SUSTA I N A BLE PH I L A D ELP HI A
take one!
MARCH 2013 / ISSUE 47 GRIDPHILLY.COM
The
CHANGING of FACE PRESERVATION Deacon Lloyd Butler and the 19th Street Baptist congregation do-it-themselves
HOUSE RULES
Overbrook Farm’s fight for (and against) historical recognition
IN THE DARK
Growing, cooking and pickling oyster mushrooms
COMMUNITY CHEST
Investments you can believe in
c spe ial
se
ction
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
THE BREWER’S PLATE Sunday, March 10, 2013
National Constitution Center
The 2013
20 local restaurants, 20 local craft breweries, spirits, sweets & more! Fair Food once again brings you a celebration of our region’s craft breweries, restaurants, farmers, & artisan producers – all independently owned and located within 150 miles of the city! A one-of-a-kind tasting event that pairs craft beer with local gourmet food for eaters of all kinds!
The Speakeasy
Where local spirits & sweet collide!
INCLUDED IN GA
@FairFoodStand #brewersplate
16 GRIDPHILLY.COM
z
the BIG taste behind small scale
fairfoodphilly.org
All proceeds benefit Fair Food, a 501(c)3 dedicated to promoting and sustaining a healthy local food system for the region!
M A RC H 2013
JOIN US IN VIP
Wonders small
THE FUTUR E OF THE PAST
years. According to one study that’s how long it takes to recover the energy lost in demolishing a building and replacing it with a new, energy-efficient one. While we do need new buildings, and it’s thrilling to see structures built that incorporate green building practices, it’s essential that we understand the value of what already exists. Preservation is perhaps a quieter aspect of sustainability, but philosophically, it’s at the subject’s root. Beyond the sustainability concept of “embodied energy,” there’s also a strong community component to preservation. What do we value enough to keep? And what do these choices say about who we are? When we at Grid were planning to tackle preservation, we were immediately drawn to the amazing work already being done by Hidden City Daily, an online news organization that excels in their coverage of a special editorial the city’s neighborhoods and buildings. An idea emerged: Could Grid partnership and Hidden City collaborate? This section is the answer. The following stories look at some of the inspiring work being done by Philadelphians to preserve the buildings they love, ensuring that our city’s future will be filled with the treasures of the past. Learn more at hiddencityphila.org
GRID + HIDDEN CITY
LAYERED QUESTIONS
What in our past IS worth preserving, and how does it shape our city’s future? STORY BY NATHANIEL POPKIN
PHOTO BY PETER WOODALL
If,
as the architect Rem Koolhaas writes in Delirious New York, “creation and destruction are the poles defining the field of Manhattan’s abrasive culture,” in Philadelphia, it is adaptation and accretion that nourish our urban experience. We feed on the peeling and unpeeling of layers, on acts of discovery that bind us—in sometimes powerful ways—to the ideals and aspirations of those who came before us. At the heart of this grappling with our inherited streetscape is the confounding and deeply ambiguous practice of preservation. Historic—or landmarks—preservation came into modern consciousness in the 1950s after the demolition of two monumental icons of the railroad age, Philadelphia’s Broad Street Station and New York’s Penn Station, and the loss of countless neighborhoods to new highways and expanding universities and hospital centers. The preservation movement galvanized various democratic instincts all at once. In Philadelphia, it led to the nation’s first preservation ordinance in 1955, a well-intentioned but weak law that was strengthened in 1985 to protect historic buildings from demolition. But in many ways, the preservation instinct runs counter to the American mindset and those who have opposed it often base their argument in the mantra of private property rights. Though basic property rights are routinely regulated through zoning, height and use limitations, etc., it is preservation that draws this kind of ideologically narrow response. In a kind of opposite ideological tact, for decades progressive thinkers, including Koolhaas, have seen preservation as distinctly reactionary, 18 GRIDPHILLY.COM
M A RC H 20 13
steeped in nostalgia and myth. One of my favorite books to set up the conflict between the desires to preserve the old and build the new is the novel Return to Dar al-Basha, by Tunisian writer Hassan Nasr, about the emotional power of Tunis’ old city (one of the world’s largest sites of preservation). “That old house and all those old neighborhoods need to be torn down,” says a character in Nasr’s book, “so they can be rebuilt with structures that have the amenities that correspond … to modern life … These old neighborhoods were built on injustice … exploitation and tyranny … the oppression of women, on the expropriation of workers’ rights.” Part of the critique, which I share, is that preservation begs us to defer to this not so gentle past, whose building materials we assume were stronger and more beautiful and craftsmanship better. But the danger of quieting the equally powerful instinct to build anew is that it saps our own confidence and architectural vision. In Philadelphia, where developers, fearful of risk, so often pander to the past, the field of contemporary architecture has been stunted by mimicry. Originality has been shunted. As the past—as if it were architecturally uniform—forcefully weighs down on present-day designers, the regulatory mechanisms for preservation have withered, creating an odd reality: great old buildings are routinely demolished while new ones are made to look old. Developers have recently been exploiting loopholes in Philadelphia’s preservation ordinance; meanwhile the underfunded Historical Commission is hard
strapped to add new buildings and districts to its protected list (New York, the cradle of destruction, has more than 100 protected and promoted historic districts. Philadelphia has nine). But the broken system is an opportunity for Philadelphians to expansively reimagine what they hope to achieve with preservation and to decide within the scope of present-day desires, among them sustainability and green construction, how best to build on our past. There are very strong reasons for wanting to protect buildings related to the development of 20th century African-American culture, Italian-American, Chinese-American, and Jewish neighborhood life in particular and immigrant life in general, and the mills and factories that for 150 years defined the rhythms of city life and lend our present-day neighborhoods scale and density. There is emerging support for the preservation of large and small examples of mid-century modern architecture, perhaps especially those that emerged from the modernist instinct to break with the past. Very few of these kinds of buildings are at present protected in Philadelphia. How we go about preserving them within the collected layers of the Philadelphia cityscape is a wonderfully challenging and sometimes exasperating task that is likely to absorb us for years to come.
