Morning Headlines: Is It Sayonara for LOVE Park’s Saucer?
Image from Fairmount Park archives via Preservation Alliance website.
LOVE Park has been in the news quite a bit recently, with what the redesign led by Hargreaves Associates and KeiranTimberlake moving forward and the dude who started a wacky Change.org petition to trade it to Camden for an Applebees. With the former being far–like miles–more serious than the latter comes the news that Preservations Pennsylvania has listed the iconic Fairmount Welcome Center–aka “The Saucer–atop their list of most threatened buildings in the state. It’s not the only one from the region, either.
Designed by architect Roy Larsen and built in 1960, it’s not yet known whether the building will be incorporated into a revamped LOVE Park–leaving its future very much up in the air (no pun intended). Here’s more from the report (click here for the .pdf):
[T]he iconic Fairmount Park Welcome Center is an important one-of-a-kind building whose rehabilitation and creative reuse as part of LOVE Park’s redesign could be a model project involving innovative midcentury modern architecture. Without a public understanding of the Welcome Center’s architectural and cultural significance and a strong show of public support for its rehabilitation, the redesign of LOVE Park may result in the unnecessary loss of this unique historic resource.
The West Chester Post Office at 101 East Gay Street also made the list. While it’s not threatened with demolition, the USPS doesn’t need 17,000 square-feet of space and relocated to a smaller facility. “Disposal of the building by the USPS raises significant concerns not just about the loss of postal services, but also for the preservation of the historic buildings, the continuing vitality of a facility that generates foot traffic downtown, and a diminished federal government presence as part of the community fabric.”
• Welcome Center listed as imperiled [The Inquirer]
• SS United States gains $250,000 donation [The Inquirer]
• Chestnut Hill apartment complex sells for $25M [Philadelphia Business Journal]
• Lower Merion advances apartment projects in Ardmore, Bala Cynwyd [Philadelphia Business Journal]
• Good Eye: Saddle up [The Inquirer]
• Streetviews: Q&A with NLNA’s Matt Ruben [Eyes On The Street]
• Philly Council reviews lack of low-income housing for disabled [Newsworks]
