Editor’s Note: A version of this story was published in the Spring 2026 issue of Extant, a publication of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Macaroni Company

Location: 780 South 11th Street

Architect: Isadore W. Levin

Built: 1933

The Italian Market broke ground in the 1880s along 9th Street, a still-thriving piazza that has given Philly much of its culinary character, including hoagies, water ice, soft pretzels, and cheesesteaks. On the fringe of the market, a three-story brick and block-glass building, designed by residential and industrial architect and engineer Isadore W. Levin, rose on 11th Street in the 1930s, where the factory churned out American-made pasta products–and they called it macaroni.

The Philadelphia Macaroni Company, founded in 1914 by the Antonio Marano family, produced a variety of noodles, including the shapes used in Campbell’s SpaghettiOs and Alphabet Soup. Pasta production shifted long ago to other facilities, and the company, which had grown into a national entity, was sold in 2024.

Plans are now cooking for conversion into a 47-unit apartment building, with an additional floor, at the convergence of the bustling Bella Vista and Hawthorne neighborhoods. The 38,000-square-foot old factory, which is being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, certainly deserves local appreciation as well on the Philadelphia Register.