This former auto showroom was converted into an office building in 1963 and then a homeless shelter in 1987. Last summer, it was repainted and and restored as headquarters for Stephen Starr’s catering business.
nathaniel popkin is co-editor of Hidden City Daily, senior writer of the film documentary Philadelphia: The Great Experiment, and author of Song of the City: An intimate portrait of the American Urban Landscape and The Possible City: Exercises in Dreaming Philadelphia.
EST
2011
PHILADELPHIA SALVAGE COMPANY RECLAIMED LUMBER YARD, CUSTOM FURNITURE, DESIGN BUILD
WED 10-6 | THU 10-7 | FRI-MON 10-6 | TUES CLOSED
542 Carpenter Lane Philadelphia, PA 19119 215-843-3074 ALSO ON FACEBOOK!
www.philadelphiasalvage.com
M ARCH 20 13
GRIDPHILLY.COM
19
GRID + HIDDEN CITY
ACCIDENTAL PRESERVATIONISTS
Beautiful buildings and fascinating history specting cast a spell on the unsu BY LIZ PACHECO The field of preservation is filled with people motivated by a passion for architecture or history. But not everyone starts out that way. In fact, some of the most interesting preservation projects in Philadelphia are being pursued by unexpected people. We call them “accidental preservationists.” Two such people, an ambitious developer and a former dancer, are hard at work on North Broad Street where they’ve found themselves deeply invested in reviving buildings that without their help might no longer exist. ERIC BLUMENFELD | EB REALTY MANAGEMENT Eric Blumenfeld claims he’s been working in real estate since he was four years old. “All the other kids got to play on Saturday and my father used to drag me to work,” he says. But the former English major—who as a freshman decided not to study accounting, he says, because the registration lines were too long—didn’t formally join the real estate and development world until after college at his father’s behest. In the late 1980s, Blumenfeld had the opportunity to buy many of his father’s properties and founded his own company EB Realty Management. While the company has various projects—many involving historic buildings—throughout the city, North Broad Street is by far the greatest in scope. “Ten years ago I [would] show up on North Broad Street,” says Blumenfeld, “and I would take bankers down here and they would look at me, like ‘you’re out of your mind.’” But standing on the rooftop of the Thaddeus Stephens School of Practice at Spring Garden and Broad Streets, Blumenfeld’s vision now seems less laughable. Looking up the block, there’s the renovated and now rainbow-painted mid-century building where Stephan Starr has headquartered his catering company. There’s the deteriorating but magnificent Divine Lorraine Hotel, which when finished will become luxury apartments and restaurants. Across the street is Lofts 640, a former factory converted into luxury apartments, and whose neighbors include two Marc Vetri restaurants and a Stephan Starr outpost. Up another couple blocks is the Metropolitan Opera House, a beauty from 1908 that’s partially used as a church, and is slated to see the addition of a music venue, art gallery and restaurant as well. And don’t forget the 1926 Thaddeus Stevens School, where a two-story art school
20 GRIDPHILLY.COM
M A RC H 20 13
and luxury apartments are planned. That’s not all; Blumenfeld has also envisioned a new public school campus on the four acres he owns behind the Divine Lorraine. The plan is ambitious, and Blumenfeld speaks exuberantly about the possibilities. “Look where you are,” he says, pointing to a map of North Broad Street. “You’ve got Temple [University] and City Hall and you have a plethora of really beautiful old factory buildings that have suffered from obsolescence.” Many of these old factory buildings, as well as the school, opera house and hotel, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, making Blumenfeld’s projects eligible for rehabilitation tax credits offered by the federal government. With this financial boost, the redevelopment of North Broad Street has become more realistic. No construction has begun, but Blumenfeld is nearing the final planning stages for the Thaddeus Stevens and Divine Lorraine buildings where he has already done significant clean up. “It starts with looking Divine at something like these Lorraine buildings. They tell stoHotel photo by: ries,” says Blumenfeld. Chandra “You can’t walk through Lampreich the Metropolitan Opera House without hearing the walls telling stories. Once you get sucked into that vacuum, there is no turning back. You can’t be for tearing that down. You have to be for how do we recreate it?”
