Philadelphia Region Historic Sites At Risk
In a dubious distinction, four of the state’s ten most endangered historic properties are in the Philadelphia region. The endangered list is put out annually by Preservation Pennsylvania, the statewide preservation advocacy organization.
Two of the regional properties are threatened by suburban sprawl: Valley Forge National Historical Park (VFNHP), and the Levittown Public Recreation Building. The two others are in Philadelphia and purported by their owners to be uneconomic “white elephants”: PECO’s Richmond Power Station, and the Boyd Theater.
Valley Forge National Historical Park
Site of the Continental Army’s winter encampment of 1777-78, Valley Forge was Pennsylvania’s first state park, and is now a national park. But it is increasingly hemmed in by the suburban sprawl of the burgeoning King of Prussia area, beset by commuter traffic using the park as an alternative route to the area’s infamous traffic jams, and victim of underfunding for the maintenance of its 3400 acres, 190 buildings, and 600 archeological sites. There is even an attempt by Toll Bros., a residential developer, to build 62 luxury homes on 80 privately-owned acres within the park boundaries.
Efforts by advocacy groups such as the National Parks Conservation Association have resulted in some additional funding, including an amount to possibly buy or otherwise protect the 80 acres threatened with residential development. (To get involved in efforts to increase support for VFNHP, go to www.americansfornationalparks.org or www.npca.org.
Another positive sign is a new cooperative initiative of the National Park Service, the Valley Forge Historical Society, and others to make Valley Forge the centerpiece for interpreting the era of the American Revolution. Recently, architect Robert Stern and interpretive designer Haley-Sharpe were chosen to design the park’s new $100-million Center for the American Revolution. This initiative is part of a larger, two-year general management plan currently under way which will help determine the long-term future of the 3500-acre park.
Levittown Public Recreation Building
To some Levittown may seem like a unlikely place for a “historic” preservation threat. As the nation’s first and largest post-WWII planned suburban community, this Bucks County town represents the beginnings of a national movement out of traditional cities to new, sprawling, federally-subsidized suburban development. But now Levittown is itself fifty years old, the generally accepted age that is one criteria for being considered “historic”. And its significance as an early prototype of the middle-class American Dream cannot be denied.
Under threat is Levittown’s original shopping center and adjacent Public Recreation Building, both of which could be demolished and replaced, ironically, by a “big-box” chain store. Local preservationists and the Tullytown Borough Council would rather have the original recreational center become the site of a museum interpreting the importance of Levittown as a landmark suburban development.
In a related story, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has unveiled a new exhibit on Levittown at its Harrisburg museum. In conjunction with the exhibit PHMC will host a November 18, 2002 symposium Building for Boomers: Levittown and Beyond, to explore the subject of postwar suburbanization and its culture (check www.phmc.state.pa.us for more information).
Richmond Power Station
Located on the Delaware River in northeastern Philadelphia, the Richmond Station is one of three early power-generating plants built by the Philadelphia Electric Power Company from 1919 to 1925. The coal-fired plant was designed by architect John Windrim and engineer William Elgin in a monumental Neoclassical style that demonstrated, in effect, that electrical power was now the lifeblood of the city. It at one time housed the world’s largest Westinghouse turbo-generator.
The plant was closed in 1985. This past spring the Philadelphia Historical
Commission declined to designate the property as historic, despite the
recommendation of its own staff and its Designation Committee; the endorsement
of the Preservation Alliance; and the recognition of the power station
by the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects as
its annual Landmark Building.
In contrast, a developer is currently adaptively rehabilitating the Chester (Delaware County) Power Station – a sister plant to the Richmond Station – as an office and mixed-use commercial center using the Rehabilitation Tax Credit program for historic properties.
Boyd Theater
Philadelphia’s downtown Boyd Theater is also closed. Philadelphia’s last movie palace is an Art Deco gem, and its possible demolition is generating a lot of public concern. Its plight has even caught the attention of Mayor John Street.
For the full list of Preservation Pennsylvania’s “Pennsylvania at Risk 2002” go to www.preservationpa.org. Other Philadelphia-region historic properties listed as endangered in recent past years have been: Deshong Estate (Chester City; still vacant), Ridley (Township) High School (demolished in 2001), the Lazaretto, West Chester Downtown Historic District (saved), Phoenix Iron & Steel Co. Foundry (Downingtown; now being restored as an industrial museum), Moland House (Bucks County; now undergoing restoration), Wycombe Bridge (Bucks County; saved), King of Prussia Inn (relocated and restored), and Lynnewood Hall (Cheltenham; still vacant). In Philadelphia are: Dream Garden Mosaic (saved), Eastern State Penitentiary (being restored), Knowlton (restored), Naval Hospital (demolished), Naval Home (still vacant), PSFS Building (restored), Victory Building (to be rehabilitated), and the Sigmond Lubin Studio (demolished).
Across the Delaware River, Preservation New Jersey has published Protecting Our Past: A Retrospective of Preservation New Jersey’s Most Endangered Lists which updates the fate of 47 historic sites on that state’s endangered lists since 1995 (five saved, one lost, progress being made on 41). To receive a copy of the report contact pat@preservationnj.org.
