Events - Preservation Alliance

2025 Winter Speaker Series

Renowned local architects, professors, and historians explore the political, economic, and design trends that drove Philadelphia’s development. Series pass and single tickets available. Learn More

2025 Preservation Achievement Awards Call for Nominations

Nomination submissions are now closed. Join us for the Awards on June 4, 2025. Details coming soon! Each year the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia presents the Preservation Achievement Awards to a select group of individuals, organizations, and businesses for projects from throughout the region which exemplify outstanding achievement in the field of historic preservation. Learn More

UPCOMING Events

Uncovering Underground Railroad and Important Black History Locations

February 25, 2025 6:00 — 7:30 PM

Presented by Morgan Lloyd and Michiko Quinones The 1838 Black Metropolis project focuses on reviving the memory of the Black histories of Antebellum Philadelphia. As the Philadelphia grid has stayed relatively stable, and due to historical preservation efforts, many of the homes of Black Philadelphians of the era that are mentioned in primary historical documents

Building Ghosts: Past Lives and Lost Places in a Changing City

March 4, 2025 6:00 — 7:30 PM

Presented by Molly Lester and Michael Bixler “Building ghosts” are the idiosyncratic remnants or imprints of demolished buildings, left behind on the sides of neighboring structures. Mostly seen in older Northeastern cities with rowhomes or party-wall adjacencies, they can reveal remarkable things, such as an old staircase going up the side of a building or

A Visit to Philadelphia Revealed: Unpacking the Attic at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

February 26, 2025 5:30 — 7:30 PM

Rescheduled for Feb 26 due to inclement weather. Join us for an private after-hours gallery viewing of the Atwater Kent Collection at Drexel at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts! Now on view through March, the exhibition highlights more than 600 items that tell the story of Philadelphia’s history. From household items like hats,

Behind the Scenes of the Wanamaker Organ

March 7, 2025 10:00 — 12:00 PM

Take tour behind the scenes of the Wanamaker Organ with the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ to explore the Restoration Studios, the Main Chamber, the Console, and the Fourth Floor String and Orchestral chambers. This tour will be guided by members of the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ including Executive Director Ray Biswanger, Curator Curt

A Visit to the Free Library’s Print & Picture Collection

April 16, 2025 3:00 — 5:00 PM

Philadelphia’s rich history offers over 300 years of documents, plans, prints, photographs, and maps—some of which are part of our collections at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Explore a curated selection materials from our Map and Print & Picture Collections at Parkway Central Library. This tour will be led by Megan MacCall, Special Collections Curator

PAST EVENTS

So You Want to Buy An Old House?

January 30, 2025 7:00 PM

The Young Friends of the Preservation Alliance are hosting a series of workshops, Your First Preservation Abilities, geared towards new and prospective homebuyers of older properties. If you live in the Philadelphia area and are looking to buy your first home (or recently have), chances are you’re buying a home with history! With much of the

Understanding Financial Incentives for Rehabilitation Projects

December 5, 2024 10:00 — 11:30 AM

Recent changes in Philadelphia zoning and tax laws plus an increase in the Pennsylvania historic tax credit are making it easier and more financially feasible to rehabilitate older buildings. Come learn how recent developments have taken advantage of these changes to return long vacant historic buildings to productive uses.

I.M. Pei’s Society Hill Towers at 60: The Legacy of Urban Renewal

February 18, 2025 6:00 — 7:30 PM

Presented by Steve Baron The Society Hill Towers are marking their 60th anniversary as a neighborhood landmark, with three 31-story Modernist concrete towers rising over low-rise colonial Society Hill. This talk willtrace the evolution of Society Hill, from the early site of the Free Society of Traders, to the mid-20th century site of the Washington

The Wissahickon Arts & Crafts Style :Analyzing And Defining A Regional Architecture

February 11, 2025 6:00 — 7:30 PM

Presented by Spencer Rubino Northwest Philadelphia, and the neighboring environs of Montgomery County and Delaware County, encompass a unique cultural identity. This identity is expressed through the regional architecture that was forefronted by developer Dr. George Woodward and the residential architects of the neighborhood around St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill at the turn

