Demolition has started at the former Painted Bride building
The developer said he plans to incorporate pieces of Isaiah Zagar's mosaic into his apartment project at 230 Vine St.
Eight years after the Philadelphia arts community learned it could lose the 7,000-square-foot mosaic that for decades wrapped around an Old City building, the structure’s current owner has started to demolish it.
Machinery is scraping out the inside of the former Painted Bride Art Center building at 230 Vine St. For more than 25 years, the outside of the building has been covered in its signature mural, made by famed Philadelphia mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar.
The fate of the building was the subject of an almost six-year legal battle. Artists and preservationists wanted to save the building. Neighbors opposed a developer’s plans to preserve it.
» READ MORE: Timeline: The Painted Bride building demolition has started. How we got here.
That developer — architect and building owner Shimi Zakin of Atrium Design Group — had proposed constructing apartments above the mural with a design The Inquirer’s architecture critic called “a terrific work of architecture.”
But neighbors thought the project was too dense and tall. They successfully appealed a decision by the city zoning board that would have allowed it.
Zakin received a permit from the city in September to tear down the building. He plans to replace it with 85 apartments and about 6,000 square feet of commercial space. The new building would be six stories and 65 feet tall.
Zakin did not respond to a request for comment about the start of demolition at the site. In September, he told The Inquirer: “We are moving forward with an amazing project at an amazing location.”
He estimated that his apartment building would take about 2½ years to complete.
For now, a black wooden fence surrounds the former Painted Bride building while demolition equipment tears out its insides, and the walls await their turn.
Chunks of Zagar’s Skin of the Bride mural are missing from the exterior walls from when organizers and volunteers with the nonprofit arts group Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens removed some mosaic tiles in 2023.
Zakin has said he plans to incorporate pieces of the mural into his apartment project.