Historic gas station has landed in Fairmount Park
The gas station was relocated from 20th and Arch Streets, where a new office tower is being constructed for insurance giant Chubb Ltd.
The Parkway Corp. successfully moved a historically protected gas station from 20th and Arch Streets to the Sedgley Porter House in Fairmount Park on Wednesday.
The flatbed truck inched through Center City and down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, attracting a small crowd of curious onlookers, an escort of police in cars, and television reporters in helicopters.
The operation ran ahead of schedule, lasting from 10 p.m. until a little after midnight. The terracotta-encrusted, nearly century-old gas station remains on a flatbed, where it awaits further permits and approvals from the city for a foundation and connection to utilities.
When the building is ready for use again, it will be turned into meeting space for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia’s youth cycling program and the Schuylkill Navy, an amateur rowing organization. Both groups already have facilities at the Sedgley Porter House.
Moving the long-vacant gas station to its new home cost more than a $1 million, which Parkway has described as a gift to the city. The station previously sat on the edge of a surface parking lot, which is being transformed into an office building for the international insurance giant Chubb Ltd.