The Philadelphia Historical Commission did not add any new properties to the local register at its meeting on July 11. Instead, it reviewed and approved a variety of requests to construct additions onto buildings under the department’s legal protections, while navigating the challenges to maintaining the character of historic architecture.

St. Peter’s School at 317 Lombard Street received approval for a three-story addition. The main building was constructed in 1873 and is a contributing asset to the Society Hill Historic District, which was established in 1999. The brick and composite paneled addition will attach to the west façade of a 1983 addition, attempting to recall the massing of several large, three-story rowhouses that formerly occupied the space. It was noted that the addition will not have a basement, so it will not require significant excavation, removing the possibility of disturbing any potential archaeological resources.

A proposal to construct rear additions and restore the windows, doors, shutters, and stoops of the front facades of seven rowhouses in the 100 block of N. Mole Street was granted in concept. The mid-19th century buildings were added to the historic register in 1967.

Another rear addition, on the house at 800 S. 5th Street in Queen Village, was also approved. The corner home was built in 1835 and designated historic in 1975. As with most requests for additions to historic buildings, the Historical Commission weighs in on how much they might be visible to the public, as well as assuring that historic materials and features will not be destroyed and new materials are compatible with the originals.

The owners of a contributing building tucked into a corner of the Victorian Roxborough Historic District will be allowed to build a two-story garage addition to the 1868 house at 4567 Fleming Street and a separate two-story building on the site. Both are modern in design and will be clad in dark composite wood siding, although the landscaping and grade of the parcel will prevent visibility from the street.

In another historic district, the French Village in Mt. Airy, a one-story addition was approved for 7321 Elbow Lane. The home was designed in 1925 by architecture firm Willing, Sims and Talbutt, who were commissioned for a number of large homes for the wealthy.

The owners of 2024 Delancey Place, which was built in 1870 and is both individually designated and contributing to the Rittenhouse Fitler Historic District, received permission to construct a garage and rear deck.

While these requests were either approved without changes or approved with final review to be done by Historical Commission staff, another proposal did not proceed. The owners of the building at 614 Pine Street, a contributing asset to the Society Hill Historic District, sought to construct a rear addition and roof deck, but was remanded back to the Architectural Committee owing to incompleteness.

Other matters regarding alterations included a demolition request and a petition to retroactively legalize windows installed in a historically designated building.

For the former, the Historical Commission approved the demolition of two one-story buildings on the parcel at 700 S. 2nd Street which will be replaced with two four-story buildings. Another structure on the lot, from the 18th century, is individually designated. The other two are not. Plan revisions addressed concerns about the buildings’ massing owing to their height and facade materials.

The current owners of the 18th Street Methodist Episcopal Church at 1730 Wharton Street sought to legalize aluminum-clad windows that had replaced many of the original wood-framed marbled blue glass without the Historical Commission’s approval nor a building permit from the Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I). The church was designed by architect J. Franklin Stuckert, and completed in 1888. It was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 1988.

In 2020, following a change in ownership, the Historical Commission approved a plan to restore the building’s exterior as part of a conversion to multi-unit residential use, contingent upon the marbled blue glass windows being retained, restored, or replicated in the front facade openings. Window plans were approved the following year by the Historical Commission staff, but not executed, and the current windows windows were installed earlier this year. A subsequent Stop Work Order issued by L&I led to the owner’s request for legalization. It was denied by the Historical Commission at Friday’s meeting and remanded to the Architectural Committee, pursuant to the Department of the Interior’s Standard 6, which stipulates that “deteriorated historic features will be repaired, rather than replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature will match the old in design, color, texture, and, where possible, materials.”

In historic designation news, the long-awaited nomination of Piers 38 and 40 at 775 S. Columbus Boulevard was granted another continuance to the September 2025 meeting of the Historical Commission’s Committee on Historic Designation.

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