Links related to historic preservation

• National Trust for Historic Preservation homepage.
• National Archives and Records Administration homepage. Many nice images!
• National Register of Historic Places homepage.
  • National Register Information System. Look up historic sites by state and county.
    NOTE:If you do this for Philadelphia, think before clicking on your "print" icon, because you will get 28 pages of results!
• Historical Society of Pennsylvania homepage.
  • Philadelphia neighborhood history research tools available at the HSP.
• Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies
• Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia
• University City Historical Society homepage.
• Philadelphia history (especially West Philadelphia), a special bibliography prepared by Lauris Olson of the Van Pelt Library Reference Department at the University of Pennsylvania.

Registered historic sites in Philadelphia:

• There are 475 registered historic sites in Philadelphia.

• There are 57 registered historic sites in West Philadelphia, listed here by zip code:
  • 19104 zip code area (including University City, Powelton Village, and Spruce Hill areas)
  • 19131 zip code area (including West Fairmount Park, Wynnefield, and Overbrook areas)
  • 19139 zip code area (including Walnut Hill, Haddington, and Cobb's Creek areas)
  • 19142 zip code area (including Elmwood and Southwest areas)
  • 19143 zip code area (including Garden Court, Cedar Park, Squirrel Hill, and Bartram areas)
  • 19151 zip code area (including Cobb's Creek and Overbrook areas)
  • 19153 zip code area (including Fort Mifflin and Southwest areas)
• There are 27 registered historic sites in the general area designated since the 1950s as University City:
  • Go to list of University City sites included in National Register of Historic Places
  • Community associations of University City, with contact and census info.

• 19104 zip code area (20 sites)
  • Philadelphia Armory, 32nd and Lancaster
    • Home of the 316th Infantry.
    • Home of the 103rd Engineers, which maintains a museum there.
    • Location of the annual Old House Fair, organized by the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia
  • Belmont School, 4030-4060 Brown St.
  • Centennial National Bank, 3200 Market St.
    • Designed by Frank Furness.
  • College Hall, University of Pennsylvania, between Woodland, Spruce, and 34th and 36th Streets
  • Drexel Development Historic District, roughly bounded by Pine, Delancy, 39th and 40th Streets
  • The original University of Pennsylvania library building, commonly referred to as the Furness Library, but now officially named the Fisher Fine Arts Library, 34th Street below Walnut on University of Pennsylvania campus
    • Designed by Frank Furness.
    • Information about the original project notes
    • Information about the 1987 restoration
  • Hamilton Family Estate, 4039-4041 Baltimore Avenue and 4000-4018 Pine Street
  • Parkside Historic District, bounded by Penn-Central railroad track, 38th Street, Girard Avenue, Parkside and Belmont Avenues
  • Poth and Schmidt Development Houses, 3306-3316 Arch Street
  • Frederick A. Poth Houses, 3301-3311 Powelton Avenue
  • Powelton Historic District, roughly bounded by Brandywine Street, 32nd to 39th Streets, and Lancaster Avenue
  • The Powelton, 3500-3520 Powelton Avenue
  • Protestant Episcopal Church of the Saviour, Ludlow Street and 3723-3725 Chestnut Street
    • Read a history of this church from its foundation in 1850 to 1903, when a devastating fire destroyed the building. It was rebuilt immediately, but the church's 20th-century history has yet to be written.
  • Sansom Row, 3402-3436 Sansom Street
    • Sansom Row is an officially designated National Historic District!
    • H.P. Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Movement, lived here.
      • H.P. Blavatsky via Blavatsky Net
      • H.P. Blavatsky via Victorian Web
      • Now there is a fabulous restaurant, The White Dog Cafe, in her former house.
  • John Shedwick Development Houses, 3433-3439 Lancaster Avenue
  • 30th Street Station, at Market and 30th Streets
    • Here's a great site with pictures of all the original Philadelphia train stations, including 30th Street.
  • University Avenue Bridge, 1000 block of S. University Avenue
    • This bridge is currently undergoing a $5.8 million renovation.
    • Read about this bridge in the context of development plans for the Schuylkill river gateways.
  • University of Pennsylvania Campus Historic District, roughly bounded by Hamilton Walk, 32nd, Walnut, 36th, Spruce, and 39th Streets
    • Some buildings on Penn's campus are also on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places
    • Architects who helped shape the Penn campus:
      • Cope and Stewardson
      • Paul Cret
      • Frank Miles Day
      • Wilson Eyre
      • Marco Frascari
      • Frank Furness
      • August E. Komendant
      • George Erwin Patton
      • Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates
  • Woodland Terrace, 501-519, 500-520 Woodland Terrace
    • Paul P. Cret, professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and designer of the University Avenue Bridge, the Ben Franklin Bridge, and the Woodlands Cemetery gateway, lived here.
  • The Woodlands, 4000 Woodland Avenue
    • Woodlands Cemetery
      • Clickable map showing locations of the graves of some of the prominent Philadelphians buried here.

