Philadelphia’s Historical Commission decides the Roundhouse is not worthy of preservation

The Philadelphia Historical Commission on Friday rejected preservation protections for the former city Police Headquarters building on Race Street, long called the Roundhouse because of its unique architecture.

The designation effort would have safeguarded the building against demolition or substantial exterior alteration. The commission voted 6-6 on the question of preserving the building, so the motion failed under the body’s rules.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration does not support the historic preservation of the former Police Headquarters, and her designees on the commission all voted against it.

“This administration does not support designation at this time and has asked me as a designee to vote accordingly,” said Donna Carney of the Philadelphia Planning Commission, who sits on the Historical Commission.

During over an hour of debate and testimony, all the members of the public who spoke were in favor of the nomination, arguing that the building is a unique part of Philadelphia’s architectural history and that it would be impossible to replicate today given cost constraints.

Preservationists acknowledged the building’s troubled history but noted it was built during a time of post-World War II liberalism in the city. Even if that goal was corrupted, they argued, the previous mayoral administration’s lengthy public engagement process showed that community members wanted to reuse the building in a manner that hearkened back to its original intentions.

“Formal designation [would] celebrate its architecture, while also affording the building an opportunity to be reimagined as a community asset,” said Allee Davis, an architectural historian who wrote her thesis on the Roundhouse. “There’s nothing else like this building. … Let’s not make the mistake of squandering [it].”

Opposition to the nomination was led by Zachary Frankel, a developer of affordable housing who was recently voted to be the new chair of the Historical Commission.

He noted that he had recently toured the building with Jon Farnham, executive director of the commission, and he had found the interior severely degraded and unusable for new development. The exterior of the building, designed by the firm of architect Robert Geddes and engineer August Komendant, is uniformly understood to be in excellent condition.

Frankel further argued that the building is irrevocably tainted by a history of police injustice and incarceration and therefore not worthy of preservation.

“A large portion of what is actually in this building is holding cells that, if anyone were to see them, would make your stomach turn,” Frankel said. “There are many, many Philadelphians … who consider this to be a monument to brutality.”

But Frankel also argued that designation would be the wrong move because the Roundhouse — situated on the eastern edge of Chinatown in a sea of surface parking lots — is in an area that is in the midst of being radically reconsidered. To the east, the Independence Mall area is being redesigned, and to the west, the Philadelphia 76ers are planning a new basketball arena.

He noted that the Roundhouse’s three-acre site is ripe for redevelopment.

“With further development of Market Street, it is becoming [an] even more pivotal piece of land,” Frankel said. “We are not considering the highest and best use for this site by any means, but we are being asked to consider whether the architectural history outweighs the public interest that the potential of this site has to offer.”

Some attendees protested that such considerations should not be part of the commission’s deliberations. The issue, they said, is whether the building is historically and architecturally significant — not whether the land it sits on could be put to more productive use.

“This is the Philadelphia Historical Commission and not the Philadelphia revenue commission,” said Julia Hayman, a preservationist who testified in favor of the nomination. “Protecting historic resources should take greater importance here than the financial value of certain decisions.”

Frankel argued that not designating the building wouldn’t necessarily doom it to demolition. But the ruling does make it more likely.

The ruling can be appealed to the Board of Licenses and Inspection Review, but that body tends to respect the authority of the Historical Commission.

Friday’s ruling can be seen as a substantial shift in policy in Philadelphia. Former Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration was sympathetic to historic preservation and boosted funding to the Historical Commission, allowing it to add staffers and consider more nominations.

The ambitions of the emboldened preservationist movement have led to conflict with the development industry, some neighbors, and advocates who argued that more regulations would slow housing development.

Frankel’s appointment to the board and his rapid election to chair of the commission were seen as a means to moderate the spread of preservation regulation.

“[This] is a pretty good indicator of where the mayor might be on preservation,” said Oscar Beisert, a well-known preservationist in the city. “But it’s very shortsighted.”