The neighborhoods in Northwest Philadelphia are some of the city’s most stable, where change doesn’t happen very fast. Recent developments, however, are about to transform well-known landmarks that have been sitting dormant for years.

Five shuttered train stations along the two SEPTA Chestnut Hill Regional Rail lines will be receiving new lives thanks to the long-term leases the transit agency has just given to developer Ken Weinstein, founder of Philly Office Retail. “It’s the first time Septa has given a 99-year lease,” Weinstein noted. “Turning them over to us will actually save them money, relieving them of upkeep and maintenance.” SEPTA estimates it will save approximately $150,000 in annual maintenance costs. Renovation of the five stations will cost roughly $1.34 million.

Two of the stations, Mount Airy and Gravers, are on the Chestnut Hill East line. Sources place the construction of Gravers station at either 1879 or 1883, while Mount Airy’s origin is confirmed at 1875, with improvements added in 1883. Both are the work of architect Frank Furness in the Queen Anne Stick Style with gables, hipped roofs, and a port cochere on the street side. Gravers is the larger and more elaborate of the two, mostly brick with timber sections, a shed porch, and a semicircular tower rising from the ticket office and topped with gables, dormers, and a conical roof.

Both stations are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Additionally, Gravers contributes to the Chestnut Hill Historic District on the National Register and is on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.

The other three stations–Tulpehocken, Upsal and Carpenter–are along the Chestnut Hill West line. All three were added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 1981. Tulpehocken is both individually designated and part of the Tulpehocken Station Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The three stations are of similar design: two-story brick with multiple gable dormers, a second story wood porch supported by a canopy below, and station agent’s bay on the track side, which allowed the agent, who was also the telegraph operator, to watch for trains in both directions down the tracks and activities on the platform, while seated in the office.

The stations have sometimes been attributed to Furness, but that is incorrect. They are the work of Washington Bleddyn Powell and William H. Brown, who were contracted by the Pennsylvania Railroad for many of its stations. Herbert Harwood, Jr., in his book Philadelphia’s Victorian Suburban Stations, doubts the Furness attribution, citing their more conventional design than other Furness station buildings and noting that the founder of the West line, the Pennsylvania Railroad “always was a more conservative company” than the Reading Railroad, which ran the East line.

Weinstein is well-known for his adaptive reuse of buildings in Germantown and other parts of Northwest Philadelphia and has had his eye on these stations for a decade. “Back then, we surveyed the community around the Carpenter station about removing the ticket office and reusing the building and the response was positive,” he recalled. “But at the time we couldn’t get SEPTA to move on it. This year after they closed the ticket offices, SEPTA put the buildings out to bid.”

The development of the Chestnut Hill West and East train lines were each instigated by a wealthy and influential landowner in their respective areas. In 1832, the predecessor of the Chestnut Hill East line, the Philadelphia, Germantown, & Norristown Railroad opened, running from 9th and Green Streets to a station at Germantown Avenue and Price Street. It was extended four miles to Chestnut Hill in 1855 and renamed the Chestnut Hill Railroad. 15 years later, it became an appendage of the Reading Railroad line. The station at Mount Airy was added even though the area was sparsely populated at the time. It was, however, close to the home of Reading’s president Franklin Gowen.

The president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, George Roberts, responded to the competition by establishing their own line on the west side of Germantown Avenue. One of the railroad’s directors, Henry Howard Houston, had been buying and developing parcels around his home near Tulpehocken. Inspired by fellow board members who had developed housing tracts along the railroad’s Philadelphia Main Line, he began buying up land in Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill, ultimately acquiring more than 3,000 acres from Allens Lane to the Montgomery County line and on both sides of Wissahickon Creek. He convinced the Pennsylvania Railroad directors to extend the train line beyond Germantown and into Chestnut Hill and donated hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of land for the right-of-way.

Beginning in the 1880s and continuing to the 1930s, Houston and his son-in-law George Woodward built around 300 houses in the section of Chestnut Hill now referred to as St. Martin’s, which is named after the neighborhood church. The development included the 250-room Wissahickon Inn, designed by George W. Hewitt and his brother William D. Hewitt with stained glass by Ann Willet. Located at 500 W. Willow Grove Avenue, it is now part of the Springside Chestnut Hill Academy campus.

