Normally, an ornate animal stable housing police-trained horses and dogs would seem a more interesting use of space than a row of public restrooms, but an exception to that rule can now be found in South Philadelphia. Philadelphia Parks and Recreation (PPR) has officially completed the adaptive reuse of a century-old guardhouse in the northeast corner of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Park. Over the past several years, the three-part, 18,000-square-foot structure has undergone extensive renovations for new use as a Welcome Center, led by the nonprofit Fairmount Park Conservancy (FPC), as part of a larger $250-plus million overhaul of the park.

An original three-story guardhouse, built circa 1919, is set to become dedicated office space for PPR as well as multiple nonprofits who operate in the park. On the other end of the property, a cavernous former auto garage has been converted to an event space large enough to hold wedding receptions for 200 people.

Yet, the main attraction for everyday visitors to FDR will undoubtedly be a collection of modern bathroom facilities, an amenity currently, and glaringly, lacking in the 348-acre park. And they’re making a show of it: the restrooms will be accessible through a large barn door entranceway into an open-air courtyard, replete with Romanesque-archways in restored historic brickwork. As visitors make their way down an adjoining corridor, they will also pass by reused stable gates, recalling the space’s previous function as a home for police horses. 

Architecture firm WRT provided the project’s design. Renovations by construction contractor Keating were completed in May. A date for public opening is not yet set. During a recent tour of Architecture firm WRT performed the design.the facility, FPC staff who worked on the $12 million project said they were excited to soon bring new life to the building, particularly one that will see its doors open to visitors for the first time. “At the time planning began, this building wasn’t really accessible to the public, it didn’t have a public use,”said Allison Schapker, FPC’s chief operations and projects officer. “So [the goals were] to make sure we provide good amenities to park users, adaptively reuse a historic building, and make sure that the building welcomed the public.”

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

Ever since its original development, the land on which FDR Park now sits has been a place for the people. Maps of Philadelphia in the 18th and 19th centuries show little happening among its substantial acreage, save for Hollanders Creek running through what is now the heart of the park, as well as a few isolated residences. Indeed, the low-lying area was referred to as primarily swampland in public records as late as 1895.

However, it was in that year that City officials planned for a different future. Articles in the Philadelphia Inquirer and other newspapers record that City Councilmember Edward A. Anderson was by that time championing conversion of the land into a “League Island Park,” its name derived from an adjacent island of that name, which is now referred to as the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Anderson and other supporters of the idea noted that Fairmount Park, which had been protected over the course of the prior century, was miles away from this rapidly densifying part of the city and advocated that South Philadelphians too should have access to parkland.

“Don’t cut down the size of the park whatever you do,” argued Councilmember Stratton during one hearing on the proposal. “Give the boys and girls a playground. Things have now come to the point in this city where a boy can’t stick his nose outside of a door, if he has a ball in his hand, but a policeman has him and marches him off to a station house.”

Yet, the park’s initial development faced a rocky road. Objections from some councilmembers over the price tag were overcome when an ordinance was passed and signed by then-Mayor Edwin S. Stuart in 1895. Still, maps from the first decade of the 20th century show little development. Indeed, a history compiled for FDR’s successful 2000 nomination to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places notes an original design wasn’t made by the City until 1908, and, even then, construction was stalled for several years by “politics and economics.”

Help arrived in the form of the Olmsted Brothers. In 1912, the nomination states, the City’s Department of Public Works approached the seminal landscape design firm to redesign the park. This time, the plans were realized and the modern landscape of FDR was constructed, complete with “picturesque curving roads, walks, lakes, and tree planting,” characteristic of the ethos of progenitor Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. “[Olmsted] believed that landscape design could affect society, especially promoting a sense of community,” the nomination recorded. “He believed that scenery could have a powerful psychological effect on people. He was convinced that the open, rolling terrain of his parks provided a specific, medical antidote to the artificiality, noise, and stress of city life.”

Work to develop the park began in 1914, and the original guardhouse on the property is thought to date to about 1919, according to educational materials provided by the City (the architect is unknown). The park’s historic register nomination defines the building as a contributing to the historic value of FDR. “Flemish-bond brown brick Arts & Crafts building,” and states it was later used as the headquarters for the Philadelphia Police Department’s Mounted Police training and Services unit. “This space is where park guards used to live and work,” said Schapker. “When they were on shift they may have stayed overnight here. Their offices may have been here.”

Adjoining stables believed to be a part of the original construction had room for 25 horses and were also later used for the Philadelphia Police Department’s K-9 Corps Kennels. Then, in the 1980s, a large auto garage was built to the rear of the property on its western flank. In eecent history, many of those functions fell away, leaving limited use for anyone besides sparse PPR staff. When FDR came up for redevelopment in 2018, it set the table for new life.

Welcome to FDR

When conducting community surveys for the park redesign, FPC staff said a few amenities came through loud and clear. They weren’t particularly fancy. “Places to use the restroom, get something to eat. Places to sit down, you know, be in the shade and take a break,” Schapker said.

However, reconnecting with historic infrastructure was also a request that popped up. Planners saw the former guardhouse as a place to scratch multiple itches. The former stable area will become a central focus, with the large exterior barn door at the far end of the courtyard rolling open each morning to allow the public into the space. The center of the courtyard has been converted from asphalt to permeable pavement and features a small rain garden to help infiltrate stormwater, as well as three enclosed stalls for concession vendors. One side of the courtyard will allow public access to the restroom facilities, while the other will provide private entry into the rear of the former guardhouse.

“The idea is if you come to FDR Park, you should be able to get an ice cream cone, a chicken wing, a cookie… something to make you want to relax and extend your stay,” Schapker said, adding they envision proceeds from the vendors helping to pay for long-term maintenance of the building.

Inside the former guardhouse, FPC staff envision office and meeting space for their organization, along with PPR and other park users such as the nonprofit Discovery Pathways, which hosts regular, free canoeing opportunities for South Philadelphia schoolchildren.

The large former auto garage, which features a high, pyramid-shaped roof sloping to a skylight, will be used as an all-purpose event space. A terrace off the garage offers immediate line of sight to an adjacent and recently re-landscaped lagoon, connecting the built and natural environments.

For each part of the renovation, FPC staff said historic preservation was taken into account. Minutes of the Philadelphia Historical Commission from earlier planning phases indeed note wrangling over the minutiae of historic windows, doors, and other materials. FPC staff said in total they restored 99 sashes and replicated five others, restored several interior doors, and repaired a pair of large decorative urns flanking the entranceway of the guardhouse

Of particular interest is the courtyard of the former stables, where staff said they removed concrete in-fills within numerous glazed orange brick archways ringing the space. They also kept and refinished the original floor of the garage.

In a nod to the future, the renovation elevated the building’s mechanicals to the third floor of the guardhouse, where they will hopefully be protected from any flooding in the low-lying parkland. The first few feet of the event space, which is closest to the park’s water bodies, is also constructed with materials meant to withstand flooding. The overall design of the building earned a LEED gold certification.

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