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Former home of Marigold Kitchen in West Philadelphia is up for sale

The family that has owned the century-old Victorian building for 60 years wants to sell. It can be returned to use as a house, the listing says.

Marigold Kitchen, at 501 S. 45th St.
Marigold Kitchen, at 501 S. 45th St.Read more

The grand twin Victorian on the corner of 45th Street and Larchwood Avenue in West Philadelphia that has housed a series of restaurants since 1934 — most recently Marigold Kitchen — is on the market.

Asking price for 501 S. 45th St. is $745,000, according to the listing. Owner John Rastelli of Havertown, whose parents, Bette and Matthew, bought the building in 1959 and operated it as a family restaurant called Marigold Tea Room, is retired. His son is approaching retirement himself, said the listing broker, Grace O’Donnell of Philadelphia Realty Exchange.

Marigold Kitchen closed in January, collateral damage of the failure of the related TALK restaurant in Center City.

In the late 1990s, Bette Rastelli began leasing the restaurant and it became Marigold Dining Room. Inquirer archives say it then was operated as a Vietnamese restaurant and then a comfort-food specialist. She died in 2005.

In 2004, it became Marigold Kitchen under chef Steve Cook, who a year later hired his chef and future business partner, Michael Solomonov. At the opening of Zahav in 2008, Cook and Solomonov handed off Marigold to sous chef Erin O’Shea, who turned the menu Southern.

A year later, Cook and Solomonov sold Marigold and moved O’Shea to Percy Street, their barbecue restaurant then on South Street.

Chef Robert Halpern took over Marigold in 2009, launching the ambitious fixed-price tasting menus. In 2014, Halpern’s sous chefs Tim Lanza, Andrew Kochan, and Keith Krajewski, took over. Krajewski is now at Middle Child.

But the future as a restaurant is not certain. The listing advises a prospective buyer that it would be easy to convert it to a single-family home or a two-unit with intact front and rear staircases.