for instance, I just checked the uchs website, thinking I'd find info about the imminent razing of convention hall (to build a penn cancer center), but to my surprise there seemed to be nothing. the dp had 2 recent articles (see below), but, from the articles, no one from uchs seems to be involved, either as a commentator or protestor. odd? isn't convention hall part of 'university city'? with historic significance? it's got me wondering: to what extent does 'significance' have to do with preserving a single building? with preserving certain buildings within a district? with stemming, as some hd advocates have claimed, penn's encroachment on the neighborhood?
The issues of the Civic Center Museum and Convention Hall were decided something like 10 years ago (before the museum closed in 1994) as part of the building of the new Convention Center on Arch Street. While final decisions might only have just been made, the evaluation process has taken an extended period of time.
The folks who have suddenly discovered it as an issue are a bit too late to the table.
Other than that, the Museum building only dates to the early 1900s (the Museum moved in to its new building in 1905), so there isn't much "historic" about it. The Convention Center Hall itself wasn't built until 1931.
btw, does anyone know if the civic center museum, right next to convention hall, will also be razed? (wasn't it an important site during the sesquicentennial here in philly? with unique terra-cotta surfaces? I can't remember--)
As far as I know the Museum building is also scheduled for demolition.
The Sesquicentennial was held at League Island, aka the Navy Yard, in 1926, and was an utter disaster ... nobody showed up, and it lost massive amounts of money.
The museum building may have been used for events as they did use other venues around the city for events -- Memorial Hall and Horticultural Hall (In Fairmount Park) from the Centennial were used. (Horticultural Hall was destroyed by Hurricane Hazel in ?1954?)
The Curtis Organ, now in Irvine Auditorium, was built for the Sesquicentennial.
"Cyrus H. K. Curtis, publisher of the Saturday Evening Post, afterwards bought the organ from the financially troubled fair, and in November of 1927 donated the instrument to the University of Pennsylvania for the nascent Irvine Auditorium, planned for construction at 34th and Spruce Streets in West Philadelphia."
As for the loss of the Convention Center Hall as a sound stage -- maybe without a city subsidized venue, Gamble and Huff's (I think it was them)'s project at Broad and Washington will finally get rolling.
T.T.F.N. William H. Magill [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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