Colin Murphy, who bought his home in Washington Square four years ago, said the group is hoping to receive contributions of about $500 from many of the 100-plus people who sent objections to the commission last year, before the district was approved.<\/p>\n
Murphy, a real estate agent, acknowledged that $500 is \u201cnot an amount to stick your nose up at.\u201d But he argued that it\u2019s much less than the amount it could cost a resident to comply with commission rules \u2014\u00a0for example, to install historically authentic doors or windows \u2014 if the designation stays in place.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/08-05-2025-k-paynter-washington-square-west-historic-district-9.jpg\")
Camac and Spruce Streets in Philadelphia\u2019s Washington Square West historic district. (Kimberly Paynter\/WHYY)<\/p>\n
\u201cWould you rather pay $500 now to get the district potentially thrown out entirely, or wait until you have to do updates on your house, and spend thousands of dollars more than you were expecting on a project that was already going to cost you a fair sum to begin with?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Yet even if they can afford their lawyers\u2019 fees, the homeowners and landlords who are suing to appeal three recent designations may face major challenges when their cases are heard.<\/p>\n
Judges have on occasion overturned the Historical Commission\u2019s moves to protect individual buildings, accepting an owner\u2019s arguments that a structure didn\u2019t fit the panel\u2019s guidelines. But no court has ever canceled an entire historic district covering a large number of homes, according to Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot to my knowledge, not that I have ever seen, not in this city,\u201d said Steinke, whose organization has helped prepare historic nominations for Washington Square West and other districts. \u201cI don\u2019t really place much credibility in their chances of succeeding. But of course they have the right to try.\u201d<\/p>\n
A wave of new historic districts<\/p>\n
Philadelphia established the Historical Commission<\/a> in 1955, as part of a movement to keep architecturally and historically significant buildings<\/a> in neighborhoods like Society Hill from being demolished during the era of urban renewal.\u00a0<\/p>\n Initially it focused on protecting individual structures. The first full district, Main Street in Manayunk, was created in 1984, and a revised preservation ordinance in 1986 provided for the subsequent creation of many more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some districts cover a few dozen homes, while others, like Washington Square West, include several hundred or more residential and commercial structures. The commission reviews owners\u2019 requests to make changes to their buildings and can block demolitions. The agency also enforces rules on the appearance of home exteriors, as seen from the street; for example, it may require owners to maintain historically accurate doors, windows, bricks and other materials.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people in this city recognize that there is a dearth of standards in building design and maintenance overall. People complain about it all the time,\u201d Steinke said. \u201cWell, within historic districts, there is a standard, and that is to the benefit of both property owners and the city as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n Pushback from some property owners and councilmembers, along with a staff shortage at the Historical Commission, halted the creation of more districts in the early 2010s. In 2017, following an outcry over demolitions of notable buildings<\/a> and Philadelphia\u2019s relatively small number of protected properties, the Kenney administration beefed up the agency and it began creating districts again<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Washington Square West, with 1,411 properties<\/a>, was designated in September. Two other new districts are Southeast Spruce Hill, with 572 properties, and the Northwest Philadelphia Apartments thematic district<\/a>, which includes 30 scattered apartment buildings in Mount Airy and Germantown.<\/p>\n All three designations now face court challenges, with oral arguments scheduled for October in the first two cases and in December for the third.<\/p>\n The $8,500 door<\/p>\n The exact legal arguments the Washington Square West residents plan to make in court are not clear from the filings in their case so far. Their attorney, Michael McClure of Ballard Spahr, did not respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Murphy and others argue that the designation should be canceled or scaled back because of its potential high cost to residents. They point to specific harms they say property owners have suffered since it went into effect.<\/p>\n For example, Spruce Street condo owner Deepan Patel was denied permission to replace a mid-19th century front door with a new door from Home Depot that would cost $178 or $1,028, depending on the model selected. When he contacted contractors about fabricating a historically accurate door, the estimates started at $8,500, not including installation, according to emails he provided to the Historical Commission.<\/p>\n \u201cMy understanding is that the homeowner has actually elected to do nothing, and now that existing door is still in place and is actually just rotting away,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to turn into this situation where you\u2019re going to have more houses that look, for lack of a better term, scrappy and ugly on the outside. The whole point of the historic district\u2019s intention, I believe, is to prevent that from happening.