PRESE RVATION Prese rvatio n Allia nce MATTE RS for great er philadelphi a THE NEW SLE TTER OF THE PRES ERVATIO N ALLIA NC E FOR GR EATER PHI LA DELPHIA WINT ER 20 08 Philadelphia Life Insurance FIFTH ANN UA L ENDA NGE RED PRO PERTI ES LIST Co. Buildings Los t P HI LA DELPHIA STEPHE N GIRAR D BUILDIN G n Janua ry 22 , 2008 ,Commo nwealth Cou rt J udge Keith Qui gley dismissed the Prese rvation Allian ce’s request for FAMI LY COU RT a hea ring on the demolition of the Philadelphia Life HASSRIC K/SAWYE R HOUS E Insu ran ce Co. buildin gs on N. Broad Street and lif ted th e O BOYD THE ATE R injunction halting demolition . This action gave the Convention Cen ter Autho rity and the Depa rtment of Gene ral Se rvices GERMAN TOWN AVENU E STREE T PAVIN G the abili ty to demolish the his toric buildin gs, in spi te of the writ ten 1900 BLOCK OF SANSO M STREE T agreement that the Convention Cen ter also argued that it had complied with the Autho rity had si gned with the Pennsy lvani a requi rements of the sta te His tory Code to and His torical and Museum Commission “consul t” with the Pennsy lvania His- stating that the buildin gs would be prese rved . torical and Museum Commission. This decision came af ter a month of After revie wing the judg e’s strug gle by the Prese rvation Allian ce and opinion , the Prese rvatio n others to prese rve the buildin gs, consid- Allian ce decided not to file a EXECUTIV E ered by ma ny to be an outstanding exam- fu rther appeal , but to try ple of how to rela te a mode rn addition to a ins tead to seek in tervention DIRECTOR’ S his toric buildin g. The Allian ce sou ght and from Governor Rendell or MESS AGE obtained an initial cou rt order agains t May or Nutter. To en cou rage suc h demolition af ter the Convention Cen ter in tervention, the Allian ce organ - t is someh ow fitting that this issue Autho rity began demolishing the façade of ized a public gathe ring to support I of our newslet ter, whi ch in corpo- the Mitchell / Giurgola addition at 6:30 AM prese rvation of the buildin gs on Janua ry Public supporters for preservation of th e rates our Fifth Annual Endan- on De cember 22 , 2007 . A prelimina ry in- 25th , at tracting app roxima tely 75 suppo rt- Philadelphia Life Insurance Co. buildings . ge red Prope rties List , should sta rt off junction was obtained on Janua ry 8, 2008. ers who lined the Broad Street median in with a story about the loss of another However, at that time the Convention Cen ter front of the buildin gs. An edi toria l in the Both buildin gs were demolished in earl y his toric building in Philadelphia . The re Autho rity and Depa rtment of Gene ral Philadelphia Inqui rer called on th e Februa ry, completing the demolition of 19 are several lessons to be lea rned from Se rvices (DGS) challenged the Allian ce’s Governor to in tervene , as did let ters from of the 21 buildin gs in the path of the con- this expe rien ce, one of whi ch is that right to seek a hea ring on the demolition the Desi gn Advocacy Group and others .In vention center expansion . Only two remai n listing on the Philadelphia Regis ter of because the Allian ce was not pa rty to the spi te of su ch effo rts , no in tervention was and those will probably be demolished by Historic Pla ces is the only reliable publi c agreement to prese rve the buildin gs. DGS for th comin g. the time this newslet ter is received . protection against demolition of his - toric prope rties . This lesson , unfo rtu - na tel y, applies to th ree prope rties on th e other cities and to develop an app roa ch to Endange red Prope rties List as well — Alliance Receives $495,000 gran t creating su ch a plan . Allian ce execut ive neither the Stephen Gi rard Buildin g, th e di rec tor John And rew Galle ry visi ted Los Hass rick/S awyer House nor the Boyd from William Penn Foundatio n Angeles last year to meet with the ci ty’s Thea ter is lis ted on the Philadelphi a prese rvation and planning staf fto discuss a Regis ter and ,consequentl y, none are n November 2007 , the William Penn the or ganization of a ci tywide gathe ring of similar effo rt