Changing Skyline | 2 Phila. historic buildings wrongly leveled

While the other Front Street intersections are in tatters because of years of neglect, the one at Chestnut Street looked, until last month, pretty much as it did in 1830. Gazing at the Delaware, you could understand the intimate relationship Philadelphians once enjoyed with their big river.

The loss of the two corner buildings now endangers the survivors on Chestnut Street. Demolition crews were still at work on the corner when the Spears offered to buy the building next door, at 105 Chestnut, owner Joe Headley said. "We have no plans to sell," he insisted.

Though Front and Chestnut's great maritime corner is now a memory, there is much the city can do to prevent more creeping destruction.

It should start by following up on L&I citations to make sure owners of historic properties undertake repairs before it's too late. The Historical Commission needs to provide L&I inspectors with a database of endangered historic structures. All the cross-referencing in the world won't mean a thing unless L&I officials emphasize that historic buildings are valued more than run-of-the-mill ones.

Those are certainly important reforms. But the city will not be able to learn from its mistakes at Front and Chestnut until it confronts the real story: How did a single inspector acting independently derail its official strategy?

Changing Skyline |

Inga Saffron blogs about Philadelphia architecture at http://go.philly.com/skyline