\u201d<\/p>\n The commission\u2019s architectural committee discussed the door in some detail, according to minutes from its February meeting. Some members said a new custom door, while expensive, would be of high quality and last for many years. Others suggested Patel only needed to replace the frame or part of the door, at lower cost. Patel did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n The Historical Commission is not obligated to consider costs when designating districts or reviewing alterations, and it\u2019s unclear whether such an argument would have any sway in court.<\/p>\n The commission says its goal is to \u201cmanage change, not prevent it.\u201d It says its staff members are available to give free advice on making alterations, it can\u2019t force you to make any changes, and 90% of projects are approved by staff without going before the commission itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, Murphy and other critics argue that compliance costs and the cumbersomeness of the review process nevertheless make it difficult to maintain or improve properties in a historic district. That discourages sales and redevelopment, stymies efforts to build much-needed new housing, and threatens to freeze neighborhoods \u201cin amber,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n Complaints of broad-brush designation<\/p>\n The Washington Square West plaintiffs also contend there were flaws in the nomination process, which could be raised in court.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year, some said they hadn\u2019t received official notice of the nomination, as required. The commission\u2019s executive director Jon Farnham contested that claim, saying the city had hung posters around the neighborhood and sent about 5,000 notification letters to residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n The objectors argued that the covered buildings lack a unifying theme, as they were built over a span of some 240 years in a variety of styles. Plaintiff Jonathan Hessney noted that the nomination document didn\u2019t describe any specific cultural or historical significance for most of the listed homes.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s an approximate date of construction, and maybe a description of the building \u2014 it\u2019s built out of masonry or whatever \u2014 but no history listed. And then all of a sudden it\u2019s either \u2018contributing\u2019 or \u2018non-contributing\u2019 [to the district]. It\u2019s unclear why buildings are that way,\u201d Hessney said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n \u201cFor my property, they don\u2019t even have a picture of the facade. They say we\u2019re not visible from the public right of way. And for some reason, we\u2019re contributing to the district,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Preservation guidelines do not require historic districts to consist of similar buildings, or buildings that are significant for the same reason. When the Historical Commission voted to approve the Washington Square West district in September, it cited several different criteria that parts of the area met: associations with historical LGBTQ+ and Black communities, well-preserved examples of at least five architectural styles, the work of prominent architects, and innovative real estate development patterns, among others.<\/p>\n Farnham also noted at the time that nominations typically don\u2019t lay out which buildings meet which designation criteria, according to the meeting minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA district doesn\u2019t have to be a kind of unified development to qualify. Wash West clearly reflects the history and the people of the city of that era when it was mostly built,\u201d Steinke said. \u201cSo I don\u2019t think they\u2019re gonna get much mileage out of that.\u201d<\/p>\n The Historical Commission declined a request for comment, citing the ongoing litigation.<\/p>\n What constitutes a significant building?<\/p>\n The plaintiffs in the two other appeals are represented by attorney Michael Phillips of Klehr Harrison. He argues that some past historic district designations \u2014 for example, the small Chestnut East Commercial district, around 7th and 8th streets, that was approved in 2021 \u2014 include some architecturally unremarkable buildings and have impeded economic growth.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we talk about how are we going to continue to develop and grow as a city, it becomes extremely difficult do that, and developers will just shy away from looking at that block, knowing all of the obstacles that they could face,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cLiving in a city like Philadelphia, clearly it\u2019s necessary to preserve the history, but I think we need to do so in a thoughtful, deliberative manner.\u201d<\/p>\n That argument could influence City Council to modify the city\u2019s historic preservation law, perhaps to create multiple, less-stringent levels of restrictions, an idea some preservationists have supported<\/a>. It\u2019s not exactly a legal argument, however.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/08-05-2025-k-paynter-washington-square-west-historic-district-11.jpg\")
11th and Locust Streets in Philadelphia. (Kimberly Paynter\/WHYY)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/08-05-2025-k-paynter-washington-square-west-historic-district-2.jpg\")
Homes at 9th and Pine Streets in Philadelphia\u2019s Washington Square West historic district. (Kimberly Paynter\/WHYY)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/08-05-2025-k-paynter-washington-square-west-historic-district-5.jpg\")
Waverly Street between 10th and 11th in Philadelphia. (Kimberly Paynter\/WHYY)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/philadelphia-historic-apartments-am-01-011025-768x512-1.webp\")
Cloverly Park at 437 West School House Lane in Germantown. (Emma Lee\/WHYY)<\/p>\n