E Madison Street Houses

[PortPennFerry]

Good morning everyone!

Sp this morning I was biking through Kensington, as I often do to get warmed up in the mornings, and I decided to go down a few side streets in the area east of Allegheny to avoid the traffic. One street I had never been on was East Madison, between Emerald and Frankford. Now, envision the typical housing stock of Kensington with its basic two story brick rowhomes, with the older ones (1860-1900) having a marble stoop, and the slightly newer ones (1900-1910) a bay window and a porch. So you can imagine my surprise when I turned the corner to see these dilapidated but still grand old Victorians on Madison:

2018 East Madison Street, Philadelphia, PA - Google Maps

Going outwards from Kensington, you don't see these types of houses again until Tacony. So does anyone know the story of this forgotten little block? This must be, architecturally, the most stunning block in Kensington.