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Pennsport native Cass Stuski remembers when she was a little girl in the 1930s and Engine 46 was thriving.
"My mother had a friend who was a fireman there. He used to walk down [to work] every night, even on a Sunday, and she would say, ‘There’s Mr. Gallagher,’" the 75-year-old from the 100 block of Federal Street recalled.
From 1895 to 1966, the city’s Engine 46 Fire Co. was housed in the brick building at the corner of Water, once known as Otesgo, and Reed streets. The engine company disbanded April 7, 1957. Nine years later on June 29, 1966, it was organized at its present-day location in the Northeast at Frankford and Linden avenues. In recent years, the former firehouse was Engine 46 Steakhouse.
In April, the restaurant closed after serving prime cuts of beef for more than a decade, leaving many wondering what is to become of the historic site located a block west from where Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia hopes to build a slots parlor.
The steakhouse listed its address as 10 Reed St., but, according to the Department of Records and Department of Licenses and Inspections, no such place exists. The city recognizes the structure through its original firehouse address, 1401 Water St.
A handwritten sign on the front door of the defunct eatery reads, "This restaurant is closed until further notice," but an orange liquor license application is slapped in a front window by the entrance. According to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, the license was conditionally transferred from SW Restaurants Inc. to Engine 46 Entertainment LLC March 31 after a Jan. 24 submission. Liquor Control Board records indicate the Officers of Record for SW Restaurant Inc. are Steven Sclan, Wendy Walsh and Eric Wagner. The buyer is listed as Sheri Selvanito. However, according to Liquor Control Board Press Secretary Dawn Petrosky, they have "no information on the new buyer."
The transfer was subject to receipt of the Certification of Completion. This was never executed by Selvanito and SW Restaurants Inc. and sent to the Liquor Control Board to finalize the transfer and issue the license to the new owner, Petrosky said. After the March 31 transfer, the board received a request from SW Restaurants Inc. to rescind. In response, the board sent a letter to both parties Aug. 10, requiring a signed statement by Sclan and Selvanito requesting the approval be rescinded in order to retract the transfer. As of Tuesday, the board had not received the signed request, Petrosky said. The license remains in safekeeping and expires Oct. 31.
New York-based Cedar-Riverview L.P., which owns the Engine 46 building according to city records, did not return calls by press time. No one the Review spoke to knew what the site’s future holds.
Riverfront Communities United chairperson and Pennsport native Rene Goodwin vaguely remembers Engine 46 when she was a child in the ’50s.
"For a very long time the building sat there vacant after the firehouse closed and before Engine 46 [Steakhouse]," Goodwin said.
An ad-hoc coalition formed in response to Foxwoods, Riverfront Communities United was never concerned the casino group would buy Engine 46. "We just never thought about it. Judging by the casino properties I’ve seen, they like to keep all their activities on one property," Goodwin said. She doesn’t think the site is in danger of becoming a garage or lot, either. "It’s not big enough for a parking garage," she said.
The activist’s predictions line up with the statement Foxwoods spokesperson Maureen Garrity of Tierney Communications issued: "At this time, we do not have any plans to purchase this property and to date we have not had any discussions regarding this."
Although Engine 46 is not a certified historic landmark on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places or Historical Society of Pennsylvania, it is still a treasured community building that bulges with memories. Fireman’s Hall Museum curator Harry McGee knows a lot about the edifice. "It’s one of the finer architectural buildings ever made as far as firehouses," he said.
The curator, along with Stuski and Goodwin, is more concerned with preserving the historic building than what it will become.
"I would like to see it restored, no matter what would be in there. I think it would be a shame to knock it down," Stuski said, adding she was sorry the original firehouse closed but thought the fire-themed restaurant was a great follow-up.
A board member of Pennsport Civic Association, Goodwin said the community definitely cares what becomes of the site.
"That is a significant structure because of its historic value and its location. The fact that it closed so suddenly like that – it’s odd that nobody knew what the story is. The thing that is so strange is nobody seems to know anything," Goodwin said. "We certainly would be very much interested in having input as much as that would be allowable in the change."
