The First Baptist Church of Chestnut Hill sits at the “top of the hill,” where Germantown Avenue intersects Bethlehem Pike, both former Lenape trails. When the church was built in 1835, worshipers were baptized in Wissahickon Creek and attended services barefoot. Livestock was driven down the avenue. For the last five years, this landmark church has been under attack from by-right development on both sides, in spite of strong community advocacy.

In 2021, when Frankle Enterprises first proposed replacing the vacant Sunoco gas station lot at 10 Bethlehem Pike next to the church with a five-story, 33-unit, mixed-use apartment complex, residents of Philly’s highest income zip code took notice. This was not the first by-right construction site to rattle Limoges tea cups in Chestnut Hill. Back in 2011, Bowman Properties bulldozed a one-story Ford showroom at 8208 Germantown Avenue and replaced it with a six-story luxury condo featuring a Fresh Market on the ground floor. Before the foundation was laid, a group known as the Adjacent Neighbors Association entered into a prolonged battle with Bowman challenging zoning legislation, which was ultimately denied by the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

New construction encroaches upon First Baptist Church of Chestnut Hill. | Photo: Stacia Friedman

That was just a vacant auto showroom. This is an historic church with a graveyard containing the remains of a soldier who died at the Battle of Gettysburg. The Chestnut Hill Community Association met with Frankle to express their concerns: increased traffic, nearby properties would be deprived of sunlight, adverse impacts on water, sewage, and storm water runoff, and new construction that is out of character for a historic neighborhood. While the developer was unmoved, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas found that the City had “violated multiple Philadelphia Zoning Code provisions” and ruled in favor of the community association. Or so they thought. Frankle appealed, and in 2024, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court turned that ruling over in the developer’s favor.

Meanwhile, in 2022, Young Capital announced plans to demolished the one-story Santander Bank and Palladio Custom Frame Shop on the other side of the church and replace it with a four-story, 44,000 square foot mixed-use apartment building at 8623 Germantown Avenue. The $5.9 million development opened in February 2026 with its first commercial tenant, Citizens Bank, on the ground floor. The architectural rendering created the illusion of more space between the church and the new building than actually exists. If you live in 8623 Germantown Avenue, you can basically sing in the church choir from your balcony. However, the developer left enough space on the side adjacent to a boutique to create an attractive covered walkway leading to the residents’ entrance. Bottom line? This massive brick, modern industrial design building that would be welcomed in Manayunk or Kensington is getting the cold shoulder in Chestnut Hill.

“It hurts to see character and scale trounced by profit with no regard for history, context, or human scale,” said retired interior designer Katherine Converse. “I first moved to Chestnut Hill in 1968. What is happening now, on either side of First Baptist Church, breaks my heart.” Converse places the blame on by right zoning.

First Baptist Church of Chestnut Hill in 1997. | Photo courtesy of Chestnut Hill Conservancy

Retired architect James Rice, a 33-year resident of Chestnut Hill and current board member of the Chestnut Hill Conservancy, is also concerned. “I know it would be very difficult to create a zoning code that takes every urban wrinkle into account in a city of this size and age, but there must be some way to account for proximity to genuinely historic structures like the Baptist church.”

“I am not anti-development,” stated Rice. “I think that thoughtful engagement with developers to guide project designs to an outcome that is mutually beneficial is a critical service the Chestnut Hill Conservancy and other community association committees can provide. I hope I am not being naive to believe that this process can engage by-right developers as well as those that require a variance.” Rice, who was involved in the Community Association’s Land Use Planning and Zoning Committee from the early 1990s to 2004, fully supports the creation of historic districts. “I believe that any limitations that it may impose are well worth the controls that keep Chestnut Hill looking like Chestnut Hill. Isn’t that what attracted us all here to begin with?”

New construction viewed from Germantown Avenue. | Photo: Stacia Friedman

At a time when by-right development is turning into a game of whack-a-mole, creating historic districts has taken on new urgency. Lori Salganicoff, the former executive director of the Chestnut Hill Conservancy, noted in 2017 that more than 1,000 new buildings could be built in Chestnut Hill without community review. David Guest, the current executive director of the Conservancy, agrees. “As part of our 2025-2030 Strategic Plan, in 2026, we will explore options for protecting historic resources in Chestnut Hill through a community engagement process,” said Guest. “Historic districts, administered by the Philadelphia Historical Commission, are one potential tool to achieve this goal. Other options include Neighborhood Conservation Overlays administered by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, Preservation and Conservation Easements administered by the Chestnut Hill Conservancy, and alternate forms of historic districts, including tiered or flexible, as well as other zoning-related interventions.”

Given its history and architectural credentials, including Louis Khan, Oskar Stonorov, and Robert Venturi, along with Gilded Age mansions, a French Village, and Queen Anne Victorians, there is much to protect in Chestnut Hill.