Lower Merion Conservancy

Preservation Victories

This is the seventh year LMC has alerted the Lower Merion and Narberth community to troubled, even endangered, architecture. While there have been notable and distressing preservation defeats, only one number 1 building, architect Walter K. Durham's Gladwyne home (2000), has been demolished. The others still stand, including Shipley School's Beechwood (1998), the Bryn Mawr Hospital's Gerhard Building (1999), the General Wayne Inn (2001), and Lee's Shoddy Mill (2002 and 2003). This year's number one might break our string of good luck, and the soddy mill may soon be gone as well. But the others seem to have found permanent new use.

There's additional good news. Last year, we ranked the Bryn Mawr Theater fourth on the list, as its owner was allowing it to be converted into a health club, a la the Ardmore. A nonprofit has arisen to purchase and renovate the theater, an effort that has been gathering steam-- it is close to securing a 25-year lease with an option to purchase.

The Barker Mill on Mill Creek Road in Gladwyne was listed as number 6 in 2003, as it was being resold and its fate was unclear. The new owner plans to preserve the structure, convert it to condominium use, and add additional adjoining structures on the tightly constrained site. Still, this is great news for the mill.

And the Lutheran Deaconess House on Merion Square Road in Gladwyne, just down the road from this year's number 1 (and alongside another recent demolition), was presented in the ninth spot last ear. That property was also in transition at the time, but the new owner has reassured the Conservancy that the property will be retained intact. We have begun conversations to discuss possible mechanisms for permanent protection of both the property's open space and architecture.

Join us in thanking these owners for their vision and commitment to historic preservation.

Updated: 1/6/2006 © 2010Lower Merion Conservancy. All rights reserved.

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