Photo: Hidden City Daily
The Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia releases its 10th annual “Endangered Properties List” next Wednesday, December 12 (for last year’s list, click HERE). Among those to be listed: the Gretz Brewery at Germantown Avenue and Oxford Street in Kensington. Indeed, with numerous L&I violations, an owner, Tony Rufo, unable or unwilling to secure the property, and uncertainty surrounding its recently submitted nomination to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, many fear the complex won’t survive.
“Often characterized by ornate masonry facades and a German Rundbogenstil (round-arched) architectural style, breweries added elements of refinement to the industrial landscape of neighborhoods across Philadelphia,” notes the Preservation Alliance. The Gretz is exemplary of this style and its effect on the streetscape.
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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