Soon to be known as the Snyder House | Photo: Bradley Maule
As renovation of the historic Baptist Institute for Christian Workers in South Philadelphia nears completion, its new identity waits on deck. The Department of Veterans Affairs leases the building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, to serve the needs of vets recovering from addiction and homelessness.
The 40-bed facility, which will be known as the Snyder House, is scheduled to open its doors by Thanksgiving, says VA spokesperson Jennifer Askey.
“Veterans will be offered individual and group therapy, education related to medical conditions, health and wellness classes, computer skills classes, housing support services, vocational support services, chaplain services and family support services,” she says.
The use as a transitional living center is in keeping with the Baptist Institute’s social justice legacy from the late 19th century, when the settlement house was pioneered in major industrial cities. Like Jane Addams’ Hull House in Chicago, the Baptist Institute was geared toward ameliorating the quality of life of the working classes. In South Philadelphia’s case, it served a population that was largely male and Italian.
An eagle and shield adorn the crown | Photo: Bradley Maule
Construction began in 1911, but was only completed in 1929 with the addition of the fourth floor. The building occupies an irregular parcel of land between Broad and 15th Streets and Snyder and Passyunk Avenues. A daycare center currently operates out of the Passyunk storefront.
The Snyder House also marks the second time that the U.S. government will lease the property. In 1952 the Navy briefly occupied the building, after the Baptist Institute, at that time a junior college, had relocated to the Main Line. From 1958 onward, the building’s primary use was as the Crown Nursing Home. After that, until recently, it was known as the Cambridge Retirement Community.
The Baptist Institute’s design came from the desk of Benjamin Rush Stevens, who started in the prolific firm of brothers G.W. and W.D. Hewitt before branching off on his own. The Carnegie Library in Manayunk, now being converted into condominiums, is his other major extant work.
Stevens’ design for the building—Jacobean mixed with late Gothic—was, and mostly still is, peculiar for its era and location, as the National Register nomination, prepared by Jeffrey Cohen and George Thomas in 1980, observes.
“The vocabulary chosen was particularly powerful in the area, as if the Baptists wanted to confront these recently arrived Italians with and English tradition of conscientious humanitarianism akin to the private endowment of universities,” they wrote.
The Snyder House had been slated to open in the fall of 2012 when renovations began last year. Askey cited the complexities of rehabilitating an old building as part of the reason for the delays. The building’s 21st Century conversion has required new plumbing, as well as the installation of electrical and security systems. Surrounded by an increasingly eclectic mix of Flemish Revival houses, old refitted banks, newer retail chains, and mid-century specimens such as South Philadelphia High School and the Melrose Diner, this aspiring philanthropic gem in a high-density, high-traffic community continues to hold down the fort.
This article, A Baptist Rebirth As The Snyder House made my day, 7/3/2016, a happier one. I was researching information regarding Rev. James E. Quinn (b.1906) and Ellen Cushing Junior College when this article appeared. For decades I have recognized and experienced the collapsing of the American Baptist Churches, Institutions, Historical Records, etc. God’s Agenda Out GOP Agenda In. ABC Leaders of 70’s to today; ALL IN ON IT $$$$$. A conspiracy of power and greed by the political lobbyist/lawyers of Chester County to Lancaster County to Pennsylvania State level have infiltrated all Religious Organizations and Institutions. Thank you, Christopher Mote, for this story and photo.
a great and helpful place i was there once before and need there help again
I AM CURRENTLY RESIDING IN PHOENIXVILLE & HAVE BEEN TOLERATING & STRUGGLING WITH A FAMILY OF 5 OVERHEAD I CANNOT CONTINUE 2 DRINK ALCOHOL & POP SEROQUEL 2 EASE MY STRESS !!! PLEASE HELP ME!!
Hello I would like to know does your establishment accept SSVF funding for a bedroom? I lost my Hud Vash voucher. please let me know something asap. thank you veteran Bryant Lewis. call back number# 267-315-9954
Hello . I am Kamal from Algeria, retired from the Algerian Navy. I am a tourist here in Philadelphia. Can I visit your headquarters? Thank you.
nurse Emily has refused for the entire time I’ve been here at Snyder house to report my pain as a 10. apparently I found out at the big VA that she and the other night time staff fefuse to rite my pain as a 10 only an.. because they would have to send me to the bid VA to get check in the ER. I shouldn’t of had to wait 2 and a half weeks till my next physical therapy appionment to see my primary doctor for my pains in my ear ,my planter fasciitis , very bad back muscular pain back ,spinal bone pain, and of course the pain in my left knee. and raising concerns about my nerve damage pains in my hands and wrist now going up to my for arms , and shoulders. this nerve pain feels like my arms are being crushed.
so any way after telling my physical therapist . my body is in to much pain to do physical therapy. she ask we why did you come in . nurse Emily would not and refused to enter my pain as a 10 because I would have to go-to the big VA woodland Ave. can you please put in a note that my pains are to bad to do physical therapy and that I could not get an earlier appointment to get my Uber ride here because nurse Emily refused to report my pain as a 10 only as 8every time. she gave me advic3e to go see my primary doc exspline to her what’s going and I will make the note. my primary sent me to get x rays of my feet because I had to request them online because nurse Emily would not report my pain as a ten . after x rays of my ankles and feet . I then went to orthopedic and had to ask for advise about the situation with my knee getting worse they then said go to the ER and tell them about this and I went , to the ER they saw that my left leg was swollen and sent me for ultra sounds to check for blood clots and x ray of my knee. the ultra sound reported that there is more peices of damage building up behind my knee. I said I tried to get here sooner however nurse Emily refused to report my pain as a 10 for the last 2 weeks that my over all pains for these medcal laments. could have been found to be worsening sooner. my ear and throat pain sore throat, also was not documented m
by up stairs as a 10 and also I told the down stairs this pain is a 10. for the last 3 weeks all I’ve done was bable to my self out loud about this to other patients that I have all these pains and nurse Emily wont record my pain as a 10 so the nurses down stairs didn’t know that I had been trying to get to the big VA..
and the security gaurde I’ll be sending an email to his company to also complain and make a documents complaint the he called the city police on me instead of us goping to write our recorded complaint at the same time I recorded most of this with video and also just audio…..
they said I’m note allowed to ask what peoples pronouns are I say yes I do that’s why they are there to ask properly tnot to offend people persons humans how they identify them they their selves. which meats the demographic guide lines of what to refer individuals as. the security gaurde had no right to start confronting me from 2 feet away . now I’m in my room naked for the last 2 and a half hours so no body trys to come in and give my any shots arm a tell me I need to calm down. I did not holler yell scream . I spoke assertively with no hostility or aggregation in my voice till I got to my room and striped my close down. with my medicine me waiting till I have no longer feel manic. when I feel less manic I will be going to bed naked as I hollered out my bed room door ni have insomnia but I’m going to sleep naked with no come I’ll leave in the morning . cause abviuosly the voices from the hall way asked me several times can you to the VA . NO you cant