unde rway in Los Angeles. protec ted from demolition . The Stephe n I Foundation awa rded the Pres ervation communi ty or ganizations in teres ted in A thi rd component of the grant will sup- Gi rard Building is a pa rticularly ba d Allian ce a $495,00 0 two-year grant to prese rving the cha rac ter of their nei ghbor- po rt effo rts to strengthen the policies of th e omen :developers who leased this si te suppo rt four programs of the Allian ce. hood in the fall of 2008. City of Philadelphia rega rding prese rvation . from the Boa rd of City Trusts appear to Funds from the grant will enable th e The grant wil l al so provid e supp ort fo r th e The Allian ce hopes to use these funds to hav e applied for and received a demoli - Alliance to continue it s Nei ghbo rhood creation of a comp rehens ive prese rvatio n develop prese rvation ideas for the Zoning tion pe rmit mo re tha n six month s ag o Prese rvation programs , whi ch began two plan for Philadelphia . For several years ,wit h Code Commission and other policy studies even thou gh th ey had no plans fo r the years ago with a previous grant from the other grants , the Allian ce has bee nexplo ring that mi ght be helpful to the new adminis tra- actual development of the block . William Penn Foundation . Th e the possibili ty of creating a prese rvation pla n tion of May or Nutter. In addition ,some fund s The omission of impo rtant his toric Neighborhood Prese rvation program s for Philadelphia , suppo rted by a comp re- will be used to suppo rt the creation of a sta te resou rces from the Philadelphia Regis ter include the Allian ce’s workshops for com- hens ive su rvey of his toric resou rces in the tax credit program for his toric prese rvation . is one of the reasons the Prese rvation muni ty or ganizations ,workshops on home ci ty. No su ch su rvey has ever been under- The Allian ce is grateful for the Found atio n’s Allian ce beli eves that Philadelphia need s repair and main tenan ce for owners of his toric ta ken and , in fact ,only 4% of the prope rtie s suppo rt. The William Penn Foundation, a prese rvation plan and a comp rehen - prope rties , the Old House Fair (see story in the ci ty have been evalua ted for their his - founded in 1945 by Ot to and Phoebe Haas, sive su rvey of his toric resou rces in th e elsewhe re in this newslet ter) and technical toric si gnifican ce. An his toric prese rvation is dedica ted to imp roving the quali ty of life ci ty. We are exci ted by the commi tment s assistan ce to nei ghbo rhood or ganizations plan would be coordina ted with a new in the Grea ter Philadelphia region th rou gh May or Michael Nutter has made to th e and ind ividuals on his toric prese rvation comp rehens ive plan for Philadelphia being effo rts that fos ter rich cultu ral exp ression, refo rm of planning and zoning practi ces issues .Du ring 2008 and 2009 the Allian ce wil l proposed by the City Planning Commission , strengthen child ren’s futu res , and deepen and hope that he will recogni ze that expand both its workshops for communi ty but would focus on prese rvation issues in conne ctions to natu re and communi ty. In his toric prese rvation is an essentia l or ganizations and its workshops for home- grea ter detail . The Allian ce has been work- partner ship with oth ers, th e Fou ndati on works component of those act ivities. owners—p reviously focused in Ge rman town ing with the Gradua te Program in His toric to advan ce a vital , just , and ca ring communi - JOH N ANDRE W GALLE RY and West Philadelphia— to other se ctions Prese rvation at the Universi ty of ty. Lea rn mo re about the Foundation onlin e Execu tive Directo r of the ci ty. In addition , the grant will suppo rt Pennsy lvania to resea rch similar effo rts in at ww w.william pennfoundation.or g. WW W.PRES ERVATIO NALLIA NC E. CO M FIFTH ANN UAL EN DANGERED PROP E RT IES LIST Threatened, Still Threatened, and Threatened Again! T HR EATENE D Stephen Gi rard Building 21 South 12th Street BACKGR OUN D Built in 1896 , the Stephen Gi rard Buildin g was desi gned by prolific Philadelphia archi tect James H.