Woodward went on to create several developments with distinctive architectural styles, including French Village at Emlen Street and West Allens Lane, and Cotswold Village along Navajo Street, W. Willow Grove Avenue, and Lincoln Drive.

When considering possible uses for the train stations, Weinstein has a significant success story that precedes this new project: the station building at Richard Allen Lane station on the West line, which houses a popular cafe with an apartment on the second floor. “We saw the benefit over 23 years at the Richard Allen Lane station for restoring and reusing,” he noted. Unlike the large-scale factory and warehouse conversions he’s done, these are small buildings without a large return on investment to look forward to. “These are not money makers. They’re important to us as community gathering spots.”

The five stations differ in their zoning, lot sizes, and parking facilities. Carpenters, Mount Airy, and Gravers are zoned for Residential Single Family Attached, Upsal for Residential Single Family Detached, and Tulpehocken, while not listed in the Office of Property Assessment database, appears to be within an RM3-Residential Multi-Family zone. Available parking ranges from none at Mount Airy to 93 spaces at Carpenter.

At the Tulpehocken station, West Central Germantown Neighbors (WCGN) maintains a garden of fruit trees and native plants and shrubs, established over 10 years ago with help from the Philadelphia Orchard Project. “It’s always evolving,” said Marjorie Russell, WCGN former board member, president, and current garden volunteer. “We lose a few trees and gain a few trees. We currently have two pawpaw trees, an Asian plum tree, a row of serviceberries, a hornbeam, a sugar maple, and native pines and holly, among others.”

For a retail tenant to be successful, Weinstein feels it needs to be used not just by commuters and the neighborhood, but as a destination as well that some customers would drive to. “Upsal is most likely to succeed as a coffee shop because it sits on Greene Street and is accessible to neighborhood.” Upsal housed a cafe in the 2010s.

He is intrigued by the potential of the Gravers station, as it is tucked away in a residential area. “For the other three, we’re likely envisioning offices or studios on the first floors and residential on the second.” Weinstein believes this mix of commercial and residential is successful, because it provides 24/7 use and therefore security that other transit sites don’t have.

Some of the stations have been vacant for years, so regardless of their future use, they’ll need a lot of rehabilitation. “The conditions are similar to Richard Allen Lane when we took that on—fair to poor,” Weinstein noted. “They’re all likely to be a gut job on the interior.”

Another development along the Chestnut Hill West line is the recently designated Northwest Philadelphia Apartments Thematic Historic District. It consists of 30 apartment buildings, in close vicinity of the Chelten, Tulpehocken, Upsal, Carpenter, and Richard Allen Lane stations.

Constructed between 1910-1940, the apartments transformed the area into a middle class suburban-like neighborhood, with landscaping and lawns that harmonized with the surrounding leafy streets. The collection of buildings feature elements of numerous architectural styles, including Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, Neoclassical, Italian Renaissance, Beaux Arts, and Art Deco/Moderne.

The district features different types of apartment complexes that were common in the early-to mid-20th century. The garden apartments are generally three or four stories, usually one building consisting of several wings in a U-shape that encloses a courtyard. If the complex was sited on a corner property, the building wings would often follow each street. Low-rise flats are characterized by a rectangular shape, either a single building or several identical ones, four to six stories high, while mid-rise flats are five to 14 stories, often topped with an ornamental cornice or parapet.

Four of the properties already have individual designation: Alden Park Manor at 2961 W. Schoolhouse Lane, Cresheim Valley Apartments at 7200 Cresheim Road, Malvern Hall at 6655 McCallum Street, and Wood Norton Residences at 370 West Johnson Street.

Alongside those positive developments, many in the neighborhood remain concerned about the future of the Chestnut Hill West line.

SEPTA has long had structural budget deficits, which have been exacerbated by inflation and decreased ridership dating back to the pandemic.The deficit for 2025 is projected to be $213 million. Last November, Governor Josh Shapiro provided a one-time $153 million funding supplement that enabled the transit agency to reduce a planned fare increase from 21.5 percent to 7.5 percent. However, without a permanent increase, SEPTA officials anticipate having to enact service cuts and fare increases of about 20 percent by the fall. Governor Shapiro recently released his budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2025, which includes roughly an additional $165 million for SEPTA, as well as funds for other transit systems in the state. SEPTA officials believe this proposed increase would give it financial security for about five years.

---

---