left. Right, and you have a unanimous support, a unanimous non-opposition from Washington Square
and non-opposition from Council Member Squilla. Our Vice Chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits 14 days in advance of this hearing?
I have. And do you weigh the reading of your referral and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do. All right, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed.
sharing my screen no more duplexes for the rest of the day
yeah me too i think the board will yeah well this is a great project and um good uh you know i think
the board will see that what's what we're trying to do here is very positive for the community so
1221 pine street it's an existing historic structure property that has a very interesting
history. It was built by Joseph Inaliza Shoemaker Jr. in 1829. The first floor originally functioned
as a drugstore. William Albert Sinclair lived here. He was born a slave, and after emancipation,
he was one of the founders of the original NAACP, was on the board at Howard University.
It was added to the Philadelphia Historic Register in 1962, and in a more recent past,
there was an antique store on the first floor. We are proposing to put an art gallery on the
first floor with residential living behind it on the first floor, as you'll see, and above.
Shepard units? Yes. They're connected, but I think it'll become clear. So here's the notice
of referral. The use classification is library cultural exhibits, parentheses, art gallery on
the first floor of an existing attached single family dwelling. Um, and, and we have a referral
because of the overlay and a referral, um, because of the zoning classification, both for the same
exact thing. We met with Washington square West civic association. That meeting, um, took place
in September. It went well. The board at that point made the recommendation to the full W
use washington square west like rco and they issued this letter on october 13th okay unanimous
we also have a letter of non-opposition from the council member pine street is it has an
interesting mix of uses some of them are zoned commercially some of those some of them are
zoned rsa5 like ours but you'll see from this exhibit that there are other mixed use properties
zoned rsa5 like ours and you can see right here we're at the corner of camac street
and pine street here's some photographs so this is the front of the property from the listing
it is undergoing a significant transformation tastefully my client has hired
My client has hired architects with expertise in historic preservation. I think they may be on the call. We'll see if the board wants to ask them questions, but they should be available. And, you know, again, this is a historic property.
architects with expertise in historic preservation
i think that the the city and specifically this neighborhood that we learned at the community
meeting has a very strong interest in making sure this property is preserved sat on the market for
a long time i think people have come and tried and and you know it's as you could imagine very
expensive and then greg and uh his team are are undertaking the the project so you can see photos
here of the historic character of the property. This is that front room where the art gallery will
be. Okay, here's a rendering of the facade. Again, it's historic. We can't really do much
with changing the facade, nor do we want to because it's a beautiful property. Here's a
rendering of the interior. Very small, about 200 square foot art gallery. I have the floor
plans here the basement there's no living down there you would enter I'll zoom in here you'd
enter the first floor into the gallery that's the gallery space in terms of how it would function
I would say regular business hours but not you know every day nine to five they they they will
open you know to show an exhibit or for an opening things like that art art shows you know
different pieces different types of art nothing going too late at night the capacity of the room
is only 10 to 20 people so it's not very large that gallery has access to this sort of vestibule
here which during any showings would be you know that that powder room would be accessible to
gallery attendees and then pocket doors that open to a dining room and a kitchen usable by the
the residents which is greg and his team um f staircase going upstairs you can see um there's
a living room a library an art studio eve who's sitting behind me is an artist so she's gonna
work on yeah i would work on her uh their art back there the the third floor two bedrooms
um bathroom again this you know this is a very large structure um there's another bathroom and
a bedroom on the top floor with a with a small roof deck um as far as signage goes we're not
seeking to nor again nor would we be allowed to do anything out of character or illuminated
most likely just gold lettering on the windows um no employees um beyond the people that live there
um and uh and and that's that's too much that's about it so i'd like to at this point you know
I'll ask Greg to adopt my testimony.
Is that a separate unit on the first floor?
Or it's all one unit?
It's a single-family home with an art gallery in the front,
I think is the easiest way to describe it.
State your name and spell it for the stenographer.
Yes, it's Gregory Kalin, G-R-E-G-O-R-Y-K-E-I-L-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Greg, did you hear my testimony today?
Was it true and correct?
Do you adopt it as your own?
Is there anything else?
This is a unique property.
Is there anything else I failed to mention that you think is important for the board to know?
I think the only thing that I would add is really that, you know, our, my partner Eve, as Alex mentioned, is an artist, and their partner Brielle is also an artist, and we'll be living and working in the building ourselves.
And our aim with the gallery is really to provide a place to showcase art from the community for the community.
So it is for local artists and for the community around us to enjoy their work.
Questions from the board.
What's the basement use?
Storage?
What's the basement?
I'm going to call and ask for people, and you'll have an opportunity.
Go ahead, Michael.
What's the basement going to be used as?
It will be mechanical in the front part of the basement.
It's sort of the bottom of the screen here, and then storage and the rest of it.