Black History in Philadelphia Landscape: Preserving Christian Street

February 4, 2025 6:00 — 7:30 PM

Presented by Amy J Cohen In this richly illustrated presentation, author Amy Jane Cohen will examine the many ways in which history is acknowledged in our built environment. Her talk will focus on the historical importance of Christian Street in the Black Philadelphia experience. She will describe the history of the First African Baptist Church

Revitalizing East Market Street: A History 1957-2024

January 28, 2025 6:00 — 7:30 PM

Presented by John Andrew Gallery The revitalization of East Market Street and the construction of the commuter rail tunnel were Philadelphia’s most expensive urban renewal projects in the late 20th century. The planning of the project extended over 25 years before the second and final phase was completed. During that period many prominent architects contributed

Illustrated History of the Fairmount Water Works

January 21, 2025 6:00 — 7:30 PM

Presented by A. Leonard Pundt The Fairmount Water Works was once the most visited place in America after Niagara Falls. Many famous people stopped there and left a record of their impressions. When and why was this famous Philadelphia landmark built? What problems was it meant to solve? Why was it shut down? How has

Off To Market (Street)

January 14, 2025 6:00 — 7:30 PM

Presented by Michael Lisicky John Wanamaker, Strawbridge & Clothier, Gimbels, Lit Brothers, Snellenburgs. Take another trip down Market Street and revisit these great emporiums that once defined Philadelphia’s mighty shopping thoroughfare. Each of these five businesses catered to specific clienteles and each department store played important roles in the city’s cultural fabric, with their special

In With the Old

October 10, 2024 6:30 PM

YFPA is thrilled to announce the 2024 edition of In With The Old, where we come together to celebrate historic preservation in the Philadelphia region. This year we’ll be celebrating at the historic German Society of Pennsylvania at 611 Spring Garden Street.

Print City: How Newspaper Buildings Shaped Philadelphia’s Downtown

December 17, 2024 6:00 — 8:00 PM

presented by Inga Saffron Philadelphia, like other big American cities, was once home to dozens of print newspapers. These papers exhibited a strong pack mentality (much like journalists themselves), and set up their offices in close proximity to one another, often on the same block, forming distinct media enclaves or newspaper rows. Other industries –

The Architecture of Horace Trumbauer: “The Standard, Metropolitan and Authoritative Thing”

November 19, 2024 6:00 — 8:00 PM

presented by David Brownlee, Ph.D., FSAH Horace Trumbauer of Philadelphia was the most enigmatic architect of America’s “Gilded Age.” Although he left school when he was 14, by the time he was thirty, he had built palatial homes for some of the nation’s wealthiest families, and his office would produce more than 800 designs over

Exploring Philadelphia Suburban Homes (circa 1889)

October 15, 2024 6:00 — 8:00 PM

presented by Jeffrey A. Cohen In the late 1880s, two serial entrepreneurs took on the unexpected project of making a visual record of Philadelphia’s suburban homes. In the abstract that would be no small task, the pair, Joseph Lewis Wells and John Ferguson Hope, commissioned large photographs of houses of individualized and venturesome design, most of

Restoring Black Heritage Sites: Challenges and Opportunities

September 10, 2024 6:00 — 8:00 PM

Former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter will moderate a panel discussion with the leaders of three Black heritage sites, the Marian Anderson, Henry Ossawa Tanner and Paul Robeson houses, which are each in the midst of renovations to both their physical spaces and their programmatic activities. All proceeds from this panel discussion will be donated to

2024 Architectural Dinner At Elstowe Manor in Elkins Park

September 25, 2024

Honoring Sister Mary Scullion and Joan McConnon, co-founders of Project Home Recipients of the Mary Werner DeNadai Award Presented to civic leaders who have made a lasting impact in historic preservation Save the Date! Sponsorship and ticket information will be available soon.

