2 rowhouses, church collapse in North Philly

No sooner did city inspectors arrive at the site of a two-rowhouse collapse in North Philadelphia yesterday morning than they were called to the site of a partial collapse nearby.

About 3 a.m. yesterday, two rowhouses on 27th Street near Jefferson caved in, spilling bricks, steel beams and other debris onto the street.

Witnesses who live on the block and city spokeswoman Maura Kennedy confirmed that no one was injured in the collapse and that the houses, located near the middle of the block, were vacant.

Kennedy said that there were no prior violations for the properties and that a demolition crew hired by the Department of Licenses and Inspections began cleaning up the site about 11 a.m.

Just as crews arrived at the site of that collapse, a church at 18th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, about a mile away, began falling apart, Kennedy said.

No one was hurt when debris from the New Thankful Baptist Church started spilling into the street, she said.

She added that the city plans to take the building owners to court for failing to repair violations.

A neighbor who lives a few houses down from the demolished rowhouses, Glenn Hudson, 51, pointed out that the abandoned house next to his is also collapsing inward, though its facade remains intact.

"It's a disaster waiting to happen," he said.