So it looks like an open fireplace.
it's there is a there is a stone hearth there but it's not connected to any uh any
hopefully okay so this so the basement will just be storage correct okay so so when there is a
gallery uh uh event um the participants will be able to go use the restroom but that said they
won't or will they be able to go to that dining room no the idea would be to close the dining
rooms okay so that's how far they'll get and there's also a door on the staircase okay so
there's basically going to be a small vestibule here with the powder room okay thank you i just
want to know um just typically galleries have some sort of back of house space for art storage
of how space for art storage art shipping what's the plan to kind of service understanding it's a
art shipping what's the
small space but what's your for the functionality of the gallery space yeah excuse me our plan is
essentially to have one show at a time and for there to be plenty of space between shows for
artists to either collect work that doesn't sell or for us to ship and dispose of work that does
sell um so the idea would be essentially to space out the shows so that we'd be able to stage
everything in the galleries.
So you'd close the gallery in between shows
and then use it
for its own staging and shipping.
Gotcha.
Is this building historically
certified?
It is, yes.
Since 1962, I believe.
You didn't say that.
I did.
Okay, so that's why you can't
really do too much with the facade.
Correct. We've been through the Historic Review Board
for all of the exterior um any exterior changes that we made okay and um so and who's advising you
about the any historical restorations you're doing with our um our architects are with mctavish and
they specialize in historic buildings and preservation okay and this is only in exterior
designation right not interiors correct okay all right are there and then i guess so as part of
these uh uh showings are you going to uh have like receptions is that something that you were
thinking about doing i i think the answer is yes i think it's customary for uh when you know
celebrate the artists that are showing their work but as alex mentioned i think the plan
would be for those to be small gatherings. It's a small space and we wouldn't have room for many
people and for them to be during the afternoon, early evening, reasonable hours. Gotcha. Thank
you. Questions from our attorney? Ty, did you have a question? I did have a question about
is there any plan to try to make this fully accessible in the future? So, we are,
the short answer is we are going to make it as accessible as we possibly can within the historic
structure um you might be able to see the stairs leading up from the gallery to that landing those
will be um a collapsible set of stairs that will turn into a platform that will allow for
accessibility into that vestibule on the bathroom up there okay and we will also have a temporary
ramp that we can place on the front step there's one step up from the street um so we'll have it
That's why I asked, but the bathroom, the powder room does not look accessible, which is part of why I was asking.
Yeah, okay.
Our attorney?
Yeah, I just want to clarify.
The gallery is just on the front part of the first floor, correct?
Correct.
Okay, so the household living is still on the first floor in the back, and then all the other floors above, correct?
Correct.
Okay, and with regard to the basement, are you using, you said storage, is that storage for the gallery,
or is that storage for the household living or both for the household oh okay so it's nothing
to the gallery the gallery is just the front part of the first floor okay also lynn the gallery is
not legally separated it's a pocket door it's not a party wall they're in the same structure
okay legally okay yeah i was just trying to say for our proviso i don't think we i don't think
we can how we have we didn't have to list both because they're not separate it's not like it's
not a commercial separate commercial space so you'd have to have both uses both of that okay
yeah we could do that we would i mean it's not a separate space so yeah i have to yeah i think
no one wants to testify okay sure questions or comments for come on up sir could you sit in the
How are you?
Would you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
My name is Carl Krumholz.
That's K-A-R-L-K-R-U-M-H-O-L.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Are you a neighbor?
Please proceed.
I am a neighbor and an architect.
I have lived on this block of the Camac Street for 56 years, and I have met with these folks.
I just would like the proviso that the gallery space will be forever limited to that front room.
They have told me, and they seem to be nice folks, and they'll be nice neighbors, that the, you know, that the openings will be small, and that I just want the proviso that the limit.
that I just want the proviso that the limit to the gallery space
will be in that front room.
And that the primary intent is to show art, not to sell art.
And that things would be sold only at the end of the shows.
What was that again?
They have told me that things would be sold only at the end of the shows.
I don't think that's so unusual for art galleries.
You know, gallery is an unusual term.
There was never an art store.
So there are galleries that are intended to sell paintings.
These folks have assured me that that's not their intention.
But they will sell pieces that are displayed.
do you have any questions i don't we've we've gotten to know carl over the past couple months
so we appreciate it anyone else who wants to come up say so
thank you sir i appreciate it thank you i appreciate your being here planning commission
amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning
from the current rsa 5 residential single family at this location the property has a
long-standing configuration of ground floor commercial and the proposed use is compatible
with other uses on pine street the appellant has demonstrated that the request will not cause
detrimental impact span what would reasonably be expected the planning commission sorry i had a pop
up the planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested special exception
for library cultural exhibits in rsa 5 and their requested variance for library cultural exhibits
it's in an attached building thank you what do we want to do we want to do front room first floor
we could do that or we could do let's this is just a suggestion use approved of libraries and
cultural exhibits print she just said our gallery in the front of the first floor with single family
household living in the remainder of the structure sure okay is that okay okay it again okay um this
is that what the provisor would be use approved of libraries and cultural exhibits print art
gallery in the front of the first floor with single family household living in the remainder
of the structure uh that's my vote yeah come on okay go i mean just move on michael yes i'm sorry
I zoned out for a second.
I think your vote could be...
I zoned out for a second. Sorry about that.
My vote is yes with Proviso.
Sorry about that, guys.
Right, right. I was into the art.