Allen W. Rubin, attorney, neighborhood advocate, and ‘Mayor of Spring Garden,’ has died at 86

Allen W. Rubin, 86, of Philadelphia, attorney, neighborhood advocate, and “Mayor of Spring Garden,” died Friday, June 24, of heart failure at Penn Hospice Rittenhouse.

Mr. Rubin lived in the Spring Garden section of Philadelphia for 54 years and helped lead its transformation starting in the 1970s, from a cluster of dilapidated rowhouses and boarding rooms to a leafy residential district with historical designations, a block-long garden, refurbished playground, dog park, and vibrant community organizations.

He was a founder and board member of the Spring Garden Civic Association, active with the Spring Garden Community Development Corporation, and represented the neighborhood — situated between Broad Street and Pennsylvania Avenue to the east and west, respectively, and Fairmount Avenue and Spring Garden Street to the north and south — at countless zoning board hearings, historical commission meetings, and other civic and social events.

He helped the area develop affordable housing and small businesses, provide jobs and youth programs, get a handle on drugs and crime, address environmental issues, attract and unite a diverse population, and become a designated historic district in 2000. The creation of the block-long Spring Gardens community garden that engages hundreds of local gardeners, the renovation of Roberto Clemente Park, the addition of Green Street Dog Park, and permit parking for residents all came during his watch.

“If anyone knew that it takes a village, he knew it,” said Ian Cope, Mr. Rubin’s stepson. “Allen understood the importance of neighbors and what a neighborhood really means.”

“All our successes have come from hard work.”

Mr. Rubin was an unabashed cheerleader and unofficial real estate agent for the area’s Victorian mansions and brick rowhouses that feature marble, wrought iron, and carved woodwork. He wrote community newsletters and tirelessly pitched feature stories to the media about the area’s architecture and ambience.

He often used his own Green Street home as a showcase for prospective buyers, and new neighbors remember him pointing out the striking view of City Hall from his top floor and then directing their attention to the newly planted trees that dotted the sidewalks below.

He checked in with contractors as nearby restorations proceeded, supervised construction supervisors, and took matters into his own hands when he saw the need. “Allen would walk the streets with pruning shears in hand,” said Sally Downey, a onetime neighbor and retired Inquirer staff writer, “and trim branches to make sure the trees grew properly.”

Neighbors, he often said, were his most valuable resources. They welcomed a police substation and operated a town watch. They supported one another. “Every time someone fixed up a house, it was like an old-time barn-raising,” he told The Inquirer in 1992. “One neighbor would do the plumbing, another the carpentry.”

Born Dec. 26, 1935, Mr. Rubin grew up in South Philadelphia, graduated from Central High School, the University of Pennsylvania, and Temple Law School, now the Beasley School of Law. He specialized in personal injury and immigration law and for years walked to his office at 15th and Locust Streets.

The glory of 19th-century Spring Garden was fading when he moved there in 1968. The rundown rowhouses on Green Street were tucked in between abandoned buildings, and the neighborhood was so menacing that the owner of one house he considered buying “was so afraid to let anyone in I had to bring a policeman with me,” he told The Inquirer in 1992.

He and his wife, artist Patricia Cope, were married for nearly 50 years, and they bought other local properties, including a carriage house on Brandywine Street they converted to a home that featured her abstract paintings. She died in 2018.

Mr. Rubin was devoted to dogs, especially mutts, and cats, and a memorial bench at the Green Street Dog Park bears his name. He visited the dog park, between 18th and 19th Streets, so often that every dog, if not their owners, knew who he was.

He was friendly, an avid sports fan, liked to smell the flowers, and had a vacation house in Cape May. But he was most at home in Spring Garden.

The vitality of his hometown, in Spring Garden and other neighborhoods across the city, he always said, was the result of many people acting as one. “All our successes have come from hard work,” he told The Inquirer. “As long as people realize that, we’ll succeed.”

In addition to his stepson, Mr. Rubin is survived by a sister and other relatives.

Services were Thursday, June 30.

Donations in his name may be made to the Spring Garden Civic Association, 601 N. 17th Street, 1st Floor Storefront, Philadelphia, Pa. 19130, and Spring Garden Community Development Corporation, 601 North 17th St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19130.