A bit of Madrid, Paris, Rome ... and ...

Presto! Buenos Aires, Argentina
(January 2018)

Frank Furness Lecture

The J U N T O depends exclusively on reader support. Please help us continue by contributing directly via PayPal, or by contributing editorial content via WritersClearinghouse@yahoo.com. Empowered by Writers Clearinghouse | S.P.Q.R. 1976 Richard Carreño, Editor Copyright MMXIII

Architecture

Mount Pleasant
in Fairmount Park
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The Most Beautiful House In Philly
Junto Photos: Richard Carreño

Between the years 1762 and 1765, Captain John Macpherson, a Scot by birth, established by John Adams described as 'the most elegant seat in Pennsylvania.' This country estate overlooks the Schuykill River. (Then, as now, the 'right' river). It features classical architecture, stunning interiors and vistas, and the best craftsmanship of colonial Philadelphia.

SOS Kicks Off New Year

Save Our Sites Schedules
AGM and Center City Tour
Save Our Sites (SOS), a non-profit historic building preservation group, will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) Thursday, October 15, starting at 7:30 PM, at Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity, 2111 Sansom Street, Center City, according to David S. Traub, the group's president. The meeting is open to the public.


Later in the month, SOS will sponsor one of the several walking tours it conducts each year.


On Saturday, October 24, the group will meet a northwest corner of 7th and Spring Garden streets for a tour of the nearby Guild House, a notable 20th-century group residence designed by Philadelphia architect Robert Venturi; and the 18th-century Edgar Allen Poe House, a former Poe residence overseen by the national Parks Service which is now celebrating the 200th anniversary of the writer's birth. Also to be discussed en route will be the Latvian Society building, currently facing preservation concern.


The walk-about will conclude at the German Society of Pennsylvania, housed in a 19th-century structure on Spring Garden noted for its Victorian-styled library, to be followed at 5 PM by an Oktoberfest reception in the society's rathskeller.

A suggested per-person donation of $8 is requested, $3 of which will support the German Society.

N.Y.C.: 11 June

Top to bottom

Photo-commentary By Richard Carreno

1. Times Square masquerading as Piazza San Marco. OK, San Marco doesn't have deck chairs....

2. The Carriage House, 136 West 18th Street. Once the residence of Elisha Brooks, one of the bruvthers of Blooks Blooders fame.

3. No. 1 Fifth Avenue. Up there, way up there in the penthouse I once interviewed Conor Cruise O'Brien, one of the true geniuses of our time. Did I know then. Hardly, I was a undergraduate journalist at NYU's Washington Square Journal. (Pic snapped from Kimmel Center, Washington Square South).

4. Portrait of James M. Hester, NYU president when I was there (late 1960's). Portrait hangs in the Bobst Memorial Library, Washington Square South.

