July/August 2017 The Newsletter of The Society Hill Civic Association SOCIETYHILL Reporter www.societyhillcivic.org Welcome to New Board Members he Society Hill Civic Association (SHCA) Larry Spector, Southwest Quadrant Director, T welcomes seven new members to its board has lived in Society Hill for 40 years. As an of officers and directors. They join a diverse group attorney, he represents parties with business of neighbors who volunteer their time and consid- disputes and occasionally serves community erable talents for the good of our community. organizations dealing with proposed development. Concha Alborg, Representative for Hopkinson House, has lived in Society Hill for 17 years. She Doug Stay, Southeast Quadrant Director, has taught at Saint Joseph’s University for 28 years, lived in our community since 2011. He has spent is now retired as an emerita professor, and has his career in healthcare and education manage- published numerous academic publications, as ment, and is currently at Teach for America. well as works of fiction and creative nonfiction. Brian Wengenroth, Northeast Quadrant Hop on Board the Susan Collins, Director at Large, was a trial Director, has lived in our neighborhood since Society Hill lawyer specializing in criminal defense in her 2001. He is a retired partner in Booz & Co., Local! first career. More recently, she has been upper- where he led the Latin American and Strategic school history teacher at Baldwin School. Services practices. His professional experience encompasses business and financial management, Camille Orman, Director at Large, has lived in information technology, business transformation our neighborhood since 1999. A biostatis tician, and project management. she has been working in pharmaceutical research for over 30 years and is presently a senior director We thank all board members, many of whom at Janssen Research and Development. have served our association for years, for their dedication to this historic community. Kate Robinson, Recording Secretary, has lived in Society Hill since 2001. She is an attorney Please consider adding your voice to the mix at Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell and Hippel by joining SHCA and attending our monthly specializing in medical malpractice defense. board meetings. OPEN FOR BUSINESS Neighborhood Checklist 4See a Franklin light that’s out? Call 311 to report it. 4Keep our sidewalks safe. Turn on your front door lights after dark every night. 4See graffiti on our neighborhood public spaces? Take a photo and forward it directly to [email protected]. For removal on private property, call 311 or 215-686-8686. Society Hill List of Contractors Available by request to members only, SHCA has compiled a 13-page Society Hill List of Contractors of all types recommended by Society Hill homeowners, for the use of residents who need professional contracting services. The list is not available online. More than houses were open on Society Hill House and Garden Tour Day. Contact Martha Levine for your copy at Mini-entrepreneurs were out, too! See pages 16-17 for tour photos. 215-629-0727 or [email protected]. p a g e 2 society hill Repoer NUSA SOCIETYHILL 1st Place Award-Winning Newsletter 2016 & Reporter 2017 Editor in Chief Press Release Liaison Sandra Rothman c/o Matt DeJulio Columnists [email protected] Marilyn Appel, Advertising Manager Jane Biberman, Lenore Hardy Al Cavalari, Matt DeJulio, [email protected] Mike Harris, Lisa Kelly, Submission Deadline Martha Levine, September/October Issue Sandra Rothman, August 1 Katy Wich Contributors Society Hill Civic Association Claire Batten, P. O. Box 63503 Amy DeMarco, Rosanne Philadelphia, PA 19147 Loesch, Sissie Lipton, Tel. 215-629-1288 Fred Tangeman, Keri White Website Graphic Design Find past issues in color [email protected] at www.societyhillcivic.org. The views set forth in the opinion articles are the views of the authors and are not necessarily those of SHCA. Submissions If you have news that would be of interest to Society Hillers, email Sandra Rothman at [email protected]. Materials must be submitted in writing and include the name of a contact person. Edited submissions will be considered for publication if space permits. Letters to the Editor must be signed, with contact information. SHCA Mission Statement The aims and purposes of SHCA are: to promote the improvement of the Society Hill area of Philadelphia, including its cultural, educational and civic activities, and the preservation and restoration of its historic buildings; torepresent the residents of Society Hill in matters affecting the City of Philadel p hia generally and Society Hill in particular; and to interpret the value and significance of Society Hill to the public. SHCA Board Officers and Directors President Sissie Lipton, Mary Tracy Rosanne Loesch Southwest: Larry Spector, First Vice President Alison T. Young, Martha Moore Martha Levine Southeast: Jeff Berry, Woody Second Vice President Rosenbach, Doug Stay Kim Williams Continuing Director Treasurer Bob Curley Madeline Miller Condominium Recording Secretary Representatives Kate Robinson Hopkinson House: Directors at