Germantown/Chestnut Hill

Broken windows

mgolas — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:25:15 -0500

Damage

mgolas — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:23:46 -0500

Tower

mgolas — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:22:35 -0500

Preservation Row: Germantown Town Hall

mgolas — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:12:38 -0500

Bio

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New series casts light on historic and unique sites that may be at risk of deterioration or demolition.

Nov. 07

By Alan Jaffe
For PlanPhilly

During the first part of the 19th century, the site at 5928 Germantown Avenue contained a city services building designed by Napoleon LeBrun and Sons, the architect of the Metropolitan Life Insurance skyscraper in New York.

In the 1860s, a civil war hospital operated at the same site.

In 1923, architect John Penn Brock Sinkler built the site’s current structure, Germantown Town Hall, modeled after William Strickland’s Greek Revival Merchant’s Exchange Building at 3rd and Walnut Streets.

So, David Young, board president of Historic Germantown, is concerned not only with the deteriorating condition of the cast stone and wood-trimmed Town Hall, with its distinctive bell tower and colonnaded rotunda. “It would be nice to see some measure of continuity for that site,” he said.

The Town Hall has appeared on the Endangered Properties List of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia for several years now.

It had been used for city offices until about 1998, Young said, but has been vacant since then. “The exterior is now in poor to deteriorating shape. There are weeds growing out of it, the exterior marble is decaying, most of its copper and bronze features have been stripped away over the last five years.”

Objects have been thrown through some of the windows, all of the railings are gone, and debris is strewn around the entrance. The clock face turned toward the bustling section of Germantown Avenue is stopped at the eleventh hour.

Inside there are still historic treasures, according to the Preservation Alliance, including a clock made by Isaiah Lukens in 1828 that had hung in Independence Hall; World War I memorial tablets; and a bell by John Wilbank that was cast in the same shop as the Liberty Bell.

The City of Philadelphia still owns the property, and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation is in charge of marketing and finding a new owner for the structure. PIDC real estate manager Liz Gabor said the non-profit corporation took over that role two years ago. The property was off the market for a time, then put back on the block about eight months ago.

Gabor has given a number of tours of the property to prospective developers. She has heard discussions about turning the Town Hall into an office space for artists, classrooms, or commercial space for an antiques auction dealer. “But there haven’t been any offers,” she said.

“There has been a lot of interest in the property. The difficulty is the level of repairs that are needed, and the configuration. It has very wide hallways, and the rotunda in front has tablets honoring fallen soldiers,” which would have to remain a public space. “It’s an attractive building, but there is some complexity in transitioning it to private use,” Gabor said, adding that PIDC would work with a developer and the Philadelphia Historical Commission to ensure the protection of its historic nature.

Rev. LeRoi Simmons, executive director of the Central Germantown Council, the community development corporation with jurisdiction over the Town Hall, said that while there have been numerous inquiries about the site, “they have come without sufficient funding to get it done.”

“The last estimates [for an office space proposal] looked like $10 million to $15 million to get it up and running in some way,” Simmons said

Ideally, the council would like to see the Town Hall transformed into a multi-use site, with social services, police facilities, political offices and a food court. “This is too critical and beautiful a structure to just let it go,” he said.

The Preservation Alliance has recommended that the city assess the condition of the building and its contents, take immediate action to protect the clock, bell and tablets and
secure the exterior shell of the building. It also suggested that a nominal lease be offered to a non-profit organization that could manage and restore the property, while other parts of the building are used for city offices serving Northwest Philadelphia and as retail space.

“We would like to see some responsible use for it, and prevent its destruction,” said Young. “Germantown Avenue is one of the longest historic districts in the country, and it is a disgrace what has happened to it. Town Hall is an example of that.”

Contact the writer at alanjaffe@mac.com.

