Demolition

The Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, a decade after withering criticism of what many viewed as a destructive renovation of its own ornate Victorian interior, is planning to demolish two historically certified brownstone structures in the 3800 block of Chestnut Street to make way for a 25-story apartment tower. The project, which goes before the Philadelphia Historical Commission Friday, would obliterate the cathedral's parish houses, designed by the noted ecclesiastical architect Charles M. Burns, and connect the proposed tower and administrative offices to the church itself via glass-enclosed walkways cut into the cathedral's façade.

No decision on demolition of cathedral buildings The Philadelphia Historical Commission failed to reach a decision Friday on whether to allow the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral to demolish two historic buildings in the 3800 block of Chestnut Street and erect a 25-story apartment tower on the site. The cathedral, around the corner on 38th Street, is seeking to tear down its own parish houses, designed over a century ago by noted church architect Charles Burns, who also designed the cathedral.

Residents determined to save Ardmore Junior High from ruins have vowed to fight on despite a Commonwealth Court decision upholding the demolition. Attorney Alan Candor, representing four Lower Merion residents, said Tuesday that he would file an appeal of the June 18 ruling by today's deadline. Meanwhile, the school district is trying to move ahead with the demolition, which now may cost more than the $1.5 million budgeted last year. A panel of three judges rejected the Lower Merion residents' contention that the state Department of Education and the school district had denied them a hearing in the case and had ignored historic preservation laws in authorizing the demolition last year.

An uninsured plumbing business destroyed in a Darby Borough fire has been condemned by the Darby Borough Council, and will be demolished at taxpayer expense. The blaze destroyed the Janess Supply Co. Inc. building at New Walnut Street and Chester Pike last Sunday. Also damaged were the Darby Shoe Store at 888 Main St. and an 18-unit apartment building at 896 Main St. On Wednesday, the council voted unanimously to declare the shoe store and the plumbing buildings unsafe and a danger to residents.

The demolition of a 102-year Victorian house in Radnor for a parking lot was halted Thursday after asbestos was discovered inside. The three-story, neglected house at 111 Runnymede Ave. was purchased by Radnor Township for $182,700 last year despite protests from nearby residents. Last week the commissioners awarded a bid of $12,740 for the demolition and cleanup. Asbestos was found in insulation around pipes in a routine inspection and was removed Thursday and Friday. The structure is scheduled to be demolished tomorrow.

The demolition crew, hired by the city at a cost of $710,000, is primed and ready for the massive demolition of the historic and abandoned Mayfair House in Mount Airy on Monday. But yesterday the owner, Arnav Industries of New York City, went before Common Pleas Judge Russell Nigro seeking an order to block the impending demolition. Nigro delayed a decision and called both sides to his chambers for a meeting today. Carl Primavera, who represents Arnav, said his client was close to an agreement with a new developer and that the 14-story, 244-unit building at Lincoln Drive and Johnson Street could become housing for senior citizens.

A City Council committee hearing is scheduled tonight on a Philadelphia Housing Authority proposal to raze eight dilapidated high-rises at the Raymond Rosen Apartments in North Philadelphia and replace them with townhouses. PHA needs Council's approval to demolish the high-rises and replace them with 814 townhouses that would be built or rehabilitated on or near the site at 23rd and Diamond streets. The agency has applied to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development for $60 million to fund the project.

A Victorian home on East Ridley Avenue came tumbling down this week, and if a few Ridley Park residents are correct, the uproar over the demolition has just begun. Council member Jack Petrie announced at a council meeting Tuesday night that 201 E. Ridley Ave. was about 80 percent demolished. A Zoning Hearing Board meeting is scheduled for 7:30 tonight to debate the development of the site, Petrie said. The subject of the demolition sparked disapproval from council member William Pilson, liaison to the borough Historical Commission, and two residents.

Newtown Township supervisors have approved a plan that would allow the demolition of the Dunwoody Home on West Chester Pike, which has provided care to the elderly since 1924. But the 4-0 vote Monday was overshadowed by complaints that Dunwoody's trustees have failed to communicate their plans to relatives of current residents - many of whom must now find other accommodations. Dunwoody plans to house 10 of the 40 current residents of the home in a proposed medical facility and relocate the others to different institutions.

Plans to demolish one of Narberth's 18th-century buildings have left preservationists in the borough feeling helpless. "There doesn't seem to be an awful lot we can do legally," said David Brawer, president of the Narberth Preservation Committee, which was formed to raise the community's consciousness about the historic value of some of the borough's older buildings. Brawer was bemoaning the impending demolition of a rundown old house at 1226 Montgomery Ave. that dates back to 1725.