The Great Challenge: The Design and Building of Girard College, 1831-2024

April 30, 2024 6:00 — April 30, 20247:30 PM

presented by Bruce Laverty Stephen Girard’s extraordinary testamentary bequest called for the establishment of a boarding school for “poor white male orphans.” The size of his gift and the very specific, yet incomplete, details given in his will created immediate and long-lasting legal, political educational, religious, and social justice controversies. Laverty will examine the architectural

On Placekeeping & Preservation w/ The Friends of the Tanner House

April 23, 2024 6:00 — April 23, 20247:30 PM

presented by Christopher Rogers, Ph.D Supported by the Mellon Foundation, The Friends of the Tanner House, The Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites (CPCRS), and a growing set of neighborhood partners embarked upon a community-centered platform for a collective vision for the Henry Ossawa Tanner House, a 2023 America’s 11 Most Endangered Places

Lynnewood Hall – The Last American Versailles

April 16, 2024 6:00 — April 16, 20247:30 PM

presented by Edward Thome Located in Elkins Park, Lynnewood Hall is a Gilded Age mansion built for businessman and avid art collector Peter A. B. Widener in the late 1890s. Designed by Horace Trumbauer, architect of other notable buildings, including the neighboring Elstowe Manor, this once vibrant 110-room mansion was left unused for decades by

The People’s Commemoration in 2026

April 9, 2024 6:00 — April 9, 20247:30 PM

presented by Danielle DiLeo Kim, AIA In 2026, all eyes will be on Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy. PHILADELPHIA250 is the nonprofit leading the people’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of American independence in Philadelphia in 2026. The People’s Commemoration is a new kind of milestone commemoration in which every Philadelphian feels included and

Treasure Philly! Rethinking Cultural Resources Preservation

April 2, 2024 6:00 — April 2, 20247:30 PM

presented by Shannon Garrison Treasure Philly! is the Philadelphia Historical Commission’s cultural resources survey pilot. Since summer 2023, the Treasure Philly! team has partnered with community members to document the history of the area around Broad, Germantown, and Erie (BGE) through storytelling and survey. The Philadelphia Historical Commission plans to expand this community-centered approach to

The Battery: Reviving the Delaware Generating Station

March 26, 2024 6:00 — March 26, 20247:30 PM

presented by Chris Kenney and Aaron Bell After its prolonged abandonment, the Delaware Generating Station designed by John Windrim has been repurposed for use as multi-family apartments, hotels, event space, offices, and soon, a fitness lifestyle campus. Strada Architects Christopher Kenney and Aaron Bell will discuss the details of its adaptive reuse with attention to

Louis Kahn and the Thoughtful Making of Spaces

March 19, 2024 6:00 — March 19, 20247:30 PM

presented by William Whitaker Louis Kahn (1901-74) was not an architect driven by practical considerations alone, rather he reinvigorated architecture with a renewed sense of monumental form and possibilities for human – perhaps even spiritual – connection. For Philadelphians, Kahn remains an artist of international significance to this day – some fifty years after his

Preserving Your Final Home

March 12, 2024 6:00 — March 12, 20247:30 PM

presented by Nancy Goldenberg Laurel Hill is a 265-acre historic resource that changed the direction and holistic function of America cemeteries. Located in both Philadelphia (Laurel Hill East, 1836) and Bala Cynwyd (Laurel Hill West, 1869), these nationally acclaimed cemeteries are the permanent resting places for thousands, including Frank Furness, Horace Trumbauer, Alexander Calder, and

Digging Around and Knocking the Dust Off- City of Philadelphia, City Archives

March 5, 2024 6:00 — March 5, 20247:30 PM

presented by Theresa Condon and Joshua K. Blay. From its new location on Spring Garden, the City Archives continues to be a repository for many of Philadelphia’s municipal, genealogical and audiovisual records. The staff at the City Archives helps to maintain, and provide stewardship of, one of the best collections of municipal records in the

A Collection of Collections: An Update on the Atwater Kent Philadelphia History Collection

February 27, 2024 6:00 — February 27, 20247:30 PM

presented by Rosalind Remer, Ph.D. In the summer of 2018, after operating for some 80 years, the Philadelphia History Museum (also known as the Atwater Kent Museum) closed its doors. The collection—numbering around 130,000 objects—belongs to the City of Philadelphia, which had, over the years, reduced its financial commitment to the museum’s operations, a key

2023 Year In Review

It has been a busy year! Take a look back at another eventful year at the Preservation Alliance. View our annual Year in Review.

