Celebrating National Historic Preservation Month
|
|
May is National Historic Preservation Month.
To celebrate, the Preservation Alliance asked 31 historic preservation leaders in Philadelphia to name a building that has inspired them and why. We invite you to watch this space daily and hear from leaders in the local preservation movement as they reveal the historic buildings that have inspired them.
|
|
David Brownlee, PhD
PSFS Building
1200 Market Street, Philadelphia
|
|
When I was a little boy growing up in a featureless New Jersey suburb, I looked forward to our trips into Philadelphia. As we crossed the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, we first passed the marvelous but kitschy walking delivery boy on the Whitman chocolate billboard, and then, at the foot of the bridge, we would be greeted by the giant, red, but immensely dignified letters “PSFS,” angled to face us. In those days they shared the skyline with only the slender tower of City Hall. That was unforgettable, and, as a sophomore in college, when I enrolled in my first seminar in architectural history, I gladly chose PSFS as the subject of my research paper, knowing that I could visit the actual building over spring break.
Wow. Figuring out what architects William Lescaze and George Howe had created was an exhilarating visual and intellectual experience. In a perhaps quintessentially American way, they had managed to tap into and combine nearly all of the diverse possibilities of modern architecture ca. 1930: the almost classical serenity of the International Style, the energy of expressionism, the elementarist abstraction of De Stijl, and a bit of the mechanical infatuation of Futurism and Constructivism. All of this was marshalled with supremely good aesthetic judgment to make a coherent whole--and then spiced up with just a pinch of jazzy Art Deco. It was a challenge to untangle all this.
In 1971, when I was a sophomore, the then not-quite-forty-year-old building was already a commanding historic monument. It was proudly maintained by the bank that had proudly built it, and it had been the subject of one of the most vivid one-building histories ever written, William Jordy’s 1962 essay in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, which set a high standard for a young scholar. My encounter with PSFS, my first serious foray into the fascinating complexity of architectural history, set me on the path toward becoming a historian and a preservationist.
In 2020, forty years after I moved to Philadelphia to begin teaching at Penn, PSFS no longer stands as lonely in the skyline, but it seems even more monumental: recognized as a National Historic Landmark and respectfully maintained by Loews Hotels.
PSFS still enthralls me.
|
|
David Brownlee, PhD
Frances Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Professor of 19th Century European Art, University of Pennsylvania
|
|
|
Enjoy this video by Dr. Brownlee about the PSFS building.
Click on the image to watch!
|
|
|
NEW VIRTUAL LECTURES
Watch from the safety and
comfort of your own home!
|
|
Tuesday, May 5, 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Olympia, Icon of the Navy
Presented by John Brady
During thirty-three years as an active naval vessel
Olympia
came to symbolize both the glories of nationalism and their price.
Olympia
played a part in many of the events that came to define the 20
th
century, the battle of Manila Bay, WWI, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the introduction of radio to the Navy to name a few. The wide variety of roles she played made her a symbol of the Navy itself and now makes her one of the most important historic sites in the country with lessons to teach us on subjects ranging from guerilla conflicts to pandemics.
John Brady is President and CEO of the Independence Seaport Museum, the stewards of
Olympia
, and will lead us through a discussion of why this ship matters now, 125 years after her first commissioning.
|
|
Wednesday, May 6, 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Yesterday's Aftermath: Philadelphia's Epidemics and the Built Environment
Presented by The Carpenter's Company of the City and County of Philadelphia and the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia
Join us for this FREE event as Inga Saffron moderates a discussion on the impact of Philadelphia's epidemics on the built environment.
The Carpenters' Company and the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia present Inga Saffron in discussion with David Barnes, Jane E. Boyd and George Wohlreich on the history of Philadelphia's epidemics.
Inga Saffron writes architectural criticism for The Philadelphia Inquirer. This panel is inspired by her March column "Philadelphia Has Endured Plagues Before. It Adapted and Became a Better Place." Saffron has maintained her column in the Inquirer's "Home and Design" section since 1999 and has written for the Inquirer since 1984.
- David Barnes, PhD, is Associate Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania.
- Jane E. Boyd, PhD, is an independent exhibit developer and was the historical curator for the M¨¨ütter Museum's recent exhibit "Spit Spreads Death: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 in Philadelphia."
- George Wohlreich, MD, MA, is President and CEO of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.
|
|
Tuesday, May 12, 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Boathouse Row: Untold Stories of a Philadelphia Icon
Presented by Dotty Brown
Digging into 150 years of archives for her book,
Boathouse Row, Waves of Change in the Birthplace of American Rowing
, Dotty Brown, a former editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, discovered quirky and fascinating stories behind the façade of these 19
th
century houses. She will reveal some of them, including: how one of Philadelphia’s best known architects came to build on Boathouse Row; its ties with two of the city’s 19
th
century firehouses; why Thomas Eakins’ early work focused on rowers; and the battle women fought for a house of their own in the all-male venue. Dotty blogs about the Row and its history on her website:
www.BoathouseRowTheBook.com
|
|
Tuesday, May 19, 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Art Deco in Philadelphia
Presented by Dr. David Brownlee
,
Frances Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Professor of 19th Century European Art,
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia contributed an exhilarating chapter to the history of "Art Deco," the colorful, invented modern style that offered an exciting alternative to the austere functionalism in the 1920s and 30s. The quintessential style of the Jazz Age, Art Deco brought brilliant color to the decoration of the Art Museum, introduced exotic motifs (including Mayan and Spanish Colonial) to the city's new skyscrapers, and contributed zig-zagging ornament to our radio stations and "automat" restaurants. It was also one of the components of the brilliant stylistic synthesis created by George Howe and William Lescaze in the era's greatest landmark, the PSFS Building.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