Metropolitan Opera House photo by: Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre
Uptown Theater photo by: Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre
LINDA RICHARDSON | UPTOWN ENTERTAINMENT AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION In the 1970s, Linda Richardson was pursuing a career as a professional dancer and actress. But the North Philadelphia native soon realized that communities of color and women’s organizations—both of which she was a part— didn’t have the networking connections to get funding for their work. In response, Richardson founded the African American United Fund, which provides grants to small social, economic and cultural organizations. As part of United Fund’s work, she helped create the Avenue of the Arts, which includes the North Broad Street Joint Venture—a coalition of African-American cultural institutions on the 2200 block of Broad Street. As Richardson began rehabbing rowhomes for the Venture, she heard from neighbors that the Uptown Theater, located on the same block, was deteriorating. Built in 1929 in the Art Deco-style, the Uptown Theater was once a hub for African-American pop culture, hosting acts like James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Martha and the Vandellas. But after closing in 1978 (with a brief reopening in the ’80s), the theater went from cultural center to deteriorating landmark. In 1982, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. “We were saving the Uptown,” says Richardson about her initial reasoning for taking on the project. “We didn’t consider ourselves preservationists in the traditional sense of the term because we thought of preservation [as]
stodgy—maintaining Independence Hall. But we are preservationists.” With support from the community, Richardson formed the Uptown Entertainment and Development Corporation (UEDC) in 1995. Under her leadership, the nonprofit raised enough money to stabilize the building, repair the roof and, in 2002, purchase the theater. UEDC is now finishing the Entertainment and Education Tower, a 19,000-square-foot space, which will be available for rent, while continuing to raise money to restore the auditorium and balcony. Richardson initially created UEDC to save the Uptown, but her vision has expanded. “I think that the building is just not a preservation in the traditional sense,” she says, “but a catalyst for community change, heritage, tourism, sustainability and more importantly, jobs for members of our community.” UEDC holds neighborhood clean-up campaigns and youth training programs for careers in the music and entertainment industries. They’re also developing an AfricanAmerican heritage trail that will link 21st century cultural sites along a walking and biking path. “We see ourselves not in the traditional preservation,” says Richardson, “but in sustaining a culture and history and development of heritage tourism.” Uptown Theater, 2233 Broad St., philadelphiauptowntheatre.org
African American Historic Preservation Trail Project Pilot
FEB 26
This panel discussion will discuss the economic and social impacts of neighborhood improvement, historic preservation and cultural enrichment. Hosted by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, the panel kick-offs the implementation phase of the African American Historic Preservation trail project. Tues., Feb. 26, 5:30-7:30 p.m., free, African American Museum, 701 Arch St. For more information, visit philadelphiauptowntheatre.org
M ARCH 20 13
GRIDPHILLY.COM
21
GRID + HIDDEN CITY
SAVING GRACE ion rolls up
A congregat THEIR sleeves and saves their church STORY BY JACOB HELLMAN
L
PHOTOS BY PETER WOODALL
ook around us— churches are
dropping like flies,” says Lloyd Butler, a deacon at 19th Street Baptist Church in South Philadelphia. It’s a familiar story in a city with some 200 vacant churches; shrinking congregations can’t meet maintenance costs for their old buildings, which sit boarded up until the rare chance they might be reused. In some cases a developer will buy out the congregation, knock down the church and build new housing. Butler says he witnessed four demolitions last year alone. But among endangered churches, 19th Street Baptist, designed by the firm of eccentric architect Frank Furness, stands out—as much for its green serpentine stone as the DIY strategy employed by the community to ensure the church’s survival. Early photographs show the steeple reaching well over one hundred feet high, but today only a section of the tower’s stone base remains, and a fence cordons off the entire building due to the crumbling façade. When the Department of Licenses and Inspections threatened 22 GRIDPHILLY.COM
M A RC H 20 13
The historic 19th Street Church was in serious disrepair before congregants took it upon themselves to repair the roof.
to demolish the church, a few members of the congregation decided their only alternative was to stabilize the structure themselves. Typically, before repair work can begin on a historic building, a preservation plan must be in place, engineers must be consulted, and fully insured contractors vetted. These were simply untenable prerequisites for 19th Street Baptist, where large patches of sky were visible through holes in the church’s roof, and plants had begun to grow up from the rotting floorboards. “Those of us with trade skills, we got together and said, ‘Look, how do we keep this building from falling down?’” recalls Butler. Aaron Wunsch, a University of Pennsylvania professor in historic preservation, explains that many of the city’s worthy buildings have been
lost because their stewards wouldn’t roll up their sleeves. “There is such a thing as a grassroots, hands-on approach to preservation that necessarily complements the institutional approach,” he says. Wunsch helped the congregation apply to the National Trust for Historic Preservation for a modest emergency repair grant. Then, last winter, Wunsch, Butler (a carpenter), parishioner Vincent Smith (an electrician) and Deacon Blackson filled a pick-up truck with sheet metal and lumber at Home Depot, and began to devise an ad-hoc system to patch the church’s roof. Over a few weekends, and with under $5,000, they sealed the roof, buying time to raise funds for a formal restoration (former Mayor W. Wilson Goode has helped with fundraising efforts). “It’s true, one of us could have fallen off the roof as we stripped off the rotten asphalt,” Wunsch admits. But the risk has paid off—the building is saved.
JOHN MILNER ARCHITECTS, INC. www.johnmilnerarchitects.com NEW DESIGN PRESERVATION RESTORATION RENOVATION
820 North 4th Street www.greensawdesign.com Philadelphia, PA 19123 info@greensawdesign.com 215.389.0786 facebook.com/GreensawDesignBuild M ARCH 20 13
GRIDPHILLY.COM
23
GRID + HIDDEN CITY
historical ed dispute designation
Will the stall of Overbrook Farms be resolved? STORY BY STEFAN KAMPH
N
PHOTOS BY ALBERT YEE
early every detail —interior and exterior—of Larry
and Jean Andreozzi’s 10-bedroom house is precisely restored, as if time hadn’t touched the home since it was built in 1894. Actually much of Overbrook Farms, the West Philadelphia neighborhood tucked along the city’s border with Montgomery County, feels a lot like it did when tycoons, politicians and industrialists built it as the first Main Line suburb in the late 19th century. Stone houses with gables and manicured lawns sit on quiet, tree-lined streets. “The houses had their own individual architects, marvelous craftsmanship, and marvelous building materials,” says Andreozzi, standing near a door frame of quarter-sawn oak that he’s lovingly restored. Andreozzi is a master woodworker, and for the past 15 years this house has been his hobby. 24 GRIDPHILLY.COM
M A RC H 2013
“people come to our house and see the value of restoration,” he says, looking up the original staircase at a huge stained-glass window. Andreozzi is one in a group of residents pushing for the City to designate the neighborhood as an historic district on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. This recognition would prohibit demolition and legally require the owners of the more than 400 homes to keep their street-facing exteriors looking more or less the way they did a century ago. In 1984, the neighborhood was named a national historic district, but that designation doesn’t protect buildings from being torn down or altered. Since then, two architecturally significant houses have been demolished and others have been converted to boarding houses for St. Joseph’s University students. Despite the cultural value an historical designation brings to a community, the path to district recognition hasn’t been easy. Some residents and businesses worry that their freedom—and money— are threatened by well-meaning preservationists. Meanwhile, the Historical Commission, which City Council authorizes to protect the city’s architectural heritage, lacks the staff capacity or political will to take a stand.
