Church of the Assumption interior | Photo: Matthew Christopher
The 1849 Church of the Assumption, placed on Philadelphia’s Register of Historic Places in 2009 and threatened with demolition, will have its day in Common Please Court Thursday, May 10, almost a year after a ruling by the Philadelphia Historical Commission allowing demolition was overturned by the city’s Board of License and Inspection Review.
The Historical Commission’s original ruling in favor of allowing demolition of the church at 1131 Spring Garden Street was based on a financial hardship claim by the owner, the social service agency Siloam. This is same claim is being used by the University of Pennsylvania in a pending case of an Italianate house at 40th and Pine Streets.
The Church of the Assumption case will be heard in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, City Hall room 426 10AM May 10, 2012.
About the author
Nathaniel Popkin is co-founder of the Hidden City Daily and author of three books of non-fiction, including Philadelphia: Finding the Hidden City (with Peter Woodall and Joseph E.B. Elliott) and two novels, Everything is Borrowed and Lion and Leopard. He is co-editor of Who Will Speak for America, an anthology forthcoming in June 2018, and the senior writer of the film documentary "Philadelphia: The Great Experiment."
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I know churches are hurting all over and all, but damn, don’t let this thing get demolished… Look at that architecture, who would want that to disappear?