Junto photographs: Richard Carreno

Junto Editor Part of Group

SOS Fights for Endangered Philadelphia Structures From left to right: Kristin Daly, Richard Carreño, and David S. Traub. SOS meeting at the Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion. Photo: Vickie M. Feldman By Vickie M. Feldman 08.APR.09 The three historic buildings on the 1900 block of Sansom Street still sit silently, falling into disrepair and gathering dust. An old, stone farmhouse – not a common city sight – waits in neglect in Southwest Philadelphia. And a jewel of Rittenhouse Square, the McIlhenny Mansion, faces an uncertain fate. Why? That is the question for which members of Save Our Sites (SOS) would like an answer. To discuss structures like these and to plan positive action to save them, more than a dozen members of SOS gathered in Center City on Tuesday, March 31st for their semi-annual meeting. In addition to SOS president John Dowlin, a home renovator, and secretary/treasurer David S. Traub, a noted architect/preservationist, attendees ranged in profession from the conductor of a classical music ensemble, to a local real estate agent, to a law librarian/tour guide. SOS was particularly honored to have in attendance Dr. Richard Tyler, the former executive director of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. For several years now, SOS has endeavored to raise public awareness of historically and culturally important local sites that have not been properly maintained, have been underutilized, and have been undervalued. SOS wants to attract the public's attention before a property is threatened with demolition. As David Traub noted, once demolition has been planned, it is almost always too late to do anything to stop the wheels of destruction. More than a year ago, I reported in the Weekly Press about another SOS meeting, during which members expressed concern over three historically certified buildings on Sansom Street – the former Oliver Bair Funeral Home, the Rittenhouse Coffee Shop, and the Warwick Apartments. At the time, the new owner of these sites, an Irish development company called Castleway Properties, had suggested destroying two these historic buildings in order to build a combination hotel/condominium with ground floor retail shops. SOS secretary/treasurer David Traub had discussed, with a Castleway representative, an idea to incorporate all three of the historic structures into the company's plans. Since then, however, Castleway has seemed to have put its plans for these properties in limbo. Therefore, SOS remains concerned about the future of the buildings. At the March 31st meeting, it became clear that this concern extended not just to these structures, but also to the rest of Sansom Street. In fact, Mitchell Gordon, writer and urban planning analyst, proposed that all of Sansom Street – from river to river – should be proclaimed, "endangered" by Save Our Sites.. Indeed, one of the main purposes of this semi-annual meeting was to draw up a list of important, endangered locations in Philadelphia and its vicinity. Since the National Trust for Historic Preservation has declared May to be "National Preservation Month," SOS intends, at that time, to publish its own list of endangered local sites. Knowing this, members took turns suggesting a variety of neglected and threatened structures. Suggestions quickly sparked animated discussions, making clear the concern and love that SOS members feel for Philadelphia and its environs. As there are so many endangered buildings and sites in our area, the task of coming to a consensus on a limited list is a daunting one. Possible candidates for this list range from the stone farmhouse at 1817 S. Vodges Street – perhaps the oldest one remaining in Philadelphia (circa 1764) – to the charming, but long-vacant, McIlhenny Mansion on the southwest corner of Rittenhouse Square. Described by SOS president John Dowlin as "quite splendid," this mansion, which Dowlin suggests could serve as a residence for a foreign consul, is one of the few remaining original structures on the Square.. Other, less conspicuous locations were also mentioned by SOS members at the meeting. Richard Carreño, for instance, talked about the continued neglect of a small, little-known cemetery in Green Lane off North Broad Street (near Broad St. & Olney Ave.) that contains the remains of British officers who fought during the Battle of Germantown. Mr. Carreño, who also writes for the Weekly Press, said in a 2005 article that the "…last official recognition of the [cemetery] was…more than 100 years ago." Carreño would like both Philadelphians and the British government to give some attention to this burial ground, which contains historically significant headstones and the remains of historically important personages. Just as cooperative effort between the people of England and America may be needed to save this 18th century cemetery, so the strength of joint effort may also be needed between local organizations in order to preserve other sites and structures, both the well-known and the not-so-well known. SOS recognizes that it cannot, by itself, find ways to preserve and save all of the currently endangered local sites that have historical and cultural significance. According to David Traub, "We're here to complement the other preservation organizations, not to compete with them." Dr. Richard Tyler, who was the executive director of the Philadelphia Historical Commission for 31 years, echoed Traub's sentiments during a telephone interview. "I like the idea of a concerned lay organization and that [SOS is] not highly structured. It's a citizen's group. One of its functions is to lend support to other groups." Jean K. Wolf, Executive Director of The Woodlands, an historic cemetery in West Philadelphia, concurs. "Historically, preservation has always been a grassroots effort. Today this is still true. Preservation advocacy is strongest when neighborhoods and individuals express their interests and concerns about bad development or needed protection." One issue that sparked discussion at the March 31st meeting was the encroachment of billboards on historic areas. Apparently, a law protecting the billboard industry was recently passed in Pennsylvania. Eric Bruun, an SOS member and public transportation consultant, said that "…the fact that [a billboard is] ugly and blights the community has no importance in court." John Dowlin, SOS President, suggested a citywide ban on billboards, and stated that he would write to Mayor Nutter and Governor Rendell to express SOS's concern about this issue. Besides meetings and letter-writing, another way that SOS has engaged public interest has been through tours of historic and architecturally important sites and areas. Some of the successful recent tours have covered Mid-Town Village, the Wagner Institute, and Madison Square/St. Albans Place. This May, Save Our Sites will sponsor a tour of the Girard Estates in South Philadelphia. In the fall, the organization is hoping to help organize an "Oktoberfest" event that will allow the public to tour three significant structures on Spring Garden Street – the Edgar Allan Poe House, the Robert Venturi-designed Guild House, and the German Society. To find out more about SOS, please go to: www.saveoursites.org. (The above article appeared in this week's edition of The Weekly Press).

Head-on Collison

Civic Heavyweights

'Crash' on The Parkway

Inga Saffron, bottom; Paul Levy, top (Junto Photos/Richard Carreno)

By Richard Carreño

Staff Writer
While The Inquirer's high-profile architectural critic Inga Saffron was last week dissing the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for its 'splendid emptiness,' Philadelphia's equally prominent city planning guru Paul Levy was, almost at the same time, unveiling a proposal to animate the boulevard, often noted for grandeur -- and a perverse anti-pedestrianism. Apparently, Saffron, Philadelphia's powerful arbiter of urban design, architectural taste, historical preservation, and other stuff (gosh, she's even written a book about caviar) didn't get the memo from Levy's Center City District.

The contrast between the two public policy heavyweights -- often on the same page when it comes to what's up in Philadelphia (at least, things that go up 30 floors or so) -- couldn't have been starker -- especially giving the timing of their pronuciamentos. Saffron delivered her stinging remarks Monday, and just a day later, Tuesday evening, no less, Levy presented his rosy update on continuing redevelopment on Philly's 'Main Street,' dubbed such in a PR coup from when the boulevard was constructed in the 1920s.