THE THREAT OF DESIGNATION In 2004, members of the Overbrook Farms Club decided to seek historic district recognition from the City. The process got off to a smooth start, and club members held a fundraiser to pay for a consultant to write the nomination. But after a blistering political battle over the historic designation of another West Philadelphia neighborhood, Spruce Hill, the commission’s work on the Overbrook
Weavers Way Your Food. Your Farms. Your Community. Your Connection. Your Co-op.
Attention
Urb
an Farmer s! Henry Got C o m p Two cubic ya o s t rds of dairy b arn blend compo
Delivered wit
Contact nbe rr A Collaboration of
hin Philadelp
hia
st $75.
yman@weav ersway.coop or call 815-5 46-9736
Weavers Way Co -op an
d Saul High Scho
ol
A member-owned food cooperative open to all. Chestnut Hill 8424 Germantown Ave.
Mt. Airy 559 Carpenter Lane
Across the Way 610 Carpenter Lane
Larry and Jean Andreozzi live with their family in a 10-bedroom home built in 1894. For Larry, a master woodworker, the home has been his hobby for the past 15 years.
M ARCH 20 13
GRIDPHILLY.COM
25
GRID + HIDDEN CITY
Rules & REGULATIONS When properties are listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, owners must follow certain regulations. All exterior alterations must be reviewed by the Historical Commission before any work can take place. This includes: → Demolitions (partial or complete) → Additions → Installation or alteration of decks, fences, awnings, signs and mechanical equipment → Repair, replacement or removal of architectural features → Replacement of windows, doors and roofing materials → Masonry cleaning and repointing → Painting of facades Historical Commission approval is not needed for: → Interior alterations* → Repainting wood and metal trim → Replacing clear window glass → Landscaping and tree trimming → Seasonal decorations *Department of Licences and Inspections will refer all building permit applications to the Historical Commission to confirm that proposed interior changes do not affect the exterior of the building. Properties listed on the Philadelphia Register are not required to: → Undergo restoration or reverse alteration made to the building before the time of designation → Be open to the public
Farms nomination faltered. It was left unconsidered for seven years. Finally, in 2011, after renewed pressure by the Overbrook Farms Club and the Preservation Alliance, commission staffers began to review the nomination in preparation for the designation committee to vote on approval. At this late point in the designation process it’s typical for the commission to make sure property owners don’t suddenly alter or demolish their buildings. So, in September 2011, the commission informed homeowners by letter that they’d have to ask the commission for permission to make any substantial modifications to their homes, effective immediately. In a season where anti-government Tea Party protests dominated headlines, this was not good press for the preservation effort. RJ Krohn, a resident and the electronic musician known as RJD2, circulated a petition opposing the effort. Dozens of residents turned up to a November 2011 hearing to voice their opinions. One resident said he thought designation amounted to the Historical Commission “taking his property without compensation.” Another called the club members behind the nomination “Nazis.” V. Chapman-Smith, an historian at the National Archives, joined in opposition to the district. She says she appreciates her house’s historical detail—she spent $8,000 carefully restoring her front porch—but is worried that some residents wouldn’t be able to afford this burden. She also worries that the city wouldn’t let people update their homes for things like energy efficiency. “The original owners saw that house as an organic thing, never staying exactly the way it was when they first built it,” she says now, more than a year after neighbors began to organize against the district. Without such adaptations, she explains, a neighborhood would
become obsolete. “If we save everything, we kill ourselves.” One of the most vocal opponents to the district was the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia, a rabbinical school that has considered expanding its campus. The yeshiva owns several historic houses that are included in the nomination. While the school has already torn down one architecturally significant house, the historic district designation would prevent them from demolishing others. The grassroots effort soon drew the attention of the then-new Fourth District Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr., who represents a wide swath of West Philadelphia including Overbrook Farms. “People were divided on the issue of historical certification,” he says. “People that were against it expressed to me... that the recession was impeding their ability to repair their home. So I listened to both [sides].” Architectural details from homes in Overbrook Farms.
THE ALL-POWERFUL CITY COUNCIL Jones has asked the commission to table the discussion until his constituents could get more information. “This is the kind of designation that once you do it, you have committed to a direction for the neighborhood,” he says. “Rather than act in haste, I wanted to give people another opportunity to discuss it, to reach a mutual compromise.” Five months later, following Jones’ request, Alan Greenberger, the City’s commerce director and a deputy mayor, sent a letter to the commission instructing them to put aside the nomination process until his office could connect with all the interested parties. That’s where the process stalled. In an old, unwritten custom called “coun-
Get Plugged Into a Greener Philly with Gen3!
MG REAL ESTATE GROUP
specializes in adaptive reuse of industrial buildings into art, design, IT/tech, live/work space. 'HYHORSPHQW DQG ÀQDQFLDO analysis available to individuals or groups to help identify and acquire potential properties. Call Theresa Stigale, Broker: 215-928-0221.