19131 zip code area (10 sites)

• Dimner Beeber Junior High School, 5901 Malvern Avenue
• Reudolph Blankenburg School, 4600 Girard Avenue
• George L. Brooks School, 5629-5643 Haverford Avenue
• Chamounix Mansion, West Fairmount Park on Chamounix Drive
• William B. Hanna School, 5720-5738 Media Street
• William Mann School, 1835-1869 N. 54th Street
• Memorial Hall, West Fairmount Park
  • The only major building remaining from the 1876 Centennial celebrations in Philadelphia.
    • The Liberty Bell at the Centennial.
    • Timeline of events in 1876.
    • Original home of what became the Philadelphia Museum of Art
• Overbrook Farms, roughly bounded by City Line Avenue, 58th Street, Woodbine Avenue and 64th Street
• Overbrook High School, 59th and Lancaster Avenue
• William Shoemaker Junior High School, 1464-1488 N. 53rd Street

19139 zip code area (10 sites)

• Breslyn Apartments, 4624-4642 Walnut St. & 201-213 S. 47th St.
• Thomas Dunlap School, 5031 Race Street
• Haddington Historic District, 6000 blocks of Market, Ludlow and Chestnut Streets
• Holmes Junior High School, 5429-5455 Chestnut Street
• Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital, 111 N. 49th Street
  • Read about its conversion to a medical "condominium."
• La Blanche Apartments, 5100 Walnut Street
• Henry C. Lea School of Practice, 242 S. 47th Street
• Mayer Sulzberger Junior High School, 701-741 N. 48th Street
• West Philadelphia High School, 4700 Walnut Street
• WFIL Studio, 4548 Market Street
  • Original home of American Bandstand!
  • Remember the "Philadelphia collar"? Know who set that fashion through their appearance in the AB broadcasts? That's right, the girls of West Philadelphia Catholic High School in their cute uniforms!
  • Now the old WFIL studio building has a new life as the home of the West Philadelphia Improvement Corps (WEPIC).

19142 zip code area (3 sites)

• John Bartram High School, 67th and Elmwood Avenue
• Joseph W. Catharine School, 6600 Chester Avenue
• William J. Tilden Junior High School, 66th and Elmwood Avenue

19143 zip code area (7 sites)

• John Bartram House, 34th and Eastwick Avenue
  • Historic Bartram's Garden website.
• Garden Court Historic District, roughly bounded by Larchwood Avenue, 46th, 50th, and Pine Streets, and including 4526-4534 and 4537-4539 Osage Avenue.
• Hanson Haines House, 4801 Springfield Avenue
• S. Weir Mitchell School, 56th and Kingsessing Streets
• Pinehurst Apartments, 4511-4523 Pine and 324-334 S. 45th Streets
• Regent-Rennoc Court, 5100 block of Regent and 1311-1327 S. 52nd Street
• Anna Howard Shaw Junior High School, 5401 Warrington Avenue
  • One of Shaw School's alumna: Dr. Judith Rodin,current president of the University of Pennsylvania.

