2349 W. Devon Avenue
2349 W. Devon Avenue, Khattak Building
Circa: 1926
Original Owner: Joseph Barnett
Present (2008) Owner: Ghaffar Khattak
This building was in the 2008 Annual House Tour.
The Tattler The neighborhood newspaper of West Ridge (1952) was at 2349 W. Devon Avenue, 2nd floor.
Developer Henry B. Rance was born in India, the son of a British Army officer. Rance served as a welfare worker during WWI; a photo from that time period shows him in uniform, meeting his top-sergeant son Arthur in Paris after the 1918 Armistice. Anticipating that development would soon come to West Ridge, 53-year-old Henry B. Rance set up the first real estate office in the area in a small structure at the southwest corner of Devon Avenue and Western Avenue in the spring of 1920. His two sons, Arthur H. and Hubert F. Rance, joined him soon after. Their business, the Prudential Realty Company, prospered and by 1927, the impressive Prudential Building at 2345 W. Devon Avenue (currently the Tahoora restaurant) was built to house it.
Rance, along with building manager William E. Keller and architect William C. Presto, was instrumental in the development of the commercial buildings along Devon as well as some of the larger and more prestigious apartment blocks in West Ridge. But, bungalow development was not beneath the Rance group, and many residences within West Ridge bear the imprint of the Rances, and their work with architect Presto and builder William Keller.
2349 W. Devon Avenue is the crowning achievement of the Prudential group. Designed by William C. Presto and built for Joseph Barnett in 1926, the grand three-story white terracotta building at the corner of Devon and Western originally contained the offices of doctors, dentists and architects on the second floor, with apartments on both the second and third floors. At street level was a baby shop, a pastry shop, and an A&P grocery store. Although challenging and costly, present owner Ghaffar Khattak has done substantial work to stabilize the aging building. Today it is home to a restaurant, offices, and the Muslim Women’s Resource Center, whose mission is to assist immigrant and refugee Muslim women.
As you tour the building, note the special flooring with decorative metal inlay as well as the original woodwork, all recently restored by Mr. Khattak.