215-478-6421
generation3electric.com
Electrical Services | Powerful Solutions Licensed & Bonded Knowledge & Expertise PA015898
Get to know the faces behind your food. Phila, PA | South Street Wynnewood, PA 610 - 896 - 3737 215 - 733 - 9788 Devon, PA 610 - 688 - 0015 Phila, PA | Callowhill 215 - 557 - 0015
North Wales, PA 215 - 646 - 9400
Plymouth Meeting 610 - 832 - 0010
Marlton, NJ 856 - 797 - 1115
Jenkintown, PA 215 - 481 - 0880 Glen Mills, PA 610 - 385 - 1133
Princeton, NJ 609 - 799 - 2919
M ARCH 20 13
GRIDPHILLY.COM
27
GRID + HIDDEN CITY
cilmanic prerogative,” City Council members almost always vote on specific development projects in agreement with the councilperson who represents the district in question. By consequence, these elected officials hold powerful sway over the physical development of their districts. Councilman Jones says that by nature he tends not to be heavy handed about making demands of City agencies and that his interest isn’t in derailing the process. “I have an opinion, and it’s just one of many. I’m thankful to them for respecting it.”
The reality, however, is that the commission was given its powers by City Council, which also controls its annual budget of around $385,000—barely enough to keep staff on top of the buildings and districts presently on the Philadelphia Register, let alone process applications for new ones. Council has the power to dissolve the commission or cut its funding. And recent history shows that when a councilperson opposes historic designation, the commission won’t press its case too hard.
The home of Stephanie Kindt and the original building plans from circa 1900.
A decade ago, when Spruce Hill residents submitted what many in the field considered a textbook nomination to turn their neighborhood— one of the nation’s first Victorian-era streetcar suburbs—into an historic district, the district councilperson Jannie Blackwell introduced a bill to City Council. The bill, which ultimately was unsuccessful, would have taken the power to designate historic districts away from the Historical Commission and given it to City Council. Had the bill passed, council members would have gained near-complete authority to block preservation efforts in their districts. Though
A History of Philadelphia’s Historic Register Anyone can nominate a building for historical preservation and in fact, many city landmarks wouldn’t be here today if not for local residents, students, community groups and nonprofits. Historic preservation happens on the city, state and national level, but only properties listed on the Philadelphia Register for Historic Places are protected from adverse alterations and demolition. For more information, visit preservationalliance.com
SPECIAL LEGISLATION IS PASSED to create the Manayunk Main Street Historic District; the city’s first recognized historic district JUNE 1957 Thomas Mill Covered Bridge over Wissahickon Creek protected as an historic structure
1955 PHILADELPHIA HISTORIC COMMISSION founded and first historic preservation ordinance passed in Philadelphia— only protects individual buildings.
28 GRIDPHILLY.COM
M A RC H 20 13
1983
JUNE 1971 Swann Memorial Fountain in Logan Circle protected as an historic landmark
1985 ORDINANCE AMENDED to include structures, sites, objects and historic districts
Blackwell’s bill failed, it effectively derailed the Spruce Hill nomination—the commission didn’t appear willing to fight Blackwell, even though it technically could have—and a decade later it casts a shadow over the Overbrook Farms case. With only six staff members and a budget that pales in comparison to other big cities, the commission focuses most of its resources on what it considers its most important role: reviewing permit applications for buildings already on the Register. In addition, the commission has been fighting three contentious appeals over historic properties that could be demolished. “We simply don’t have the staff capacity to meet all expectations,” says Jon Farnham, the Historical Commission’s executive director. “The vast majority of the staff’s time is spent reviewing applications. That’s what we do day-in, day-out.” But on top of being hamstrung by its small budget, as long as Overbrook Farms remains tabled, the commission has been reticent to tackle new building and district nominations. “There’s this sort of unspoken understanding that they’re not going to move on any of the dozen or so nominated buildings or the long-waiting Washington Square West district until they resolve what’s going on at Overbrook,” says Ben Leech, advocacy director at the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. “There are fates of buildings hanging in the balance.”
PROCESS → Nomination made to the Historical
Commission. → Committee on Historic Designation
schedules a meeting to determine approval of the recommendation. 3 to 4 months → If the committee approves, the recommendation is passed to Historical Commission for review and action. 1 to 2 months
THE FUTURE OF OVERBROOK Despite all the talk about government intrusion, real preservation can’t be mandated by an overstretched city agency. It will always depend on the care of the individual homeowner. If everyone had the passion and resources of Andreozzi, their houses could be as well-preserved as his. Andreozzi points out the meticulous tile mosaic in the entry foyer, and the ornate eggand-dart mantelpiece. These kinds of extravagances are part of the city’s three-century-long architectural heritage. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. But treasures like these are all over the neighborhood, in houses of the wealthy and the middle-class, both neglected and lovingly preserved. “Every house, in its own little way, is just like this house,” says Andreozzi. Councilman Jones says that other issues affecting his district are taking precedent The tile over dealing with the historic mosaic in Larry district conflict. Anyway, he Andreozzi’s says, it is the Historical Comhome. mission’s turn to act. “We
WHAT’S ON THE REGISTER? → More than 10,000 historic properties → 14 historic districts → 2 historic interiors → Includes: homes, churches, hotels, apartment buildings, cemeteries, bridges, street surfaces, parks, stores, watering troughs
anxiously await them. The ball is in their court.” Farnham says he is trying to figure out how the commission might make an Overbrook Farms district easier to swallow. Possible changes include slight modifications to the district’s boundaries or relaxed standards for renovations that are not visible from the street. Meanwhile, according to City ordinance, those temporary restrictions outlined in the letter that got everyone fuming in late 2011 will remain in effect until the Historical Commission takes up
State and rs National Registe In addition to protecting buildings on the city level, there are also state and national protections available. PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL MARKERS → Commemorate people, places and events of national or
statewide significance. Historic buildings don’t need to be standing. NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARKS → Places designated by the Secretary of the Interior
as nationally significant → 67 in Philadelphia
ORDINANCE AMENDED to include public interior spaces
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES → Places designated by the National Park Service as having
national, statewide or local significance
2009
→ 500 individual properties and 600 historic districts in
2010
Philadelphia To view the Register, visit: phila.gov/historical/register.html
CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS first interior listed in the Register of Historic Places
MARCH 2012 Penn Treaty Park protected as an historic site
PLUS
PRESERVATION EASEMENTS Voluntary donation by a private owner to an easementholding organization, such as the Preservation Alliance. This protects the property from demolition or adverse alterations by current or future owners.
