A Study of Postwar Architecture in Center City, Philadelphia

University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Theses (Historic Preservation) Graduate Program in Historic Preservation 1992 A Study of Postwar Architecture in Center City, Philadelphia Jeffrey L. Baumoel University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses Part of the Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons Baumoel, Jeffrey L., "A Study of Postwar Architecture in Center City, Philadelphia" (1992). Theses (Historic Preservation). 259. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/259 Copyright note: Penn School of Design permits distribution and display of this student work by University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Suggested Citation: Baumoel, Jeffrey L. (1992). A Study of Postwar Architecture in Center City, Philadelphia. (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/259 For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Study of Postwar Architecture in Center City, Philadelphia Disciplines Historic Preservation and Conservation Comments Copyright note: Penn School of Design permits distribution and display of this student work by University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Suggested Citation: Baumoel, Jeffrey L. (1992). A Study of Postwar Architecture in Center City, Philadelphia. (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/259 UNIVERSITYy PENN5YL\^\NIA. UBRARIE5 A STUDY OF POSTWAR ARCHITECTURE IN CENTER CITY, PHILADELPHIA Jeffrey L. Baumoel A THESIS in The Graduate Program in Historic Preservation Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE 1992 David Hollepl5er^ Lecturer, Historic Preservation, Reader Javid G. D^e^Long, Professor «(if__Ar9«itecture Graduate Group Chairman and Advisor UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LIBRARIES TABLE of CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Aspects of Postwar American Architecture in Center City, Philadelphia 13 Chapter 2: Defining Postwar Trends in Architecture 29 Chapter 3: A Notable Group of Institutional Buildings ^^ Chapter 4: Postwar Building Materials and Technology ^'-' Conclusion ^^ Illustrations 91 Appendix 1 1*^ Appendix 2 156 Introduction: Issues of Postwar Preservation and the Thesis Study Area fabric of Center This thesis is a study of the post-World War II architectural Philadelphia. intention City, the densely built and populated commercial center of My environment and to provide an is to examine a portion of the Postwar urban built increased understanding and the means to assess this layer of cultural and historic and architectural significance. This examination has resulted in the documentation preservation. analysis required for a set of recommendations geared towards historic preservation of In addition, this study seeks to encourage a proactive response to the buildings retain a the Postwar built environment. Since the majority of the study area design fabric, rather high level of architectural integrity in terms of original exterior possible. the goal of historic preservation is all the more compelling and indeed in Such a study necessarily encompasses a host of important issues that emerge is primary the serious consideration of urban vernacular Postwar buildings. There the concern for studying a historical period which many members of the preservation community may regard as being questionable in terms of age value. In addition, of while many of the buildings in the study area are good but not outstanding works Postwar architecture, as components of the built environment of Center City they enhances embody a layer of significance and provide visual interest that augments and area are larger qualities of this urban center. Also, many of the buildings in the study in fact extensive renovations executed in the Postwar era, and this phenomenon 1 2 contributes an additional layer of complexity. Underlying these immediate concerns are fundamental issues regarding "the recent past": the period of the past fifty years. 1 As Richard Longstreth explains, the public and many preservationists regard commercial and residential vernacular buildings of the 1940's and 1950's as part of the current world, and as such, regardless of their architectural quality, they are inadequately assessed for their historic architectural value. Therefore, the ability to possess the objective perspective required in assessing the significance of vernacular Postwar buildings cannot be attained: the qualities of these rather anonymous buildings cannot be understood or appreciated. Relying upon the work of David Lowenthal, Longstreth writes of the need for the passage of time to occur, and the acquisition of a sense of detachment, in order to adequately determine the significance of the Postwar built environment. Longstreth explains that, unlike other disciplines concerned with history, historic preservation has "a self-conscious nervousness about recent occurrences." This characteristic of the preservation movement is compounded by the prejudice against preserving all but the "exceptional monument"; an attitude articulated by some academicians and preservationists, although mainstream preservation activity does address the need to preserve the vernacular built environment. 3 In any case, by exclusively focussing on buildings of an older vintage there is the danger of destroying a fundamental tenet of historic preservation: the maintenance of historic continuity. By excluding the mid-twentieth century from serious consideration in historic 6 preservation, an "artificial gap" is formed between the present and the more remote "4 past; according to Longstreth, "the greater the gap, the less of a sense of continuity. in spite of such problems and obstacles, a number of new developments have emerged in regard to an enhanced understanding and appreciation of Postwar architecture. Among these, Longstreth has observed "a maturing of architectural history," and on a more empirical level, a desire over the past twenty years to gain an understanding of "things experienced routinely," specifically vernacular architecture. 5 As a result of these developments, there is the realization that fifty years does indeed constitute a historic period for buildings of the 1940's and 1950's, and that vernacular buildings, in addition to acknowledged outstanding works of Postwar architecture, can be the subject of both historical analysis and the efforts of preservationists. Such activities as preservation conferences illustrate the growing interest in Postwar architecture and have become a prime means of assessing it in a new light. Beginning in the late 1980's, several domestic and international conferences have directly addressed the issue of preserving Postwar architecture, most notably the 1989 Association for Preservation Technology (APT) conference in Chicago, and the 1990 conference of the International Working Party for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites, and Neighborhoods of the Modem Movement (DoCoMoMo) that transpired in 1990 in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The 1989 APT conference focussed on issues of preservation linked to the fact diat the considerable number of vernacular Postwar buildings that exist in the 8 contemporary American built environment have not been examined and documented, and have been rapidly vanishing. In fact, this interest in issues of Postwar preservation was first expressed at the association's 1987 conference in Canada. 7 The papers delivered at the 1989 conference were presented as part of a thematic track called "Preserving What's New." They included Richard Longstreth's essay, "The Significance of the Recent Past, " in an attempt to arrive at a consistent preservation policy regarding the Postwar period and to understand the nature of historical research pertaining to the mid-twentieth century. The topics dealing primarily with preservation of technology included the restoration of neon signs and building curtain walls, and a particular type of mass-produced dwelling, the Lustron House. In Europe, where the International Style enjoyed considerable popularity during the 1930's, the 1990 DoCoMoMo conference sought to address issues pertaining to the preservation of modem architecture. 9 DoCoMoMo emerged from a research project at Eindhoven University that focussed on the technical problems of restoring the Zonnestraal Sanatorium designed by Johannes Duiker and built in 1926-1931 near Hilversum, Netherlands. Presented at the conference were several widely differing arguments directed at preserving modem buildings. A notion presented by Martin Pawley, a British delegate, dismissed the idea of preserving modem buildings, based on the view of orthodox Functionalists of the 1920's and 1930's that modem buildings were conceived as impermanent instmments, whose value would disappear once the original function of the building had left the structure. Hence to preserve such buildings was the to completely undermine their raison d'etre. This credo was balanced by argument that there existed a camp of Modernists who regarded modem buildings as "social monuments. "10 As in the case of the APT conference, DoCoMoMo addressed issues of building conservation and the preservation of building technology in regard to particular modem buildings. Notable examples included Berthold Lubetkin's Finsbury Health Centre constmcted in 1938 in

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