties and Fishtown.” What ever it is, I hope it preserves the building’s facade on Allen Street, especially since it is one of the most prominent, graffiti-covered, abandoned buildings people see as they drive through Philly on I-95. You know, the kind that causes people to say “it’s such a shame.”
