Apple Store architect profiled, Walnut Street retail space due to open in July

The Walnut Street location today and its proposed look upon opening.

Updated 4/8/10 @ 2:14 p.m.: Brownstoner has an interior shot of the current location.

The “computer illiterate” architect based outside of Scranton that helped envision the Apple retail store aesthetic and who is leading plans for the company’s much-heralded first Center City location was profiled by the Inquirer’s Inga Saffron recently.

While Saffron’s profile focuses much on Peter Bohlin’s noted Fifth Avenue “cube” location in Manhattan, the piece did touch on the 1607-1609 location that she reports is scheduled to open in July:

The Philadelphia store won’t be a signature design like the Cube, but it will incorporate key elements of the BCJ prototype, from the minimal scrim of the glass facade to the strict linear arrangement of the tables and products. A second-floor seminar room should help make it a gathering place.

We reported the store was hiring as far back as December.

Rumored Philadelphia Apple Store location suffers damage

Photo courtesy of a Philebrity.com reader

While Philly’s Apple community is served well by local retailers Springboard Media and Bundy, we often wonder what it takes to get some love from Steve Jobs and company.

After all, Philadelphia is the largest media market without an Apple Store, unless, of course you count the city’s suburban Apple outlets.

Well, the architecture gods may have exacted revenge on the computer company, Philebrity.com reports.

The rumored site of Apple’s Philadelphia location has suffered some sort of structural damage. Overnight, a piece of marble installation crumbled off the building and into the street, though no one was hurt, according to Philly.com.

Last year, AppleInsider speculated that Apple was eying the space at 1619 Walnut Street, formally the home of the Brasserie Perrier restaurant. PhiladelphiaWillDo’s DMac disputed the claim.

All has been quiet on the Philly Apple Store front, though the company continues to expand its number of retail locations nationwide. The company recently announced that it will be opening up a fourth store in the second best city on the East coast, ahem, New York.

According to public records, the space at 1619 Walnut is owned by “Walnut Street Retail Investments.”

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, the firm responsible for designing some of the company’s New York locations, declined to comment about the possibility of a Philadelphia location when Technically Philly contacted their Philadelphia office late last week.

As part of the firm’s agreement with Apple,�it is prohibited from discussing any details of future locations and would not even confirm that Apple was considering Philadelphia.