19151 zip code area (4 sites)

• Lewis Cassidy School, 6523-6543 Lansdowne Avenue
• Monte Vista, 917-931 N. 63rd Street
• Overbrook Farms, roughly bounded by City Line Avenue, 58th Street, Woodbine Avenue and 64th Street
• Overbrook School, 6201-6231 Lebanon Avenue

19153 zip code area (3 sites)

• Fort Mifflin, Marina and Penrose Ferry Roads
• Fort Mifflin Hospital, Marina and Penrose Ferry Roads
• Thomas Buchanan Read School, 78th and Buist Avenue

• Philadelphia Armory, 32nd and Lancaster (19104)
  • Home of the 316th Infantry!
  • Location of the annual Old House Fair, organized by the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia
• Breslyn Apartments, 4624-4642 Walnut Street (19139)
• Centennial National Bank, 3200 Market Street (19104)
• College Hall, University of Pennsylvania, between Woodland, Spruce, and 34th and 36th Streets (19104)
• Drexel Development Historic District, roughly bounded by Pine, Delancy, 39th and 40th Streets (19104)
• Furness Library, 34th Street below Walnut on University of Pennsylvania campus (19104)
• Garden Court Historic District, roughly bounded by Larchwood Avenue, 46th, 50th, and Pine Streets, and including 4526-4534 and 4537-4539 Osage Avenue. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places July 5, 1984. (19143)
• Hanson Haines House, 4801 Springfield Avenue (19143)
• Hamilton Family Estate, 4039-4041 Baltimore Avenue and 4000-4018 Pine Street (19104)
• La Blanche Apartments, 5100 Walnut Street (19139)
• Henry C. Lea School of Practice, 242 S. 47th Street (19139)
• Pinehurst Apartments, 4511-4523 Pine Street and 324-334 S. 45th Street (19143)
• Poth and Schmidt Development Houses, 3306-3316 Arch Street (19104)
• Frederick A. Poth Houses, 3301-3311 Powelton Avenue (19104)
• Powelton Historic District, roughly bounded by Brandywine Street, 32nd to 39th Streets, and Lancaster Avenue. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places May 9, 1985. (19104)
• The Powelton, 3500-3520 Powelton Avenue (19104)
• Protestant Episcopal Church of the Saviour, Ludlow Street and 3723-3725 Chestnut Street (19104)
  • Read a history of this church from its foundation in 1850 to 1903, when a devastating fire destroyed the building. It was rebuilt immediately, but the church's 20th-century history has yet to be written.
• Sansom Row, 3402-3436 Sansom Street (19104)
  • H.P. Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Movement, lived here.
    • H.P. Blavatsky via Blavatsky Net
    • H.P. Blavatsky via Victorian Web
  • Now there is a fabulous restaurant, The White Dog Cafe, in her former house.
• John Shedwick Development Houses, 3433-3439 Lancaster Avenue (19104)
• 30th Street Station, at Market and 30th Streets (19104)
• University Avenue Bridge, 1000 block S. University Avenue (19104)
  • This bridge is currently undergoing a $5.8 million renovation.
  • Read about this bridge in the context of development plans for the Schuylkill river gateways.
• University of Pennsylvania Campus Historic District, roughly bounded by Hamilton Walk, 32nd, Walnut, 36th, Spruce, and 39th Streets (19104)
  • Some buildings on Penn's campus are also on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places
• West Philadelphia High School, 4700 Walnut Street (19139)
• The West Philadelphia Streetcar Suburb, added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 5, 1998. (19143 and 19104)
• WFIL Studio, 4548 Market Street (19139)
  • Original home of American Bandstand!
• Woodland Terrace, 501-519, and 500-520 Woodland Terrace (19104)
  • Paul P. Cret, professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and designer of the University Avenue Bridge, the Ben Franklin Bridge, and the Woodlands Cemetery gateway, lived here.

The Woodlands, 40th Street and Woodland Avenue (19104)

Created 2/8/98. Updated 12/15/99