Previous stories:

Girard Warehouses

PLICO Building

Garrett-Dunn House

Elstowe Manor

Home Page Summary

Objects have been thrown through windows, the railings are gone, and debris is strewn around the entrance. The clock face is stopped at the 11th hour.<br /><br />

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Written By

AlanJ

Publish Date

November 7, 2008

Abstract

Budd Site (proposed TrumpStreet Casino)

andrewg — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:12:20 -0400

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The 30-acre site in Nicetown was the proposed location for the Keystone Redevelopment LLC TrumpStreet Casino. At Fox Street and Roberts Avenue, this venture received the most negative reaction from neighborhood groups in the early siting process. It was one of the five sites considered by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in 2006.

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Great Expectations: A City that Works - District 7

andrewg — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:30:15 -0400

Start: 05/05/2008 - 5:30pm

End: 05/05/2008 - 8:30pm

Start: 05/05/2008 - 5:30pm

End: 05/05/2008 - 8:30pm

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Philadelphia City Hall and good customer service?

In the same sentence?

That’s the bold goal of the Nutter administration.

You can help make it happen. How? Attend one of 10 neighborhood forums co-sponsored by the Great Expectations project and the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia.

Michael Nutter and his top aides promise to use your input at these forums to help shape the performance standards and customer service expectations that they are setting up for city departments.

Top City Hall officials will attend; they will explain the city’s goals for six core areas: public safety, education, jobs, healthy communities, ethics, and customer service. City Council members will be invited.

Registration is required. Go to the Great Expectations website or call G.E. at 215-854-5956. Invite a friend to come with you. Each event will begin with a free, hot dinner at 6:30 p.m. The forum will run from 7 to 9:30 p.m., unless otherwise noted. Free parking is available at most sites.

1. Tue 4/29: St. Gabriel’s School, 2917 Dickinson Street – District 2

2. Mon 5/5: Holy Innocents Church, 1337 Hunting Park Avenue – District 7

3. Wed 5/7: Perzel Community Center, 2990 St. Vincent Avenue – District 6

4. Fri 5/9: Klein Jewish Community Center, 10100 Jamison Avenue – District 10 (NOTE: registration at 9:00 am – Forum from 9:30 am - 12:30 pm- Lunch provided)

5. Tue 5/13: Lutheran Theological Seminary, 7301 Germantown Avenue – District 8

6. Wed 5/14: Philadelphia Inquirer, 400 N. Broad Street – District 1

7. Thurs 5/15: Einstein Medical Center- Gouley Room, 5501 Old York Road
8. Mon 5/19: High School of the Future, 4021 Parkside
9. Tue 5/20: University Square Apartments, 3901 Market Street - Community Room
10. Thurs 5/22: Philadelphia Inquirer, 400 N. Broad Street

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Walk

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Sponser

Kimmel Center Civic Feedback Session

andrewg — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:31:51 -0400

Start: 04/14/2008 - 6:00pm

End: 04/14/2008 - 8:30pm

Start: 04/14/2008 - 6:00pm

End: 04/14/2008 - 8:30pm

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DUE TO OVERWHELMING ADVANCE RESPONSE, REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CLOSED. COPIES OF THE PRESENTATIONS AND FEEDBACK FORMS WILL BE AVAILABLE ONLINE AFTER THE EVENT. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.

This marks the next round of public input in the Kimmel Center Public Space Project, organized by PennPraxis and the Penn Project for Civic Engagement and sponsored by the Kimmel Center to develop ideas on how to further enliven the building's public spaces.

The Civic Feedback Session will give citizens the opportunity to view initial design concepts developed for the Kimmel public spaces and provide feedback in response to the ideas that will help enrich strengthen the work.

Design students from University of the Arts and University of Pennsylvania will present their ideas, all of which grew from the Design Principles developed out of the public forums held in January. The Principles will serve as the basis for the public dialogue.

