IN THE WORKS
New use discussed for historic Abram Cox Stove site
LANSDALE >> An historic building hidden in plain sight on one of Lansdale’s busiest streets could soon have a new use.
Councilman Rich DiGregorio gave an update earlier this month about early talks on a new user for a three-story brick building on Cannon Avenue.
“It’s the brick building right by the railroad tracks — it’s a commercial site, and they want to make it a residential apartment use,” said DiGregorio.
The property in question is a three-story brick building at 501 N. Cannon Avenue, just south of the rail crossing and across the street from the Cannoneers Club that has been refurbished by that organization in recent years. According to a property listing by developer Situs Properties Inc., the building contains 18,126 square feet of space, including about 3,000 square feet of office space on the second floor, with a detached garage of 4,312 square feet, on a lot of 0.79 acres. One loading dock and a drive-in loading door are available on the first floor, an elevator is inside, and the property is located within the borough’s industrial zoning district, according to the listing.
Lansdale Historical Society research and archives indicate the building was once home to the Abram Cox Stove Works, one of the largest employers in the borough in the late 1800s into the early 20th cen
tury. The company manufactured “novelty stoves,” known for producing high levels of heat for their size, until the advent of central heating caused a decline in the business in the 1920s. A massive fire took place at Cox’s foundry on December 13, 1944, requiring help from adjacent Hatfield’s fire companies to extinguish due to manpower shortages caused by World War II, and the fire plunged much of the town into darkness when a high-tension cable that supplied power to much of the town was felled by the fire.
A now largely faded mural on the north side of the building facing the rail tracks once advertised “Abram Cox Stove Co: Novelty Stoves, Furnaces, Ranges, Boilers - Main office, American & Dauphin Sts., Philadelphia,” with traces of that mural barely visible today. Montgomery County property records indicate the property has been owned by a Ched Leasing LLP since 2011, after prior sales in 2009, 2002, 1984 and 1980, according to county records, with the most recent assessed value of $237,660 as of 1997.
DiGregorio told council on April 7 that the code enforcement committee and planning commission had seen a sketch plan for a possible use for the property, and the future actions they’ll need to change the use there.
“The next step for this project will be the zoning variance, for their residential at this location,” he said.
Councilwoman Carrie Hawkins Charlton asked if the developer planned to demolish the building, and DiGregorio said they do not.
“They’re going to renovate it — they’re basically going to keep the structure, and gut it out and restructure it for apartments,” he said.
Hawkins Charlton said she had noticed the “really weird façade” when waiting at the nearby rail crossing recently; Mayor Garry Herbert asked for confirmation that it was “the building with the pole right next to, literally, on the road,” and DiGregorio confirmed that it was.
“This is just getting started, so we’ll get more information,” he said.