Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks

Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks. . When the Powel House was threatened with demolition to make way for a parking lot in 1931, Frances Anne Wister, a prominent Philadelphia citizen, and Herman Leis Duhring of the American Institute of Architects set to work to save it., Miss Wister gathered like-minded preservationist in 1931, and organized them as the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks. They quickly raised the necessary funds to purchase the Powel House, arranged for the return of some of the original interior elements, and began the building's restoration., A pioneering historic preservation organization, in 1938 requested that the Pennsylvania House Authority "not demolish architectural treasures of historic importance," and that "new buildings to be erected in sections where old buildings still stand should be harmonious in design with the old buildings." Landmarks went on to prevent the demolition of the historic Franklin Institute now the Atwater Kent Museum and the U.S. Customs House. It supported the preservation of Elfreth's Alley, the oldest continually inhabited residential street in America. Most significantly, Landmarks successfully lobbied for the establishment of Independence National Park and played a major role in the re-emergence of Society Hill as a thriving neighborhood in the 1960s., Today Landmarks manages the Powel House (1765), home of the Patriot Mayor Samuel Powel; Physick House (1786), home of the "Father of American Surgery," Dr. Philip Syng at 321 South Fourth Street (two blocks from here); Grumblethorpe (1744), summer home of the Wister family in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood; and Historic Waynesborough (1735), home of Major General Anthony Wayne in Paoli, Pennsylvania. Each house is open to the public and exemplifies a different style of early domestic architecture found in the Philadelphia region., (Two black and white images.) , Above: Powell House opened as a historic house museum in 1938, interpreting the residency of Elizabeth and Samuel Powel., (Black and white image.) , View of the Powel House c. 1951. The building on the right was demolished in order to recreate the Powels' garden., (Image of woman with white sign and image of four people in doorway) (Captions are unreadable.)