Old City Restaurant Closures (Pandemic)

Jan 30, 20212 min read

Farmacia replaced the short lived restaurant "Novelty" in 2005, closing in the summer of 2020 as one of the first casualties of the pandemic. The restaurant took up much of the ground floor of the 5- story Charles Sinnickson factory at 13-15 S. 3rd Street. Designed by architect and engineer Amos Barnes and erected in 1904, the building is an example of the Colonial Revival style. Also known as The Novelty Building, the upper floors continue to house office space.

The Continental in Old City, which launched Stephen Starr into the restaurant business, closed as of October, 2020. The one-story building was an old-time diner of the same name before it was reborn in 1995. Originally 48 seats, it expanded into neighboring buildings and seated 150 before it closed. Starr expanded the diner, built in the early '60's, into adjacent buildings on Market St and on 2nd St over the years. 134-136 Market St. was built in 1931 by architect Ralph Bencker as a Horn & Hardart restaurant. On 2nd St, The Continental expanded to 7 S 2nd St, an art-deco building constructed in 1935.

City Tavern, at 2nd St & Walnut, opened in 1976 for the Bicentennial. It was a re-creation of the original City Tavern that stood on that spot, opened December, 1773. The original tavern was frequented by many of the founding fathers of our country. It served as the unofficial meeting place for the First Continental Congress as war with the British approached. Many important events took place at the building in the early days of the new nation: Paul Revere rode here to announce that England has closed Boston's port in 1774; the first 4th of July celebration was here, General Washington first met the Marquis de Lafayette at City Tavern in 1777. The building was partially destroyed by fire on March 22, 1834, and was completely demolished by 1854. In the late 1800's, the St Albans Hotel stood on the site. It was torn down in the late 1950's or early 60's. Until November, when it closed, City Tavern was operated by Walter Staib, under a lease from the National Park Service, which owns the building.