WHAT'S HISTORIC?

[The following text was published in the May 6th and 13th CitySpace column of Philadelphia City Paper. It was authored by John Andrew Gallery, executive director of the Preservation Alliance, and draws, in part, on a research paper on historic African American churches prepared for the Alliance by Matthew S. Hopper.]

PART ONE

In April 2004, the Philadelphia Historical Commission added two buildings to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. While each one is important in itself, each also represents a larger issue of importance to historic preservation in Philadelphia. The first is Marion Anderson's house, which provides the basis for this column; the second is Guild House at 7th and Spring Garden Street, which provides the basis for next weeks.

Marian Anderson's House, 732 Martin Street, South Philadelphia.Photo: www.gophila.com.

Marion Anderson's house is a two-story, brick row house on a small street in South Philadelphia. Ms. Anderson maintained her residence in the house from 1924 to 1990. It was built in the 1870s and retains its Italianate cornice, typical of the period, and a few other original details. But from an architectural perspective it is quite ordinary. And that is one of the reasons why its designation as historic is significant.

Many people think that historic preservation is about preserving architecturally distinguished buildings. While this is the consequence of most preservation activity, it's really not the primary motivation. The primary motivation is preserving the history of people and events that have shaped the past and in so doing so have influenced the present as well. Sometimes the connection of places to events and to people is so clear it's easy to decide "what's historic." Independence Hall, for example, would be worth preserving for the events that took place there even if the building itself were ugly and undistinguished. This is also apparent in the designation of Marian Anderson's house; it is historically significant not for its architecture, but for its connection to a person and events important in the history of Philadelphia. Marian Anderson is an important part of our history not simply because she was an international famous concert artist, but because in the course of her career also reflected the struggle for civil rights for African Americans.

There is second reason why the designation of Marian Anderson's house is significant. If the underlying basis of preservation is history, then it must be the history of everyone who has lived in Philadelphia. Most of what we have preserved is representative of the dominant society, the society of racially white Americans. One of our responsibilities as preservationists is to take a broader view of history, one that encompasses the contributions of the Philadelphia's multi-cultural heritage. And a notable part of that multi-cultural heritage is the role of African American's in Philadelphia.

In examining the history of African American contributions to Philadelphia from an historic preservation point of view, buildings that African Americans have created themselves are of particular importance. Foremost among these are African American churches. Philadelphia has been a center of African American religious activity for more that 200 years. The history of the African American church is our history, reflecting both the historic growth of the city and critical aspects of its social and political history.

Mother Bethel AME Church, 6th and Lombard Streets, Phila.Photo: www.gophila.com.

Philadelphia's first African American churches emerged in the late 18th century as products of the frustration and hypocrisy of racism that African American congregants experienced from predominantly white congregations. Architecturally these first churches‹Mother Bethel, founded by Richard Allen in 1794; St. Thomas Episcopal, founded by Absalom Jones in 1794; and Zoar Methodist Episcopal, founded by 1796-looked almost identical to St. George's Methodist, the white church from which they arose. When each of these congregations built a new church between 1880 and 1890, after growing into large and prosperous religious institutions, they hired prominent white architects and chose building designs identical to those of white congregations of the time because they saw their role as creating opportunities for their congregants to have the same religious experiences they were denied in white churches.

Initially, the churches were not centers of social protest. However, the rapid black migration from the south from1890 to1910 led these churches to adopt a new role as social organizer and crucibles of protest for the African American community, a role that expanded even further in the 20th century.

The growth and location of African American churches also reflects the historic growth of the city. In1813 all six African American churches were in Center City, as were the 18 churches that existed by 1857. But by 1892 there were 28 churches and many were located in the emerging new residential areas of West Philadelphia and North Philadelphia, particularly along Ridge Avenue, a growing center of business and industry. By 1923, the churches had followed the growing black population of the city to new locations in North, South and West Philadelphia. One of the outstanding buildings of this period is Tindley Temple United Methodist Church on S. Broad Street. Occupying most of a full city block and with an enormous sanctuary, Tindley Temple stands today as a monument of African American achievement in the first part of the 20th century.

From their humble beginnings as havens of refuge to their growth into pillars of strength and centers of community organization, Philadelphia's African American churches, like Marian Anderson's house, remind us of the important contributions of African Americans to Philadelphia¹s history, which we as a community have a responsibility to recognize and preserve.

PART TWO

In April 2004, the Philadelphia Historical Commission added two buildings to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places that are important in their own right, but are also representative of larger issues of importance to historic preservation in Philadelphia. One of these was Guild House at 7th and Spring Garden Street.

