ARCHITECTS
Commercial Design
Philadelphia commercial architect Alvin Holm, AIA designs thoughtful, functional buildings for institutional and mixed-use environments. Alvin Holm is an experienced Philadelphia commercial architect, providing design services for offices, institutions, and complex projects.
The Irish Pub,
20th and Walnut Streets, Philadelphia
The project involved the complete demolition of the ground floors at two very different adjacent buildings, removal of the party wall, realigning the floor levels and designing a new restaurant and bar to resemble an imaginary Chicago saloon of the Victorian era, then building a lower sidewalk café along the front to unify the two different faces. First-time visitors often assume it has been this way for a century. The success of this comfortable design led to the renovation of an earlier Irish Pub on Walnut Street at the other end of town.
Although not a literally restoration of the original façades, we believe we have captured the spirit of the street as it was once. Upper floors along Sansom Street remain as apartments in keeping with the character of the mixed-use neighborhood.
Although not a literally restoration of the original façades, we believe we have captured the spirit of the street as it was once. Upper floors along Sansom Street remain as apartments in keeping with the character of the mixed-use neighborhood.
The World Gym,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
This project for the World Gym transformed a row of five late 19th Century residential/commercial buildings on Sansom Street in Center City Philadelphia into a large gymnasium and spa complex, incorporating a variety of commercial buildings directly behind on the adjacent. The continuous façade that we designed as it is seen today, replaces earlier 20th Century renovations which had destroyed the harmonious ensemble. Large areas of the front had been “modernized” by facing with small scale shiny blue tile.