Even the speaking venues seemed to underscore how incommunicado this dynamic duo were (are?) -- only by 24 hours they would have been in hand-holding distance. Saffron spoke at the Moore College of Art and Design, literally next door to its Parkway neighbor, the Academy of Natural Sciences, where Levy showed up.

Saffron went in for the kill, arguing, in a subdued, almost in a bored, way, that the Parkway is defined by one, and only one, mission -- as a cultural corridor. It's monumental size, while a visual and environmental asset, also has a 'disadvantage' Saffron told her audience, including such Parkway advocates as Happy Fernandez, the college's president.

Besides, Saffron went on, where else but in Philadelphia would a grand boulevard like the Parkway include such problematic open space as its fiercely-defended baseball diamond, just spitting distance from its jewel in the crown, the Philadelphia Museum of Art?

Imagine a baseball field on Fifth Avenue in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Think a cricket pitch slap dab in the middle of London's Mall. Say, I have an idea! How about a basketball court next to the Louis Vuitton shop on the Champs- Elysées? Nah, croquet maybe.... (Saffron didn't say all that, by the way. I'm just falling prey to my own muse).

But Saffron did go on to say that the downside to the Parkway's montumentalism has been, over time, too many empty blocks. While many people work around the Parkway, live around it, and shop around it,'There's not enough density, not enough going on.... There's a ton of empty space, and ton of disconnection.' This, too, despite the future stamp of the Barnes Foundation museum that's currently under construction at 20th Street.

'There's not enough stuff. Why is it that on the premier cultural boulevard of Philadelphia, you can't buy a bottle of water?'

Actually, if Saffron had sussed out Levy's plan -- obviously in the making for many months -- she would have known that, yes, water, and other amenities, as well, were exactly what he has in mind. In mind, that is, specifically for Sister City Park, an under-utilized (hell, almost forgotten) bit of greenery fronting the Cathedral Basilica of SS Peter and Paul.

Levy presented the plan as a $17-million done-deal that will evolve over the next year or so as another leap forward, if not exactly for mankind, at least, for pedestrian-kind, like the renovation of Aviator's Park in front of Franklin Institute; the creation of the Paul Cret Cafe, across from LOVE Park; and the do-over of Logan Square itself.

To be created, Levy announced, will be a children's 'discovery' park, a boat pond, a new fountain, a chalk drawing area (again, naturally enough, for kids), and a combination cafe and community room. All existing statuary will remain, though rearranged. In all, Levy said, the new park will be the Cathedral's new 'forecourt,' richly planted as a site for wedding photo ops. (Whew! Is anyone else thinking it might be getting bit close in here?)

Levy's audience welcomed the park news enthusiastically. But whether Saffron got the communiqué -- memo to Center City District: send memos to Inga -- is questionable. I scanned the group to see if she were there. Saffron is relatively easy to spot: She's an attractive woman with longish black hair, styled in a Prince Valiant cut. (If I missed recognizing you, Inga, I'm sorry. I looked. I really did).

Eventually, all discussions about the Parkway end up confronting the two 800-pound gorillas that many city officials are loath to address: How to reroute traffic to slow-mode (again a pedestrian-friendly measure) and, what to do about the bums (in polite conversation, as was the case last week, known as 'homeless')?

At Saffron's event at Moore, I was the one, actually, who asked about the traffic issue, referencing the avenue as more 'raceway' than 'parkway.' Saffron doesn't know me, and so maybe she responds to lots of people the way she did with me. Just nodding, seemingly in agreement. (That somnambulistic thing kicking in again. Inga, snap out of it!)

It was soft-ball question. Easy Answer A: Green the service lanes as walkways, even, quaintly enough, as a bridle path. Easy Answer B: Build another traffic circle west of Logan Square to bottleneck (and hence, slow) traffic. Easiest Answer C: Time red lights for longer periods.

Saffron didn't take the A,B,C bait, and, in fairness to her, any response to my question probably would have wound up being squelched by the longwinded moderator, one Lorie Mertes. Mertes was way out of her league, having over-briefed herself, hoping to sound knowledgeable by babbling and rambling. At the end of the day, she sounded like a breathless, star-struck stand-up from Access Hollywood. OK, I might have it wrong, but I swear I heard Mertes actually say something when Saffron was nodding away that the evening's mission was to ask questions, not to answer them.

Huh? Anyway, on that note, I picked up and left. (Strange for me since I'm known as a reception grazer).

At Levy's gathering the buzz word was the 'homeless.' (Just for the record, this time I didn't raise the issue). Some of this brethren even now get fed and watered in Sister City Park, it was noted.

Levy, to his credit, is a hardliner on this issue, as he was last summer when The Inquirer discovered that some bums were fornicating in Rittenhouse Square. Levy's short answer: The bums get the bum's rush.

Memo to Saffron: I still luv ya!