University City Historical Society

Who is University City Historical Society

The University City Historical Society (UCHS) is a non-profit organization with a mission to promote awareness of the history and architectural cha racter of University City. We are a small, membership-based organization with a board comprised of volunteers who share an interest in the history of our community. Regretfully, our volunteer board members collectively do not possess the capacity to write our own Philadelphia Register of Historic Places nominations. Within the past year, UCHS has leveraged our limited resources to hire architectural historians to nominate significant parcels in University City: 3600-30 Lancaster Avenue and 4300-06 Osage Avenue. Additionally, for the past two summers, UCHS has worked with student interns from the University of Pennsylvania's Historic Preservation program to prepare nominations for several other historically significant buildings in our neighborhood. These efforts are reactionary and have been undertaken when threat of demolition appears imminent, but in many cases, we learn of these threats only after demolition permits have been pulled and it is too late. On a more strategic level, the UCHS has formed a preservation task force which has identified those structures and blocks in our neighborhood which are at greatest risk for demolition. It is our hope that future efforts can be proactive, rather than reactive, so that we can better protect the character of University City. UCHS welcomes outside participation in this task force for those willing to volunteer their expertise or time toward this important cause. It is our hope that we can target preservation initiatives for those properties in University City which may be at greatest risk for redevelopment. Despite these efforts, it is clear that the University City Historical Society cannot go it alone when it comes to preserving our neighborhood's historic resources. Without support of our fellow community organizations, homeowners, and institutions, we will be limited by how many structures we can nominate and ...Read more

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