M ARCH 20 13
GRIDPHILLY.COM
29
GRID + HIDDEN CITY
the issue again. That means Overbrook Farms is being legally treated as an historic district, and residents need to seek approval for outside renovations. With limited resources the commission isn’t in a position to strictly enforce these regulations. It depends on inspectors from the Department of Licenses and Inspections to issue citations, which usually happen only once a neighbor complains. Nobody is patrolling the neighborhood, looking for infractions. Councilman Jones says that since fall 2011 he’s received no complaints from constituents about the restrictions. Residents are being left largely alone with their houses and their opinions—though for those who advocate preservation, the rules provide some comfort. “Right now, we’re de facto under the regulations of the Historical Commission,” says Kevin Maurer, board president of the Overbrook Farms Club, who has worked to get the designation passed. “The world has not come to an end.”
An interior view of Stephanie Kindt’s home in Overbrook Farms.
Material Issues
The art and science of Restoring old buildings BY JACOB HELLMAN
CITY HALL—now a crisp white icon, but it was only last year that the building’s restoration was finally finished, undoing a half-century of neglect. Built with some 88 million bricks, the restoration treated 200,000 square feet of masonry, 680 windows and 250 sculptures. The project drew on an army of building conservation specialists, and employed some of the industry’s most advanced techniques. It’s no wonder the process took a decade. Modern conservation is a science, but it often must begin from a position of ignorance: old materials are simply unpredictable. City Hall’s tower is made from white Massachusetts Lee marble. But the building’s 30-year construction period was during the coal-burning era and when finished, City Hall was covered in soot and appeared gray. Press accounts even described it as limestone. To determine the appropriate cleaning technique the masonry restoration contractor tested inconspicuous spots to learn what worked, what didn’t and what might damage the stone. Ultimately, explains Nan Gutterman, who works for Vitetta, the architecture firm that oversaw the project, they settled on a “low-pressure micro-abrasive system at 25 to 35 psi”—colloquially known as sandblasting. While the tower’s bronze sculptures can’t be seen without scaffolding, they’ve also been restored to original detail from patina-encrusted oblivion. In the hundred years since they left Alexander Milne Calder’s studio, micro-crevices in the metal’s surface collected impurities and 30 GRIDPHILLY.COM
M A RC H 20 13
hastened freeze-thaw cycle deterioration. Here, the Polish-trained conservator Andrzej Dajnowski imported a German laser technology never used on this scale. The laser’s beam not only vaporizes dirt, but re-melts a thin surface layer of the metal, eliminating the pitting from the casting process and making it literally better than new. City Hall and other monumental buildings aside, Philadelphia is a city of brick rowhouses. A humble material, brick does not call forth glamorous conservation techniques, but this is why Brett Sturm, a student in materials conservation in the University of Pennsylvania’s historic preservation program, was drawn to it. “Brick is fascinating,” says Sturm. “It’s used in the 21st century exactly as it was used for the Tower of Babble—as a fired, modular piece of earth.” Sturm is finishing his master’s thesis on a defunct brick manufactory, and explains that the only significant innovation to hit the world of bricks involves the way they’re fired. Kilns were once highly unpredictable; cold spots produced under-fired bricks that eventually crumble. Around the middle of the 20th century, ceramic engineers developed modern tunnel kilns, which put out denser and more robust bricks. Even with old brick, though, conservation is largely a matter of keeping roof and gutter leaks from washing out mortar, and an occasional re-pointing. If you’ve got an old rowhouse, avoid Portland cement-based mortar. Mortar is intended to be a sacrificial buffer, but Portland is less permeable than historic lime-based mortars and doesn’t allow water to pass. Instead, water is forced through the brick, which will eventually deteriorate. If conservation science interests you, Penn’s program is one of the nation’s best. This summer the university’s Fisher Fine Arts Library (in the restored Furness building) will host an exhibition on the history of brick. Learn more at library.upenn.edu/finearts
SIGN UP STARTS MARCH 1ST: GREENSGROW.ORG/CSA
Progressive Solutions for tree and land management 610-235-6691
BECOME A MEMBER IN 2013!
Now Offering organic lawn care
usive than other “The food variety is more incl tables. The regular vege ly CSA’s that contain most protein is great!” and y, dair t, frui of addition
NURSERY OPENS MARCH 2ND!
“Love the variety— honey, ” beer, breads are great fun!
0)#+503 ). +%.3).'4/. 7%34 0(),,9 #!-$%.
