Architectural Hall of Fame winners now a part of neighborhood history
Posted on November 15, 2016 by Kevin Dicciani
The five places inducted last week into the Chestnut Hill Historical Society’s Architectural Hall of Fame are now forever a part of the neighborhood’s rich and diverse historical past.
The CHHS created the Hall of Fame in 2015 to honor the places in Chestnut Hill that are both historically and architecturally significant. This year 10 places were nominated, and more than 1,400 votes from the general public decided the winners, which were announced at a sold-out cocktail gala at the historic home of Hill residents Karen and Jeff Regan. This year’s inductees are as follows:
• Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania
• Chestnut Hill Fire Station
• Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
• Krisheim
•St. Andrews Residence
The winners join last year’s Hall of Fame inductees, which include: the Thomas Mill Covered Bridge (originally built 1731), Gravers Lane Station (Frank Furness, 1883), the Wissahickon Inn (G.W. and W.D. Hewitt, 1883-84), the Margaret Esherick House (Louis Kahn, 1960-61) and the Vanna Venturi House (Robert Venturi, 1962-64).
To join such an historical and important list of places and architects is for this year’s inductees, then, an honor of the highest degree. Below are their reactions to being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
St. Andrews
St. Andrews Residence
The most modern place this year to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, St. Andrews Residence., was designed by owner and architect Elie-Antoine Atallah along with his firm, Studio of Metropolitan Design. The house, completed in 2013, features natural wood, brick and glass interiors and exteriors, a storm water management system, and planting that is local to Pennsylvania. The goal, Atallah said, was to mesh facets of modern architecture with the traditional and classic aesthetics of Chestnut Hill.
Being added to this year’s Hall of Fame was “quite stunning,” Atallah said, and also a reflection of the community’s ability to appreciate quality architecture, be it classic or modern.
“Having a new, modern house being appreciated by the neighborhood is only to prove that the neighborhood is not as fuddy-duddy as most people make it to be, and the fact that people are open to new ideas and new architecture is fantastic,” Atallah said. “And being in the same league as the Esherick House and the Vanna Venturi House is phenomenal.”
Atallah said he and his firm wanted to design the home to keep the footprints as small as possible on the site. He said there were various zoning restrictions due to the site’s slope and the presence of the Wissahickon Watershed, which led to him installing a new storm water management system in the front yard which uses existing paths to filter the water back to the Wissahickon. To further echo the surrounding natural environment in the designs, Atallah said almost all of the plantings on the property are native to the area, from the trees all the way down to the grass.
“The wildlife depends on native species,” he said. “The songbirds, the bees, the insects are all local and related to that same ecosystem, so we tried to preserve that.”
Speaking of the Hall of Fame, Atallah said that having an institution like the CHHS is what helps the community bond over common issues as well as its love of architecture. He said the CHHS is important for many reasons, but its dedication to preserving the environment, nature and character of the neighborhood, in tandem with its willingness to take bold steps into the future, is something that he finds “amazing.”
“It’s very nice to acknowledge that there are wonderful buildings designed by Peabody and George Howe, and by preserving them we can see many examples of good architecture and good environments throughout the ages,” he said. “And by recognizing both old and new places and buildings, we can answer the question: ‘What are we leaving behind for the next generation, what is there for them to look at to see not only what happened in the early-19th century, but also the 21st century?”