Philadelphia Best

As Construction Booms, Philadelphia Seeks to Preserve Its Past
The resulting demand for space is putting pressure on older properties like the demolished Chestnut Street rowhouses, which were built in the early 1870s
and were functioning apartment buildings in good condition, said Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, a nonprofit organization that advocates the protection of historic buildings.
And Mayor Jim Kenney has set up a task force on historic preservation to recommend ways to foster economic growth without sweeping away the past, aided
by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which this year listed Philadelphia’s historic neighborhoods as among its “national treasures.”
The measures, though in their early stages, offer hope to Philadelphia’s preservationists, who struggled for years to defend historic buildings from the decay
that resulted from a stagnating economy and are now trying to counteract a threat to older buildings from a suddenly vigorous property market.
Among the buildings that Mr. Steinke fears could be demolished is a former chocolate factory built in 1865 on Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia, a few blocks from Lincoln Square, a development being built by Alterra Property Group
that includes 322 apartments and 100,000 square feet of retail space.

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