Assault on Philly's Waterfront Architecture

Cities are rarely destroyed in one fell swoop (with the notable exception of New Orleans). It happens incrementally, so you hardly notice. One building goes down. Then another. Until one day you realize that a group of buildings as familiar as an old sweater is gone, and the land they occupied is being used to park cars. That's what happened to the north side of Front and Walnut Streets in Old City, across from the Sheraton Hotel. The block, which rose up in Philadelphia's 19th Century shipbuilding heyday and was a major gateway to Penn's Landing, survived nearly intact until 1993 , when the Rendell Administration okayed a run of demolition orders. The result is that Bookbinders is the only historic building standing on the block today.

Why bring up the story of Front and Walnut now? Because the owners of a similar group of historic, Greek Revival waterfront-era buildings at Front and Chestnut Streets (above) are now trying to clear that important intersection in much the same way. The Spear brothers, who also own the Front Street parking lot just north of Chestnut Street, will ask the city Historical Commission on Wednesday, at 11 a.m., for permission to tear down the two early 19th Century buildings pictured here, 48 and 50 S. Front Street, as well as one around the corner at 103 Chestnut. If they get their way, they'll have destroyed one of the last intact Front Street intersections, and wiped out yet another vestige of Philadelphia's maritime heritage. Right now, the 100 block of Chestnut Street, between Front and Second, offers a complete, untouched set of 19th Century commercial architecture. Jon Farnham, at the Historical Commission, says the node is essentially one of the oldest commercial corners in the city. But once the intersection goes, who know what will follow. The Spears also own 107 Chestnut Street, but not 105.

Unfortunately, the Spears, who bought the historically designated buildings two years ago, and their previous owner, Gagan Lakmna, of CREI, let them fall into ruin. The three structures were declared imminently dangerous last week. Although an independent engineering assessment by Keast & Hood maintains that they're easily salvageable, the Spears argue that the costs would be prohibitive. They're claiming financial hardship as grounds for the demolition of the buildings, which are part of the Old City historic district. How ironic that, even as Penn Praxis is struggling to bring new life to the Delaware waterfront, some owners still don't realize the vaule of the city's surviving maritime architecture.

The financial hardship claim was what made the clearance possible at Front and Walnut in 1993. The Taxin family, which owned Bookbinders, had been fighting with the city for years over permission to raze the Elisha Webb Chandelry at 136 S. Front Street, an 1835 building that had provided support services to the waterfront. But in 1993, within months of taking office and appointing Wayne Spilove head of the Historical Commission, Rendell reversed city policy and allowed the demolition permit to go through. The buildings at 115 and 117 Walnut came down a few months later, in 1994. The destruction of the block was completed in 1995 with demolition orders for 101, 103, 107 and 109 Walnut. The plague soon spread north, when the owners of 110-112 S. Front Street also won a demo order.

That address is now the home of the Beaumont condos, a high-rise that was jammed so awkwardly onto the narrow site that its entire north side is an unrelenting wall of concrete. Lakhmna's CREI group is putting up a similar, 12-story blank-walled high-rise at the corner of Front and Walnut - although that project is moving so slowly you have to wonder if the construction is being done by a lone workman. The rest of the block remains a vast surface parking lot. If the buildings at Front and Chestnut go down, will that be their fate, too?
Fortunately, this isn't 1993 or Spilove's historical commission. David Perri, the city's chief code engineer and the No. 2 guy at the Department of Licenses and Inspections, said he intends to fight the Spears' demolition effort any way he can. He countered their request by issuing a citation for demolition by neglect, which carries a $300-a-day fine. "We want those buildings saved," Perri told me in no uncertain terms . "They’re important buildings. They're the soul of this city. People who own them have to understand that." I think that series of sentences may be the most unequivocal statement I have ever heard uttered from the mouth of a city official. "It's absolutely critical that they be saved," Perri added. "One of the reasons Old City so hot, is because of these historical buildings like these. From the engineering reports I've read, I believe they can be saved and put back into service."

Rich Thom, who heads Old City Civic's zoning committee said he was shocked to hear of the Spears demolition request. What's at stake, he said, is"the face of 19th Century Philadelphia."
The fight to save that great shipbuilding era begins Wednesday.