Northern Liberties 4

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Northern Liberties 4

The Northern Liberties 4 Site consists of a 0.29-acre, roughly pentagonal vacant lot bounded by West Laurel Street to the north, Germantown Avenue to the northeast, North Front Street to the southeast, a stricken and vacated lot (formerly occupied by a three-story brick commercial property at 968 North Front Street [006N090059]) to the south, and a modern three-story multifamily residence at 118–120 West Laurel Street (006N090313) to the west.

In July and August 2015, part of the Northern Liberties 4 Site was subjected to a combination of mechanical stripping and partial feature excavation that revealed a variety of intact historic-period features, including five privy shafts, a fireplace hearth, three foundations, and two stone walls. The spatial arrangement of the features identified points to their association with several residential and commercial properties—including their rear yard areas and additions—that fronted on West Laurel Street and North Front Street during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Because of the excellent state of preservation of the features that have been documented to date and their clear association with a number of commercial properties, additional archaeological testing of this area will be conducted when the project schedule permits.