6:00 -- registration

7:00 -- presentation in the Perelman Theater

8:00 -- discussion in Commonwealth Plaza

9:10 -- design panel in Perelman Theater

9:30 -- end

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Symposium

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Germantown-Wayne Junction Community Visioning Workshop

mgolas — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:38:33 -0400

Start: 09/13/2007 - 5:30pm

End: 09/13/2007 - 7:30pm

Start: 09/13/2007 - 5:30pm

End: 09/13/2007 - 7:30pm

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Sept. 13

Visioning Workshop for the Germantown and Wayne Junction transit-oriented neighborhood plan

First Presbyterian Church

35 West Chelten Avenue

www.philaplanning.org/cpdiv/Neighborhood_Plans/germantown.html

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Town Hall Meeting

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Tell us about your hidden gems, eyesores

mgolas — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:03:02 -0500

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In only two short months since I became managing editor of www.PlanPhilly.com, I have had at least a dozen wonderful moments of discovery while working the waterfront.
Despite two decades of experience as a local editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer, these recent surprises introduced me to unique people, places and things I didn't know existed along the Central Delaware riverfront.
For instance, I explored a behemoth Catholic elementary school in Kensington, bought pierogies in Port Richmond, stood on old piers in South Philadelphia, finally discovered two jewels: Independence Seaport Museum and Penn Treaty Park, figured out what the Sparks Shot Tower was all about, saw the SS United States up close, learned about the archeology of I-95 in Old City ... the list goes on and on.
With that in mind, I'd like to invite all the visitors to this site to let me know about hidden gems, neat finds, even eyesores, in your community.
We are compiling a list of points of interest by neighborhood on PlanPhilly and we need your help in identifying interesting and newsworthy places that only may be known by the local citizenry.
Think of it as design and planning detective work and join the hunt. Email me your favorite finds, photos are welcome, at mgolas@pobox.upenn.edu.

Thanks in advance,

Matt Golas

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Written By

mgolas

Publish Date

January 22, 2007

Abstract

Values consolidation under way

mgolas — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 15:33:45 -0500

Bio

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In January, there will be a consolidation of citizens' core neighborhood and waterfront values identified in three public sessions in December.

The values from the forums are listed below. They will be distilled down to seven or eight primary values:

The main consolidated “values” from the Dec. 14 session at Penn's Landing were:

Walk-ability - green space, the human scale, to walk without interruption, satellite parking
Safety - people on street, lighting, police protection, no slots barns
Ecological protection - green space, sewage, runoff control, green LEED construction.
Big Sky - green space vision, broad sight lines, public access to river’s edge, low lying buildings, density, open space
Diversity - cultural, economic, generational, ethnic, activity, occupational, business, ecological.
Historic preservation - our past.
River itself - recreation, industry, open space, drinking water, touch-ability, contemplation, history, dredging, no dredging
Integration of river with rest of the city.
Community – civic engagement.
Tension between the working river and pretty "playing" river.

“One of the most interesting things I heard was the organic relationship between the river and the land exemplified by the people who work on the river in boats,” said Ryan Berley of Old City.

The main "values" or takeaways from the Dec. 12 event in South Philadelphia were:

Valuing green space, open space
Sustaining the industrial port
Quality jobs on the waterfront are the economic engine for the city
Safety comes with traffic control, crime control, no fear, public transit
Sense of community that starts in the neighborhoods
Neighborhoods protect and enhance community as a whole
Protect the history, the traditions, the Mummers Parade
How schools and churches fit into the waterfront as icons
Appreciate the diversity of economics, ethnicity, culture in our neighborhoods
Get our arms around the long-term solutions vs. short term solutions

Finally, listed below are the values that were established during the first engagement forum, Dec. 11, in the Kensington-Port Richmond section of the city:

Safety - children can play outside, you can walk in the neighborhood
Family values - small businesses that thrive, places to worship, locally owned businesses.
Easy access - you can walk or bike or bus to it.
Diversity - ethnic, lifestyle, multi-generational, economic, diversity of uses, architecture.
Open space and green space - public spaces, playing spaces.
History - existing neighborhoods, old buildings, old architecture. Historic identities.
Jobs - river related and ports related jobs. Jobs for youth.
Green technology - work with the environment.
The plan - looking for something that protects the values already mentioned.
Recreation - using water and land where they meet. Recreation for families.
Affordable housing - for seniors.