West Philadelphia's Spruce Hill neighborhood is one of the most intact Victorian neighborhoods in America. Student housing companies are trying to block the area from being designated a historic district.Housing, along with unnamed other property owners, have submitted a letter to the Historical Commission arguing that the historic district effort is illegitimate.
The Spruce Hill Community Association, which is behind the latest push for a historic district, has sought to divide the approval process for the would-be Spruce Hill Historic District into four sections. They argue that with almost 2,000 properties covered in the new district, the staff of the Historical Commission could be overwhelmed if the whole thing were considered at once. The full district would be the largest considered in over 20 years.
“It appears that the nominator’s concern for the administration burden on the PHC staff is merely pretext and that SHCA’s true motivation is to prematurely halt or slow the demolition, alteration or construction of any building or structure within the SE quadrant during the pendency of the commission’s consideration of the nomination,” Phillips wrote in his letter to the Historical Commission.
Representatives from Spruce Hill declined to comment on the letter. The city’s Law Department also had no comment on Phillips legal argument.