After 65 years, Delco 'icon' to close
A restaurant that is going out of business usually doesn't get to savor a months-long victory lap. But for D'Ignazio's Towne House in Media, slated to close for good at the end of the year, the long goodbye seems to fit just about right.
A restaurant that is going out of business usually doesn't get to savor a months-long victory lap.
But for D'Ignazio's Towne House in Media, slated to close for good at the end of the year, the long goodbye seems to fit just about right.
After all, just about everything about the Towne House - the Baltimore Pike landmark that dates to the Truman administration - is rare.
For decades it has hosted politicians, from council members and judges to legislators and a future president.
For Media and the areas surrounding the Delaware County seat, the Towne House has been the place to grab an after-work drink or bring the family together for a meal, to host a wedding, banquet, or celebrate a birthday.
It has survived by serving classic fare - from steaks and lobster to hamburgers - at reasonable prices without sacrificing an air of elegance. Its walls are covered in memorabilia and photos, and stately bars stand before liquor-lined shelves like monuments to a different time.
Silvio "Babe" D'Ignazio and his wife, Elizabeth, known as Libby, opened the Towne House in 1950. Family-owned, old-fashioned, and enormous - taking up almost an entire block - it breaks about every mold of the modern-day restaurant boom, in which sleek, noisy holes in the wall are leading the way.
"A large restaurant like that - you've seen them all go by the wayside," said Lisa Carnie, one of Babe and Libby's four children, who ran the restaurant with her husband from 1974 to 2013.
"There's not very many places like the Towne House in the whole country," she said.
Babe D'Ignazio - "an icon in Media," according to Mayor Bob McMahon - passed away in 2008. His wife died in April.
One of the earliest employees is still there. Theresa Uleau, 76, was hired in 1953, when she was just 13, to make salads. She has worked there ever since.
"The best part of working here," she said on a recent day, "is that it was like a big family."
On Sept. 30, the D'Ignazio children announced the decision to close the restaurant and sell the space to a group led by E. Kahn Development Corp. Details weren't disclosed, but the county's estimated market value for the four parcels believed to be involved in the sale is about $2.2 million.
The news that the restaurant would end regular table service by the end of October, and get out of the banquet business by the end of the year, came as a surprise to many in Media who have never known the town without the Towne House.
"Media has done very well for itself. I'm very proud of Media," said Fred D'Ignazio, the eldest of the children, who lives with his family in North Carolina. "I just hope our decision with Eli Kahn helps the 21st-century Media do well, too."
For county pols, the Towne House was more than just a restaurant - it was a destination, the host to fund-raisers and banquets, the scene of political deal-making and networking. Ronald Reagan even stopped by in the mid-1970s.
"For the county, that was the key place to be," said Mario Civera Jr., chairman of the Delaware County Council who plans to go a few more times before it closes.
For Councilman John P. McBlain, the Towne House was home to personal as well as political moments.
"The Towne House was the first restaurant that I ever took a real girlfriend to," McBlain said. That meant "an actual date that didn't involve McDonald's or an ice cream parlor."
Although saddened by the closing, McMahon said the closure would mean new opportunities.
"We know things are going to change at some point, and the Towne House is part of that," the mayor said.
McMahon said he was open-minded and looking forward to hearing developer Eli Kahn's potential plans for the property.
Kahn told The Inquirer he had no "definitive" plan for the property's future, but he did say it would not continue as "one enormous restaurant." He said he's looking forward to a long-term relationship with the town.
"What's not to like about Media?" he said, noting that, as a county seat, Media has a base of employment and activity.
In West Chester, the Chester County seat, the company has completed a number of office and retail projects, along with developments in Exton and Malvern.
"These little towns are basically the epicenter of suburban urban living," he said, adding that in a suburban setting, residents can get the benefits of urban living - walkable locations, easy access to public transit, and hip restaurants and bars.
"We're going to become part of this community, and look forward to the next 65 years of that block," Kahn said.
"There are so many things about Media that are burgeoning, that it could be any number of uses," said Councilman McBlainn. "There seems to be no shortage of opportunities for commerce and business in Media and in Delaware County."
Some parts of the county have experienced growth, but the county is far more built-out than its neighbors. Overall, county home values have dropped 10 percent since January 2009, according to state figures. Media's values have fallen only about 2 percent in that time, according to zillow.com, the real estate database, however its 2010 population, 5,533, is less that it was when the Towne House opened in 1950: 5,726.
The closing of the Towne House, everyone acknowledged, will bring change. A new look for that block on Baltimore Pike. A new spot for the judges' weekly lunches. And, maybe, a new job for Theresa Uleau, the employee of more than six decades.
"I'm not one to sit around doing nothing," she said in her office at the Towne House. "So I'll have to find something to keep my mind busy."
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