M ARCH 20 13
GRIDPHILLY.COM
31
GRID + HIDDEN CITY
MODERN LOVEadelphia Thriftway
Why a North Phil deserves historical recognition STORY AND PHOTO BY PETER WOODALL
N
owadays, vintage stores are thick with “Mem-
support for protecting the Police Adbers Only” jackets from the 1980s and car collectors ministration Building, or “The Roundhouse,” at 7th and Race Streets built covet the “classic” Honda Civics from the 1970s. But by Geddes, Brecher, Qualls in 1963. appreciation develops more slowly when it comes to architecEasier to enjoy are Philadelphia’s ture: buildings must be 50 years or older to be eligible for the few examples of post-World War II National Historic Register. In Philadelphia, however, there is commercial vernacular architecture, none more exuberant than the Thriftno minimum age for a building to be called historic; and good way on Frankford Avenue and Pratt thing because the city has a few late modernist buildings that Street at the end of the Market Frankare worth preserving, but have yet to make the list. ford El. Built in 1954 for the Penn Fruit Company, and designed by George This isn’t surprising. The work of our most famous post-war Neff, the store is a glass and steel anomaly amid the brick architects, Louis Kahn and Robert Venturi, does little to in- storefronts of Frankford. Almost all the Penn Fruit stores spire public affection, much less love. Both Kahn’s Richards from this period look more or less alike, but this one is by Medical Building (1960) at the University of Pennsylvania far the best preserved, and the only one with those marveland Venturi and Rauch’s Guild House (1963) at 711 Spring ous candy-colored stripes painted on the ceiling. Let’s look Garden Street, are mentioned in most every architecture past the everyday use and common form of this striking text book, yet have frustrated many a lay person’s attempt supermarket and put it on the Philadelphia Register before to understand their greatness. someone decides to tear it down. Each architectural period—Victorian comes to mind especially—has been loathed by the following generation or two, peter woodall is co-editor of Hidden City Daily. Before only to be lauded once a certain critical distance has been that, he wrote a column on dive bars for Philadelphia Weekly, achieved. We may just now be ready to see the value in the and worked as a newspaper reporter in Sacramento, Calif. and austerity of raw concrete. Witness the recent groundswell of Bioloxi, Miss.
32 GRIDPHILLY.COM
M A RC H 2013
Preserving Magicotect Can Philadelphia pr Isaiah Zagar’s dazzling folk art? STORY AND PHOTO BY DOMINIC MERCIER
N
early 10 years ago, in
2002, Philadelphia nearly saw the loss of some of its more unique artwork: the Magic Gardens. A mosaic wonderland created by visionary artist Isaiah Zagar, the Gardens are considered responsible for helping revitalize the once derelict South Street. So when the owner of the once-vacant lot Zagar’s artwork now occupies announced he would sell, the community immediately responded with support. Their efforts saved Zagar’s work. “Otherwise,” says Ellen Owens, executive director of the nonprofit Magic Gardens, “[the gardens] would no longer be here.” While Zagar now owns the three main lots, protecting the Magic Gardens is no easy feat. The roughly 50,000 square feet of murals are made from pottery, glass and found objects. They climb over walls (both inside and out), cover shops, alleys and private homes, spreading from the central Magic Gardens site across nearly 33 Philadelphia blocks—much on private property. One tool for preservation may be the creation of a “Zagar zone of protection,” an idea posited by Sarah Modiano, a Columbia University preservation student. Modiano sees Zagar’s work as a singular visionary
art environment like Los Angeles’ Watts Towers and Brooklyn’s Broken Angel. Those works—which are discrete sculptural installations—have been named national landmarks and thus, given nominal protection. But Owens notes that preserving Zagar’s oeuvre, which is largely integrated in the fabric of the neighborhood, will be a challenge. In addition to the whims of property owners, the work is subject to seasonal expansion and contraction from rain, sleet and snow, as well as the eager hands of visitors. And because of the diverse materials there isn’t a single straightforward method for conservation. Currently, the sprawling murals are maintained by the spry, 74-year-old Zagar and a lone assistant. The Magic Gardens is now taking steps to assess general conservation, a complex undertaking considering the amount of materials used in each work and the artist’s vision. “Isaiah won’t always be able to be the caretaker here,” says Owens, “so we need to be able to understand what he wants.” Philadelphia’s Magic Garden, 1020 South St., phillymagicgardens.org M ARCH 20 13
GRIDPHILLY.COM
33
GRID + HIDDEN CITY
UNDISPUTED CHAMPIONS Temple students
make the case for Smokin’ Joe’s gym BY MOLLY O’NEILL
I
n 1971, Philadelphia boxer Joe Frazier
won the so-called “Fight of the Century” defeating previously unbeaten and heavily favored Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden. But despite being heavyweight champion, Frazier struggled with the ambivalence of fans, many of whom were ardent supporters of the more transformative Ali. Now, more than a year after his death, Philadelphians are beginning to reevaluate the boxer’s legacy, with a particular focus on the gym’s positive community impact on North Broad Street, where Frazier touched the lives of hundreds of young men who sought refuge from the streets in the physical training and discipline of boxing. Last year, Dennis Playdon, a Temple University architecture professor, enlisted his students in preserving the gym, which Frazier was forced to sell in 2008 and now houses a discount furniture store. The students’ work attracted the attention of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which named the gym to its 2012 list of most endangered historic places and designated it a “National Treasure.” The National Trust has also commissioned a market study to determine future best uses for the site. Working with the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, the students have nominated the building to both the Philadelphia and national historic registers. A listing on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places would protect the building from further major alteration or demolition. Eventually though, Playdon would like to see the gym restored to a workout and training center, a use that resonates with Frazier’s legacy. Grid had a chance to talk with Playdon about the project, the “digital gym” the students are creating, and how sustainability plays a role in the gym’s preservation.
34 GRIDPHILLY.COM
M A RC H 20 13
How important is the North Broad community to this project?
They loved Joe Frazier. He was like a surrogate father to a lot of people in that area. He was always approachable and helpful when he could be. And [he] was really important to a lot of businesses—he supported people, lent his name to projects and such. Are there other buildings in Philadelphia important to the 20th century African-American story in Philadelphia?
There’s the John Coltrane House. The Blue Horizon [boxing venue] has recently been closed and it’s being redeveloped in order to keep the Blue Horizon identity, but redeveloped into something else. Another one is the Uptown Theater, which is one of the oldest African-American theaters in the country, [and] housed huge amounts of history. And they are comparable, although the Uptown Theater is quite beautiful inside. What is the “digital gym” and how will it aid the larger project of preserving the building?
