>At 20th and Arch Streets, perched on the edge of a vast surface parking lot, sits a nearly 100-year-old Gulf gas station done up in Spanish terra-cotta trappings.
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>This vacant remnant of the early age of mass automobile ownership is protected by historic preservation regulations. It also stands in the way of the new 18-story office tower designed for insurance giant Chubb Ltd.
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>That’s why the 200-square-foot structure is going to be moved from its present location to the area around the Sedgley Porter House in Fairmount Park’s Lemon Hill section.

>“The structure will be preserved and, while placed in an ahistorical context, it’s going to remain publicly usable,” said Patrick Grossi, director of advocacy for the Preservation Alliance of Philadelphia.

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I’ve walked by that a million times and never realized it was an old gas station.

I am a big fan of architecture and generally speaking agree with the logic behind historical preservation. But this is dumb and a total waste of money. $1,000,000 from Chubb and all the future maintenance costs out of the Parks and Rec. budget...for what exactly? A single meeting room in Fairmount park? How about we maintain the existing mansions and centennial buildings in the park before adding more operational expenditures to the parks and rec budget?

They could use this a small newsstand like shop which they can charge rent which will pay for the cost of maintenance of the building.

historic preservation can be incredibly dumb.

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I'm with you on that. Imagine what a million dollars could do for the youth cycling and amateur rowing programs.
>it will be turned into office space for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia’s youth cycling program and the Schuylkill Navy, which champions amateur rowing on the river
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And

>”it is a dear object to the community, and Parkway was not about to go in and argue that we should be able to knock it down.”

• said Brian Berson, president of Parkway Commercial Properties

Now how many people from the community will go visit that dear object once it's moved to Fairmount?

TBH I hadn't heard of it before this article. I would go visit it in it's current location, but seeing as they are planning to relocate it, it may be best to hold off until after it's moved

Or even further up the SRT closer to East Falls where there's already a good amount of local foot traffic (Not that the boathouses don't get foot traffic, but a lot of people seem to turn around before that point)

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When I read the headline, I confused it with the project replacing the Sunoco at 22nd/Walnut and wondered who in the hell thought that was historic and why they would actually move it

Would be cool if they plopped it by the grandstands near the one parking lot. In my mind thats always the “halfway” mark between Phila/East Falls on the SRT.

If the building fell apart during transit, nobody would give a damn. That should tell us something.

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Nobody, because it won't be accessible to the general public. I live in Fairmount and have spent time at Lemon Hill and didn't even know about the Sedgley Porter House since it is always surrounded by cars and tucked into a corner. It's a cute building and maybe could have been turned into something cool at the existing location, but this really does feel like a waste of money.

Parkway is paying the $1 million to move it off their land so they can develop it. They weren't ever going to donate that money to anyone.

Same here I don't think that I have ever noticed a gas pump or any cars filling up there. Also what is so historic about a gas station. Tear it down and build a wawa gas station in its place. More Philadelphians would appreciate that more than some dead gas station.

I dont think a wawa gas station can fit on a sliver of land

Historic.. gas station?

It usually is.

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> Because of the paywall. [...] Not everyone views on the app with a reader option…

I don't use the app. But then, I've also googled "bypass paywalls" which turned up over a dozen options to get around them ...

Sadly it's being abused for nimbys. I love historic parking lots and parking garages. SO MUCH HISTORY!

But if this building could one day be gone and completely forgotten, what about me?!.....

I thought this was getting moved to Aviator Park - across 20th from the Franklin Institute?

Move that one too! It’s also iconic!