Most people think that for a building to be historic it must be really old. The National Register of Historic Places in Washington DC defines historic buildings as ones that are over 50 yeas of age and, presumably as a factor of age, ones whose architect is no longer living. Philadelphia's historic ordinance has no such explicit criteria, but the designation of buildings less than 50 years of age and by living architects is rare. And therein lays one of the reasons why the designation of Guild House is important, and why it reflects a new era in historic designation in Philadelphia.

Guild House was completed in 1964, making it merely 40 years old. It was one of the earliest works by Robert Venturi, now considered to be one of the most important architects of the 20th century. Not only is Robert Venturi still alive‹and continuing to produce outstanding building designs from his office in Manayunk‹but his partner on Guild House, John Rauch, and their collaborators, Mather Lippincott and Paul Cope, are also thankfully still with us. Thus, the designation of Guild House contradicts basic standards many people use to define "what¹s historic".

Guild House, 7th and Spring Garden, Phila. Photo: www.ou.edu.

In the world of architecture, Guild House is one of the most famous buildings of the 20th century. As John Farnham, Ph.D., of the Historical Commission noted in his outstanding nomination essay, Guild House is not just an important example of a style of architecture, it defined the architectural style of the late 20th century known as Post Modernism. Most Philadelphian's are probably unaware of Guild House and those who see it while driving along Spring Garden Street probably think of it as ordinary at best (something Venturi would consider a compliment) or downright unattractive, a common reaction in the architectural world when it was first built. Yet it was the simple use of familiar materials and forms, and incorporation of modest decorative features that made the building a striking departure from the architecture of its period.

Aside from the inherent importance of the building, the designation of Guild House represents an interest that has emerged among historic preservationists around the country for the preservation of important buildings of the recent past, notably those now 40-50 years of age that were the expressions of modern architecture in the period after WWII and up to the 1960s. In 2000, the National Trust for Historic Preservation sponsored a conference on this subject in Philadelphia and other cities have begun to examine their architectural heritage from this period. DOCOMOMO, an international organization with a local chapter in Philadelphia, was formed to draw attention to the architecture of this period. And there are even a number of websites specifically devoted to the preservation of the "recent past" (see www.recentpast.org or the Los Angeles Conservancy's Modern Committee¹s website at www.modcom.org.)

Defining which buildings of this period are "historic"-meaning important enough to be protected from demolition or alteration by historic preservation laws-is a challenge. I found this myself back in 1985 when I produced the first edition of Philadelphia Architecture, A Guide to the City. For the period from 1940 to 1960 I found only 8 buildings in Philadelphia worthy of inclusion. (It's interesting to note that 2 of my 8 have already been demolished!) Four of these were designed by Louis I. Kahn, Philadelphia's other internationally famous architect of the late 20th century. This is not to say that there aren't more significant buildings of that era, but it does point up the difficulty of deciding which buildings of that era are significant once you get past those designed by prominent architects.

There are a number of buildings by prominent architects that make logical next candidates for historic designation. These include Venturi¹s house for his mother in Chestnut Hill, Kahn's Richards Medical Center at Penn and his Esherick House also in Chestnut Hill, and Parkway House in Center City designed by Elizabeth Fleisher and Gabriel Roth. After these the list of candidates drops off dramatically. Is Penn Center worthy of preservation in its current form as an example of 1950s office buildings, the start of downtown revitalization and the work of Ed Bacon? Is Yorktown worthy of being designated an historic district because it represents one of the first neighborhood urban renewal efforts and the first neighborhood built to encourage middle income African Americans to remain in Philadelphia? What about the 1950s Health Center at Broad and Lombard, or the Bulletin Building (now Drexel University) at 30th Street, a late example of the work of George Howe, architect of the PSFS Building?

National Products Building, 2nd Street and Elfreth's Alley, Phila. Photo: J. Randall Cotton

Frankly, none of these excite me as much as the National Products Building in Old City with its glitzy orange terra-cotta façade representative of the exuberant commercial architecture of its day. It was designated as historic last year. It represents the broader range of distinctive architecture of the 1950s described on the National Park Service's Recent Past Initiative website as including "futuristic coffee shops and soaring airport terminals to homes of the post-war suburbs." Those are the buildings that seem worth seeking out, that have the special character of the1950s that might make them worth preserving.

I'm looking for suggestions; if you've got one send it to me at john@preservationalliance.com.