Current Advocacy Issues
Update July 2010:
In a July 22 meeting with neighbors, Pearl Properties announced significant changes to the Granary redevelopment plan. A tower addition is no longer being proposed, and the building will be redeveloped as apartments and retail in a way that preserves its architectural integrity. The Preservation Alliance applauds this new direction and will closely follow the project as it develops.
(L) The former Reading Company grain elevator, aka The Granary, is individually listed on both the Philadelphia and National Registers. (R) A proposal to add a 12-story apartment tower would significantly alter the building.
Granary Threatened
Pearl Properties and Interface Studio Architects have released plans to develop the Granary (411 N. 20th Street) into an apartment tower. The iconic concrete structure, built in 1925 by the Reading Company, is the last of its kind in Philadelphia, where grain elevators were once a ubiquitous presence on the skyline. The proposed tower would irrevocable compromise the building's historic and design integrity, reducing its unique massing into an anonymous foundation for a frenetic new tower.
The Philadelphia Historical Commission must review any exterior alterations to the building, which is individually listed on both the Philadelphia and National Registers of Historic Places. We urge the Commission to prevent such incompatible new construction from destroying the character-defining features of this protected historic resource.
Read more about the building's history here.
Read Inga Saffron's Inquirer coverage of the project here.
Read more about grain elevators in Philadelphia here and here.
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