Old Philadelphia Mansions May Get New Lease on Life

PHILADELPHIA —  Some of Fairmount Park’s historic mansions, vacant and neglected for nearly two decades, are being offered to tenants handy with nail and hammer by a cash-poor landlord: the city.

The 18th- and 19th-Century mansions have sat empty since an angry public put an end to the practice of doling them out for free to park and police officials in the mid-1970s.

Some of the 70 city-owned buildings have been occasionally used for park offices or leased for a dollar a year, but most were allowed to fall into disrepair.

Now, Philadelphia, facing a $200-million budget deficit, sees the homes as a way to garner revenue to preserve other park buildings that do not lend themselves to money-making ventures, said Larry Snyder, director of the Fairmount Park Historic Houses Project.

The city is offering six houses and two stables for rent to businesses or nonprofit organizations willing to renovate and maintain them. Eventually, 30 homes could be included in the program.

More than 60 people toured the buildings one recent week. Originally built by prominent families as farms or summer homes, the prospective renters viewed the buildings as possible inns, restaurants, offices and conference centers.

Snyder said any proposal would be considered for a long-term lease providing that it was compatible with the recreational uses of the park.

“We don’t want to second-guess someone,” he said. “They may have wonderful use we’ve never thought of.”

The buildings need extensive roof work, stone pointing, wood replacement and painting.

If renters cannot be found, city officials say the old homes will simply sit until better times. Rent could be forgiven until investors recoup their restoration costs, Snyder said.

Prospective renters have until Nov. 1 to submit proposals for the houses.

Fairmount Park is the nation’s largest city park, stretching 13 serpentine miles from City Hall, up the Schuylkill River and Wissahickon Creek to the city’s northern boundary. Its 4,500 acres were pieced together since 1812, and the resulting park varies in width from a few hundred yards to 2 1/2 miles. By comparison, New York’s Central Park is about 800 acres, and Griffith Park in Los Angeles about 4,100 acres.

The Philadelphia park contains the city’s art museum, zoo, two outdoor theaters, six golf courses, 80 baseball and softball diamonds, 100 miles of bridle paths and 40 miles of bike trails. It was the site of the first world’s fair in the hemisphere, the 1876 Centennial Exposition.