Editor’s Note: A version of this story was published in the Fall 2025 issue of Extant, a publication of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia.

Conkling-Armstrong Houses

Location: 2224-26 West Tioga Street

Built: 1898

Threat: Deterioration

The Conkling-Armstrong Houses are a striking, but endangered pair of Chateauesque twins, rich in architectural and industrial history in Nicetown-Tioga. Built in 1898, the homes were designed by architect Edward V. Seeler, who trained at the École des Beaux- Arts, as a showcase for the Conkling-Armstrong Terra Cotta Company. The houses’ facades drip with ornate terra cotta details that once exemplified the company’s mastery of the material.

The homes, commissioned by company founders Ira L. Conkling and Thomas F. Armstrong, were not just showpieces, but their personal residences located minutes from their factory. Unfortunately, after the industrial heyday, the houses fell into deep disrepair. The buildings have suffered from vandalism, theft, and ongoing deterioration.

In 2019, the buildings were listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, offering protection against demolition and inappropriate alteration. But preservation requires more than designation status. In 2021, new ownership emerged with plans to restore the crumbling structures. Permits were filed, early repairs began and optimism briefly bloomed. Yet the work has since come to a halt.

Today, the homes are in peril. Without immediate intervention, Philadelphia risks losing some of its most distinctive industrial-era residences, an architectural catalog in miniature and a physical link to the city’s once-booming terra cotta industry.

Closed National Park Service Units

Location: Various

Built: Various

Threat: Lack of funding

While Philadelphia boasts an unparalleled collection of historic sites under National Park Service (NPS) stewardship, many remain closed to the public–some temporarily, others indefinitely. These closures limit access to critical chapters of American history and raise pressing questions about long-term stewardship, funding, and public interpretation.

Among the most prominent shuttered sites is the First Bank of the United States, which has been closed to the public for years while serving as NPS offices. However, it is now being restored and transformed into a museum of the early American economy. Nearby, the Portrait Gallery in the Second Bank of the United States is also closed, despite recent restoration work. Other sites, such as the Bishop White House, Dolley Todd House, Declaration House, Pemberton House, and New Hall Military Museum, remain closed, with their public interpretive programming suspended indefinitely. Outside of Center City, the Germantown White House (Deshler-Morris House) has also been closed since 2015 and is currently undergoing a renovation project.

These closures reflect a broader crisis in preservation and public access, one fueled by chronic understaffing and deepening federal funding cuts. NPS has faced staffing losses of up to 40 percent at some sites over the past decade, and recent federal budget proposals include more cuts to the agency. Without significant reinvestment, these historic buildings risk further decline and the loss of key narratives in American history.

Church of the Assumption

Location: 1123-33 Spring Garden Street

Built: 1849

Threat: Sale

After two decades of vacancy, the Church of the Assumption, a architectural landmark in Callowhill, is again facing an uncertain future. Built in 1849 by the prolific ecclesiastical architect Patrick Charles Keely, the church is the oldest surviving example of his 600-plus works nationwide. Its copper spires and unaltered Gothic Revival design earned it a place on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 2009. It also holds deep spiritual and cultural significance as the baptismal location of St. John Neumann and St. Katharine Drexel.

Although protected by local designation, the church has faced numerous threats. In 2010, the then-owner filed for demolition citing financial hardship. The Philadelphia Historical Commission narrowly approved the request in a controversial tie vote, broken by the chair. Community members, led by the Callowhill Neighborhood Association, mounted a legal challenge and ultimately won a reversal of the demolition permit in 2011. This major preservation victory kept the church standing, but not out of danger.

The building’s current owner, who purchased the property in 2012, also pursued demolition before pivoting to a failed hotel conversion plan. Due to the owner’s defaulting on the mortgage, the church is slated for a sheriff’s sale following foreclosure.

Still, there is reason for hope. Zoning reforms now ease the redevelopment of historic nonresidential buildings. The sale is a chance for new ownership to stabilize and revitalize the site. With vision and investment, the Church of the Assumption could be preserved and adapted to a new use.

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