The thin five story building on the corner of Race & N. Orianna Streets is only 16 feet wide and 55 feet tall. Built ca. 1880 it has housed numerous industrial tenants over the years.
The building’s first major occupant, C. C. Kempton & Son (1st photo), started in 1897 and manufactured lasts–cast iron forms in the shape of a human foot used to manufacture shoes. C.C. Kempton & Son were very successful and outgrew the building by 1913. They moved to a new modern factory at Vine & Randolph Streets (2nd photo), which was eventually demolished to make way for the ramp from the Ben Franklin Bridge to the Vine St Expressway.
In 1916, Sobo Cigar Company moved into the building from its former location, a converted row house at 411 Arch St. The company completely renovated the building, converting it for cigar-making purposes. The company outgrew 320 Arch and moved to a larger building in 1921.
In 1921, Nathaniel Saxe purchased the building for $14,500 and completed another major interior alteration to accommodate his paper company. The Saxe Paper Company made napkins, paper bags, tissues, and toilet paper. In 1941, a two-alarm fire consumed the entire building and wiped out his entire stock. Afterward, Saxe had the entire building overhauled. A surviving Saxe Paper Company ghost sign still adorns the building’s façade at street level facing Orianna St (3rd photo).
Saxe sold the building in 1960 to Cal-Vet Laboratories, a food additive business, which occupied the upper floors. The ground floor was used for wholesale HVAC equipment sales–one of many such businesses from Old City’s days as a wholesale goods district.
The building went through numerous owners over the new few decades, finally being redeveloped in 1998 into it's current form, retail space on the 1st floor and condos (initially apartments) on the upper floors.
320 Race, late 1890's C.C. Kempton's factory at "ghost" sign still visible for Vine & Randolph St. Saxe Paper
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