The John Wanamaker Department Store’s Grand Court was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in July 2018. | Photo: Michael Bixler

At its meeting on January 9, the Philadelphia Historical Commission approved some of the first steps in the planned reuse of the John Wanamaker Department Store building at 1301-25 Chestnut Street. Designed in 1910 by the architectural firm of Daniel H. Burnham & Co., the iconic Palazzo-style building has been an object of concern after Macy’s closed its outpost there last year. Located just east of City Hall, it is considered a landmark anchor for the Market East corridor.

The building was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 1973, to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and has also been listed as a National Historic Landmark. The first-floor Grand Court was designated in 2018—one of only five interiors on the local register, preceded by the bronze eagle statue within it, which was designated a historic object in 2001.

A rendering showing new pockets of retail spaces for the Wanamaker Building’s Grand Court.| Image: JKRP Architects

The Historical Commission approved several changes to the building as part of its transition from a department store with offices to a mixed-use retail and residential building. The ground floor retail area will be divided into smaller individual retail spaces by the addition of bronze and glass storefront partitions. New entrances based on the building’s historic doorways will be inserted into the exterior window openings on the Market, Juniper, Chestnut, and 13th Street facades, and exterior tenant signage will be added. Two rooftop additions, a roof deck, and a pool will be constructed and will not be visible from the street.

The Historical Commission also reviewed the beginning stages of the renovation of a pair of designated houses in Nicetown-Tioga. The Conkling-Armstrong House at 2224 and 2226 W. Tioga Street were designed in 1898 by architect Edgar Viguers Seeler, the architect behind the Curtis Publishing Building at 6th and Walnut Streets and the Real Estate Title & Trust Company Building at Broad and Chestnut Streets. The twin buildings were constructed as the homes of Thomas F. Armstrong and Ira L. Conkling and served as a showcase for the terracotta architectural ornaments created by their Conkling-Armstrong Terra Cotta Company, which was located at Wissahickon Avenue and Juniata Street.

The Conkling-Armstrong House in February 2019. | Photo: Michael Bixler

After sitting vacant and neglected for many years, the pair were purchased in 2021. The new owner received permission by the Historical Commission to shore up the buildings by demolishing the interiors. The third-floor mansard roof and dormers on the rear ell were also demolished, but with the condition that these elements would be reconstructed. The proposal includes reconstruction work along with preliminary plans for a three-story addition at the rear to create 12 apartments.

Top: The entrance and rotunda of Overbrook School for the Blind at 6333 Malvern Avenue. Bottom: Wynnewood Hall apartments is slated for demolition to make way for new campus amenities.| Photos: Michael Bixler

The Overbrook School for the Blind at 6333 Malvern Avenue was added to the local register in 1970 owing to its original buildings designed by the architectural firm Cope & Stewardson between 1897 and 1900. At the meeting, the school received permission from the Commission to demolish two non-contributing buildings constructed in the 1960s in order to build a new dining hall and assembly place and improve vehicular traffic flow through the campus.

St. John’s Baptist Church at 1601 S. 13th Street. | Photo: Michael Bixler

Two other agenda items each involved the challenges sometimes posed by the need for historically appropriate materials when altering designated properties. The first was a review in concept for the conversion of St. John’s Baptist Church at 1601 S. 13th Street into 26 apartments. The East Passyunk landmark was built in 1892 as the Church of the Reconciliation and designed in the Romanesque Revival style by architects Samuel Hall Day and Charles E. Oelschlager. It was added to the local register in 2020. The original grey slate roof appears to have reached the end of its useful life, and the project proposed replacing it with asphalt shingles, citing the high cost of a new slate roof. The Historical Commission advised that slate-like materials are available and would be more appropriate than asphalt shingles.

Victorian twins at 4221-23 Pine Street. | Photo: Michael Bixler

In the second case, the owner of a twin Victorian home at 4221 Pine Street requested the legalization of the removal of slate roofing and its replacement with brown fiberglass asphalt shingles on the mansard, which had been done without Historical Commission approval or a building permit. The property is part of a larger development row on the 4200 block of Pine Street, all of which historically featured slate mansard roofs and were designated in July 2024 as part of the Southeast Spruce Hill Historic District. The Commission denied the request, stating that the brown fiberglass asphalt shingles do not match the old in design, color, texture, or materials, a requirement of the standards set by the U.S. Department of the Interior for the treatment of historic properties.

The Historical Commission did not review any nominations for designation at this meeting. The nomination of the National Marine Engineers Beneficial Association at 428-34 N. 4th Street, originally scheduled for this meeting, has been continued to the Historical Commission meeting on February 13.