Large Concha Alborg Claudia Carabelli, Susan Independence Place: Collins, Amy DeMarco, Jerry Yablin Barbara Gelman, George Penn’s Landing Condos: Kelley, Norm Lieberman, Loretta Burton Camille Orman, Lisa Unger Society Hill Towers: Quadrant Directors Mary Purcell Northeast: Lorna Katz St. James Court: Lawson, Brian Wengenroth, Norm Wisler Robert Kramer The St. James: Northwest: George Dowdall, Priscilla McDougal july/august 2017 p a g e 3 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE roSAnne loeSCH Clarifying Our Vision attended the annual Preservation Alliance “resistance to change.” Yet scholarship has shown that I Achievement Awards ceremony at Vie on early preservationists were anything but traditional, and Broad Street in June and was truly inspired by often on the forefront of social and cultural reform. the many people and organizations in our region With the nearing close of the second decade of the that are doing the important work of historic 21st century, the state of the world is far from healthy. preservation. For those of you who don’t know Environmental degradation, economic malaise, cultural it, the Preservation Alliance for Greater Phila - disjuncture, political isolation, and social strife all delphia is a private, non-profit group that was threaten the stability and future of life as we know it. established in 1996 to be the principal historic Repair and reparation are old responses to that which preservation advocacy organization for the is damaged, broken, or dysfunctional, yet the global Philadelphia region. At the June ceremony, nature of today’s challenges is unprecedented. Each discipline and profession has an ethical, if not moral, Rosanne Loesch, the highest award, the James Biddle Lifetime obligation to confront these challenges through thought- SHCA President Achievement Award in Historic Preservation, ful reflection and decisive action, including advocacy. was presented to Frank G. Matero, Professor of Architecture at PennDesign. Frank has nurtured Heritage Preservation has always been about repair, students in historic preservation for 37 years, whether it is building rehabilitation, urban revitalization, or social justice. If there ever was a moment when aided the conservation of archaeological sites preservation of the built environment has had something on four continents and led teams in the restoration to contribute to the current state of social and political of iconic sites like the Guggenheim Museum, the strife, economic recession, and environmental destruction, Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial and it is now. We advocate for preservation because objects Ellis Island. With Professor Matero’s gracious and places hold important information, associations, permission, I’d like to share with you his and meaning; because they help embody social and inspiring acceptance speech: cultural memory, which if lost, would make the world a less rich and connected place in which to live. Folk 2016 marked a milestone for historic preservation musician Bruce “Utah” Phillips, aka “The Golden Voice in this country — the 50th anniversary of the National of the Great Southwest” and tried and true train tramp, Historic Preservation Act, which not only changed wisely remarked, “The long memory is the most radical the face of the American landscape, but affected idea in this country. It is the loss of that long memory and legitimized an entirely new way of thinking about which deprives our people of that connective flow of our public history, land use, our cities, and a rejection thoughts and events that clarifies our vision, not of of post war obsolescence. We have come a long where we’re going but where we want to go.” way since 1966 with federal and local legislation and policy, with incentivizing rehabilitation over In light of that long vision, let me then end with William demolition, and with an army of professionals Penn's Prayer for Philadelphia, 1684. who have joined the public in advocating and Philadelphia, what care, what service, what travails serving preservation interests. have there been to bring thee forth and preserve thee Unlike the 1960s, preservation today has broadened from such as would abuse and defile thee. O that thou its concerns, finding resonance in environmental, mayest be kept from the evil that would overwhelm thee, that thou mayest be preserved to the end. Rosanne Loesch economic, psychological, and sociological arguments is an for why preservation of the built environment matters Let’s all do our part. attorney and president beyond its traditional definitions. In this regard, preser- For more information about the recipients of of SHCA. She, her hus- vation has matured, yet in an effort to relate to the band and two children complex crises we face today, it has sometimes forgotten the 2017 Preservation Achievement and the have lived in a historic the power that the tangible, the physical, has in reinforc- Preservation Alliance, please visit their website house on Spruce Street ing the fundamental values of place, identity, and narra- www.preservationalliance.com. Society Hill Civic since 2002 and, before tive.