No decision on demolition of cathedral buildings The Philadelphia Historical Commission failed to reach a decision Friday on whether to allow the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral to demolish two historic buildings in the 3800 block of Chestnut Street and erect a 25-story apartment tower on the site. The cathedral, around the corner on 38th Street, is seeking to tear down its own parish houses, designed over a century ago by noted church architect Charles Burns, who also designed the cathedral.

The Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, a decade after withering criticism of what many viewed as a destructive renovation of its own ornate Victorian interior, is planning to demolish two historically certified brownstone structures in the 3800 block of Chestnut Street to make way for a 25-story apartment tower. The project, which goes before the Philadelphia Historical Commission Friday, would obliterate the cathedral's parish houses, designed by the noted ecclesiastical architect Charles M. Burns, and connect the proposed tower and administrative offices to the church itself via glass-enclosed walkways cut into the cathedral's façade.

YORK, Pa. - Days are now numbered for six historic and long-blighted city properties that York College owns. York officials have awarded demolition permits for the buildings in the 200 block of West Springettsbury Avenue along the college's northern border. The college acquired the land with the long-term goal of building a dormitory or apartment complex. But for now, plans call for all of the properties to be razed and the site graded and seeded by mid-January, college spokeswoman Mary Dolheimer said Wednesday.

Excerpts from Ask Gonzo, a weekly chat on Philly.com with columnist John Gonzalez: I wonder what changed. Maybe the Flyers didn't finish their year by hoisting the Stanley Cup and marching triumphantly down Broad Street, but for a solid two-thirds of the season, they were the best team in hockey. And then came the many unexpected changes - moves that left quite a few fans and media members flat flummoxed because few (if any) anticipated the extreme makeover. After the season, I asked Ed Snider how he'd respond to the faction of Philadelphians who wanted major changes - the group that said, loudly, blow it up and do it now. "I'd say that's ridiculous," Snider said.

For decades, people walking out of Camden City Hall's west door were forced to look at an ugly, rectangular, five-story brick-and-metal building. Now, after three months of demolition, they can feel a breeze, and take in the Philadelphia skyline straight ahead as well as historical structures in Camden's downtown. The infamous Parkade Building is dead. Its remains are spread over the three-acre site that is to be turned into Roosevelt Plaza Park, a green space with benches and bike racks.

Every day for the last 20 years, the Doley sisters were taunted by the same neighborhood menace: a pair of abandoned houses on the corner of their Germantown block. No matter how many times they complained to City Hall, the eyesores remained as fixed and immutable as the points on a compass. That changed Monday. A backhoe clawed at the remains of the two derelict buildings at Rockland and Greene Streets, sweeping their scorched bricks and rotting timbers into a neat pile. The Department of Licenses and Inspections had been dispatched on the personal order of Mayor Nutter, who read in an Inquirer story about the Doleys' effort to improve West Rockland.

As the steel claws of the construction vehicle crunched a section of the roof of the Chester County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, an employee winced. "I didn't expect to get emotional," said Allison Tilling, 29, of Downingtown, tearing up as she watched the demolition of part of the facility on Phoenixville Pike in West Goshen Township. Tilling, a nearly four-year kennel technician, said she certainly understood the need for the $1.6 million expansion project that began Tuesday, but she still found the destruction bittersweet.

As Philadelphia's most beloved Catholic saint, Katharine Drexel is said to have performed miracles by curing the sick. A miracle of a lesser sort occurred Tuesday when a Philadelphia appeals board stunned preservationists and voted to spare the Church of the Assumption, the Spring Garden Street church where Drexel was baptized, from impending demolition. The unanimous vote by the Licenses and Inspections Review Board effectively overturned a decision by the city's Historical Commission that would have allowed the church's current owner to raze the ochre building, which dates to 1848 and is the oldest surviving structure on a once-elegant boulevard.

Proponents of saving a circa 1950 beachfront movie theater in Cape May from demolition are vowing to fight a "secretive, immoral" vote by the City Council to let the owners of the property move ahead with plans to build condos on the site. Members of the nonprofit Beach Theatre Foundation had been urging the council for more than a year to designate the theater, designed by noted regional architect William H. Lee, as a historic structure - believing the declaration could help bolster the fight to preserve the property.

CAPE MAY - Members of the Cape May Zoning Board on Thursday night reached no decision after listening to nearly four hours of testimony on whether to allow the demolition of a beachside movie theater described as architecturally significant. The zoning board is trying to decide whether to allow Frank Investments, a Palm Beach, Fla.-based arm of a family theater company, to tear down the circa-1950 Beach Theatre and redevelop the site for apartments and retail space. In three previous hearings, members listened to more than 10 hours of testimony from residents and from lawyers and experts representing Frank Investments.