Neighbors oppose 33-unit apartment building proposed in Germantown due to its incompatibility with historic district

An apartment project proposed for Church Lane in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood met a barrage of criticism at a Historical Commission committee meeting Tuesday.

The 33-unit building from Huntingdon Valley-based Olympia Holdings falls within the proposed Germantown Urban Village historic district. While the historic district hasn’t been considered yet by the full commission, properties in proposed historic districts are still subject to commission regulation to prevent property owners from demolishing notable buildings before new regulations are considered.

The site on 26-34 Church Lane is an empty lot, which would normally mean the Historical Commission would only be able to review proposals for the site, but it is included as a “contributing resource” in the district application because there may be items of archaeological interest in the ground.

But that’s not why the project met with opposition. Neighbors argue that the proposed building does not fit with the character of the proposed historic district because it is two stories taller than most of its surroundings and because the mass of structure, they say, is too big for the site.

“This is sacred ground, only a stone’s throw from George Washington’s residence, a block from where Thomas Jefferson lived,” said Jim Dragoni, who has lived on the block since 1985. “I am completely mystified as to how anyone could think that something ... as massive as that could conceivably be appropriate for that location.”

“It’s a basically abandoned lot, and for many, many years, no one ever raised any issue about this lot. No one ever raised any historical questions about this lot,” said Eli Kantrovitz, one of the developers with Olympia.

This is not Olympia Holdings’ first conflict with neighbors in this corner of Germantown. Last year it sought to build a 148-unit building on the site of the former Nolen Building Materials work yard at 64 Church Lane. The project was criticized for its large scale on the relatively narrow block, and it was eventually withdrawn in the face of intense opposition and the need for substantial zoning relief.

This 33-unit building proposed across the street comports with the zoning on the site, but as of November, now faces historic regulation.

“We just tried to develop, bring the housing to the city,” Kantrovitz said. “If it will not work in this area, we’ll move our assets to different areas.”

Although the site is subject to more rigorous regulation because there may be items of archaeological interest in the ground, Historical Commission staff noted that the developer could easily mitigate damage to any buried resources and did not recommend against the project on that basis.

Opponents of the five-story Olympia Holdings project argue that the historic district is typified by shorter, but still densely populated, buildings.

“Perhaps the most important constant of this historic area is the scale of the buildings and the continued employment of a traditional aesthetic,” the historic district nomination notes. “Even after 300 years, [there is only one] structure rising taller than three floors.”

The project did not fare as well on the other relevant criteria from the federal secretary of the Interior standards, which are how commission staff and the architectural committee make their determinations.

Those criteria require that new projects not destroy historic assets or “spatial relationships that characterize the property.”

The Historical Commission staff recommended against approving the project citing its “size, scale, and massing ... relative to its context.” The Architectural Committee on Tuesday unanimously voted against approving it for that reason, as well.

Staff recommendations are advisory, as are the Architectural Commission’s votes. Only the full Historical Commission can stop a project. The proposal could come before the full commission as soon as next month.

For now, opponents of this version say they hope the process will give the developer an opportunity to rethink the design.

“This is an opportunity for whatever is developed on the site to be something that you can sell as a contribution and a good example of design that is compatible, rather than something that is essentially an eyesore,” said Oscar Beisert, a preservationist who lives in the neighborhood and wrote the nomination for the Germantown Urban Village.