We won a small matching grant from the National Trust to build a website. Architecture students are really good at 3D modeling, and our idea was to put the gym back together virtually. So you could walk inside through the front door and enter the gym as it was and walk around, look at the walls and the pictures and the people. There would be links to news articles and press throughout the website so you could kind of relive what it looked like. This is another way of preserving the gym; to bring it back to what it was. We’ve had a great deal of luck with the movie [When the Smoke Clears, a documentary on Frazier’s life] that was put out. The photographic director has made available to us all the images. Within the next year we will have our website up.
We’re starting to do oral histories that are stories from the people who knew him. We’re getting interesting stuff. When we had a screening of the film at Temple, so many people came along. Among them were former boxers who had trained at the gym with Frazier, and they were young men dressed in suits, which you don’t get much of in North Philadelphia. They came dressed like that because Frazier told them they couldn’t dress any other way. They had to be upstanding citizens to box at his gym. He insisted on proper manners. He brought these kids up. What role do nationally recognized historic spaces play in Philadelphia’s sustainability initiatives?
Well, it’s part of Philadelphia’s identity. We have a lot of complaints about the imaginary Rocky, which was based in part on Frazier’s life… The gym is really important to the Frazier identity. The mayor’s office plans to erect a bronze [statue] at the sports stadium, but these are small efforts; the sort of ground zero is the gym. When you have a world champion in your midst, it’s usually an important figure. Preservation is about taking things forward rather than going backwards. We preserve buildings because they’re part of how we identify ourselves with our city… It’s only recently that the National Trust and preservation organizations have added the category of the importance of cultural identity to preserve buildings. Sustainability doesn’t stop with materials and things. Sustainability also has to do with the bringing forward of places. And [that has] to do with all of the people who’ve made the city what it is now. To ignore that and to only think of sustainability [as] materials and climate is to leave out the most important part—the cultural. Preservation is the design of the future. It’s the background we’ve made in order to make the future.
M ARCH 20 13
GRIDPHILLY.COM
35
GRID + HIDDEN CITY
Preservation Madness Th e addictive nature of home restoration STORY BY JOSEPH G. BRIN PHOTOS BY ALBERT YEE
I
t could have been a scene from the film The Money Pit. Christine and Anthony Shippam, owners of an 1894 Georgian Revival in Mount Airy’s Pelham neighborhood, were lying in bed, rain dripping down on them. “Honey, did I tell you how much I hate this house?” asked Christine. “Did I tell you how much I hate this house?” replied her husband Anthony. “We don’t take vacations. We don’t do anything else,” says Christine Shippam, five years into the project restoring what was one of the dozens of suburban dream houses designed by architect Mantle Fielding. “It’s become an addiction,” she says. Like any addiction, this one forces its sufferers to make apparently irrational choices: refashioning every single detail of the house’s exterior to appear authentic, circa 1894; rehanging every door and window; and hunting out restored period-correct hardware instead of buying contemporary copies. And yet the Shippams practice a rather sophisticated philosophy of restoration. “Leave the scars,” says Christine. “If you can’t fix it, let it be.” They figure there will be future stewards of the house compelled to pick up on things they’ve left un-restored. For a time, the preacher Sweet Daddy Grace, founder of the 36 GRIDPHILLY.COM
M A RC H 2013
Christine and Anthony Shippam are five years into restoring their 1894 Georgian Revival home in Mount Airy and the end isn’t in sight.
United House of Prayer for All People, lived here. The Shippams preserved Grace’s “On Air” sign in the red, white, and blue radio room. Neighbors say the columns out front also were once painted red, white, and blue in the style of barbershop poles. When the Shippams bought the house, they found all the woodwork ruined by textured paint and dogs. “There have been times,” says Christine, “when we’ve totally given up hope. But you can’t stop. You can’t back out of a commitment.” All the while friends and family keep asking, “why aren’t you finished?” Since the project began in 2008, the Shippams have weathered dust and dirt, break-ins and self-doubt, difficulties cushioned by a sense that the neighborhood itself has begun to improve. “People caring, that feels good. It helps others,” says Christine. But when asked if she could imagine the day when the house was finished and the years fighting with contractors, tracking down replacement parts, and discovering seemingly endless problems were over, will she be happy to sit back and relax? Her answer: “It would be lonely.”
RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATORS PORTABLE OFF-GRID POWER FOR: Power outages, events/ concerts, cabins, construction, tailgating. Or use daily to power parts of your home or business
HVAC upgrade
noun (āch vak up･grād)
1. When the inside of your home me feels like a cozy retreat. 2. Making your home’s heating g and cooling system work better than ever. er.
SOLAR WITH BATTERY STORAGE: Daisy chain and wind options
PLUG & PLAY SIMPLICITY! NO NOISE/ NO FUEL/NO FUMES
Schedule your Comprehensive Home Energy Assessment today. It's your first step towards saving money, saving energy and living more comfortably. Get started now for just $150.
30% FED. TAX CREDIT ON SOME MODELS DISCOUNT FOR NON-PROFIT AND HUMANITARIAN USES
215-609-1052
484-593-4262 Altern-Energy.com
Small business / Independent ownership
EnergyWorks is a program of the Metropolitan Caucus of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, and is supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
EARTH
bread + brewery
Killer Wood-Fired Flatbread, Alchemic Housemade Beer, World-Class Wine
Geechee Girl Catering Party at your place or at ours.
Innovative Low Country Cooking at it’s best!
“One of Philly’s most personal and unique BYOBs.” Philadelphia Inquirer
6825 Germantown Ave. Philadelphia, Pa 19119 . 215-‐843-‐8113
www.GeecheeGirl.com
Handmade Soda, Microbrewed Kombucha, Zero Gigantic Flatscreen TVs Live Music every 2nd + 4th Sunday 7136 germantown ave. (mt.airy)
215.242.6666 / earthbreadbrewery.com M ARCH 20 13
GRIDPHILLY.COM
41