James H. Carter

49th and Market Streets, Philadelphia, PA

1890 | Speculative Residences | Not Built

“J.H. Carter, 2134 Arch Street, will build a large number of houses, two- and three-story, at Forty-ninth and Ludlow Street, and extending to Market Street, all to be brick, stone trimmings, and fitted with modern conveniences, heated with hot air, etc.” (April 23, 1890)

“…also plans finished for fourteen three-story brick houses, with brownstone trimmings at Forty-ninth and Market Streets, Phila., for J.H. Carter, 2134 Arch Street…Also, sixteen two-story houses, with brick and brown-stone trimmings, at Forty-ninth and Ludlow Street, for the same party. Dimensions, 14x40 feet, tin roof, modern interiors.” (May 28, 1890)

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Although these houses may not have been built (unconfirmed), it is interesting to consider large-scale speculative commissions such as this one in Minerva’s portfolio. They represent a different style of work for her, and a different scale of implementation, compared with her projects for individual clients commissioning their own homes.

Ludlow and Market Streets run parallel (with Market Street immediately north of Ludlow Street) in Philadelphia’s street grid, so the two projects mentioned in the clipping above would have been adjacent to each other had they been built.