REPORT OF THE KIRKBRIDE COMMITTEE PHILADELPHIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 25 October 2004 Present Warren Huff Janet Klein Harris Steinberg Jonathan E. Farnham, Historic Preservation Planner Laura M. Spina, Historic Preservation Planner Randall Cotton, Preservation Alliance Rose S. DiOttavio, President, CoreCare Systems, Inc. Thomas T. Fleming, Chairman, CoreCare Systems, Inc. R. Gardner Kahoe, Corporate Counsel, CoreCare Systems, Inc 4865 Market Street, a.k.a. 111 North 49th Street, Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, Kirkbride Center Kirkbride Realty Corporation, Owner Date: 1854-59, Samuel Sloan, architect with Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride; addition, 1929; service buildings, c. 1920; hospital building, 1959 On 25 October 2004, a sub-committee of the Committee on Historic Designation met at the former Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane to formulate a recommendation for the bounds of the Historical Commission's jurisdiction over the buildings, site, and appurtenances at 4865 Market Street. The Commission charged the sub-committee with the task at its 8 October 2004 meeting. Members of the Commission's staff and Randall Cotton of the Preservation Alliance, which submitted the nomination, also attended the meeting. Thomas Fleming, the chairman of CoreCare Systems, Inc., provided a brief history of his company's ownership of the property and its future plans for the facility. When the for- profit company acquired the property from Pennsylvania Hospital only 11 patients remained on site; the facility now includes a hospital for more than two hundred patients in the 1959 building, a school and hospital in the 1859 building, and a shelter for several hundred homeless people in the 1929 building. In 1997, his company subdivided the property, selling the southwest corner of the site for development as a CVS Pharmacy. Councilwoman Blackwell has asked CoreCare to reserve the southeast portion of the site along Market Street for further development. Committee and staff members assured Mr. Fleming and Rose DiOttavio, the president of CoreCare, that the Commission does not have jurisdiction over interiors. Gardner Kahoe, also of CoreCare, escorted the group on a tour of the site. The Committee noted several important facts about the buildings and site. 1 1. The original stone wall survives in many areas along the south, north and west, but has been removed at the east along 48th Street and at the southwest corner, where the pharmacy stands. 2. Open space survives at around much of the 1859 building. 3. In 1929, the hospital added what is now called the Center Building and built the sunken
north and west, but has been removed at the east along 48th Street and at the southwest corner, where the pharmacy stands. 2. Open space survives at around much of the 1859 building. 3. In 1929, the hospital added what is now called the Center Building and built the sunken garden. The hospital later added a pool to the south of the sunken garden, to the west of the main entrance to the 1859 building. The pool was funded by a patient, a member of the Anheuser beer family, who liked to be near the water. 4. The East Service Building and Cafeteria building at the northeast corner of the site date to the 1920s. They are Colonial Revival in style and feature fanlights and multi-light windows. They are secondary buildings at the complex. 5. The 1959 building is linked to the 1929 building by a narrow, one-story glass corridor, but otherwise stands on its own. Using a map of the site provided by Mr. Fleming, the Committee suggested the following boundaries for the Historical Commission's jurisdiction: 1. N. 48th Street at the east 2. N. 49th Street at the west 3. At the south, a boundary line running from 48th Street to 49th Street, parallel and 15th feet south of the southernmost east-west façade of the 1859 building 4. At the north, a boundary line running between 48th Street and 49th Street; it runs west from 48th Street to the parking lot along the hedges separating the Mill Creek School from the East Service Building; then south and west along the parking lot to the driveway; then south and west along the driveway and sidewalk to the east façade of the glass connecting corridor; then, from the west façade of the glass connecting corridor, along the northern edge of the parking lot to 49th Street. This section of the CoreCare campus within the above-defined bounds includes the 1859 Samuel Sloan building (now the Kirkbride Building) with its original one-story wing at the northeast (now the Mill Creek School) and the 1929 building (now the Center Building). Respectfully submitted, Laura M. Spina Historic Preservation Planner 2 KIRKBRIDE CENTER PROPERTY CORCARE SYSTEMS, INC. [Legend/Key at top right:] Concrete Hysteria Concrete Building Attic Billing Concrete attic and Floor Fill Concrete School Concrete at 1st Floor Concrete Basement Laboratory Building Med-Surgical Building Chiller Plant Parking Smokeking area Med.al Room 27 total acres A
M. Spina Historic Preservation Planner 2 KIRKBRIDE CENTER PROPERTY CORCARE SYSTEMS, INC. [Legend/Key at top right:] Concrete Hysteria Concrete Building Attic Billing Concrete attic and Floor Fill Concrete School Concrete at 1st Floor Concrete Basement Laboratory Building Med-Surgical Building Chiller Plant Parking Smokeking area Med.al Room 27 total acres A Gift Shop B Cafeteria C Giftshop D Entrance E Entrance F Auditorium G Auditorium H Cafeteria I Basement J Basement K Area [Main map shows site plan with buildings, roads, and landscaping. Central Building is prominently marked in the center. Various structures labeled with letters A-K and [S] markers indicating storage areas.] [Bottom left contains a location map showing the property's position within Pennsylvania, with roads and nearby areas marked]