Planning for Preservation in Pennsylvania Survey

It is time to update Pennsylvania’s statewide historic preservation plan. PA SHPO wants – and needs – to hear from Pennsylvanians like you. An online survey is one of the best ways to collect information from a broad and diverse group of Pennsylvanians about the historic and cultural resources in their communities and historic preservation

HIGHRISES Exhibition

December 8, 2023 5:30 — 8:00 PM

Join us to celebrate the book release of “Highrises: Art Deco” by Chris Hytha and Mark Houser on December 8. The exhibition features large prints of high-res drone scans documenting 50+ historic skyscrapers and a physical model. Pre-order the book here.

In With the Old

November 2, 2023 6:30 PM

YFPA is thrilled to announce the 2023 edition of In With The Old, where we come together to celebrate historic preservation in the Philadelphia region. This year we’ll be celebrating in the beautiful Duke & Duke Boardroom at 123 South Broad Street.

Pennsylvania Historic Tax Credit Advocacy

Currently, the PA historic tax credit program is capped at only $5 million annually, a highly inadequate sum given the demand for historic rehabilitation projects around the Commonwealth. Now is the time for Pennsylvania to strengthen its historic tax credit program!

J. Gordon Baugh’s A Souvenir of Germantown (1913): Documenting the Early 20th Century Black Business and Civic Community in Philadelphia’s 22nd Ward.

November 7, 2023 6:00 — 7:30 PM

presented by Supreme Dow and Tuomi Forrest. More details coming soon!

The People of Frankford

October 31, 2023 6:00 — 7:30 PM

The roadway we now know as Frankford Avenue had its origins as a Lenape Indian trail. However, the English were not the first Europeans to settle in what is now Frankford, with the Swedes having earlier set up mills along the creek. English colonization, led by the Quakers, eventually resulted in the Lenape Indian trail

The Communities of Rose Valley

October 24, 2023 6:00 — 7:30 PM

In 1901, Philadelphia architect William Price and a cohort of like-minded friends purchased eighty acres of land surrounding what had been Rose Valley Mills in Delaware County. Their primary focus was to design and construct a new community based on the principles of the Arts and Crafts movement, specifically the relationship of men to their

Historic Haddonfield New Jersey

October 17, 2023 6:00 — 7:30 PM

Haddonfield was founded in the early 18th century by Elizabeth Haddon, as a community where Quakers could worship and live in peace. Haddonfield quickly grew into the largest town in southern New Jersey and the market town for the region. The town became a reluctant host to both the British and patriot armies during the

The Powelton Village Historic District

October 10, 2023 6:00 — 7:30 PM

The Powelton Village Historic District, comprised of over 900 properties, was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in November 2022. District nominations are not meant to be comprehensive neighborhood histories, and yet much social history must be understood to make sense of the development history, and vice versa. This talk will look mainly

Unheeded & Lone: The Byberry Township African American Burial Ground

October 3, 2023 6:00 — 7:30 PM

There is an unmarked and overgrown African American burial ground located in Byberry Township in northeast Philadelphia. Originally, the name of this site was The Burying Place For All Free Negroes or People of Color within Byberry. The name has since been changed to The Byberry Township African American Burial Ground. This presentation will discuss

The Baldwin Park Neighborhood

September 26, 2023 6:00 — 7:30 PM

The Baldwin Park neighborhood is the area within two blocks of Matthias Baldwin Park, located at 423 North 19th Street. This talk will trace the history of the neighborhood from the Lenni Lenape; to the country estates of William Penn and Andrew Hamilton; to how steam, coal, iron, and railroads allowed the industrialists including Matthias

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