Vote now through November 15.

Publicly chosen winners will be revealed on December 3rd
at the Architectural Hall of Fame Preservation Party!

One vote per category! One ballot per person, please!

The Chestnut Hill Architectural Hall of Fame is a prestigious list of the community’s most cherished and significant buildings, structures, and landscapes selected by the public. These properties stand out for their innovative approaches to planning and design, exceptional materials and craftsmanship, or exemplary representations of their style. Some are also of historical importance due to their association with an event, a person, or simply their age.

Voting for the 2024 Chestnut Hill Architectural Hall of Fame is divided into three categories: Residential, Institutional, and Commercial and Public:

Question Title

* 1. Residential Nominees (Choose ONE Residential Nominee)

8840 Germantown Avenue, Rex House

(ca. 1750, 1801, 1920; Jacob Scheetz, carpenter)
A portion of the house was apparently built circa 1750 by a member of the Rex family, making this Federal-style house possibly one of the earliest remaining buildings in Chestnut Hill. A descendent of the Rex family, carpenter Jacob Scheetz, built a front addition in 1801. Ideally located for doctors working at Chestnut Hill Hospital, the house had several subsequent owners and was restored in 1952.

E. Benezet Street Twins Unit Block
(1817, 1909-10; Duhring, Okie & Ziegler; Duhring)
One of Dr. George Woodward's earlier developments was built on the unit block of Benezet Street and consisted of a series of twin houses designed in different styles by Duhring, Okie & Ziegler; these were completed in 1909-1910. According to his book, Memoirs, Woodward had intended the houses "to be rented to working people... at low rentals." However, the new houses proved attractive to members of the middle class, and they quickly leased them. It should be noted that the twin house at 14-16 Benezet Street has a much deeper history, having its origins as a barn built in 1817 by Melchior Newman, who owned a house at 7921 Germantown Avenue. Dr. Woodward engaged H. Louis Duhring to design its conversion into a twin.

8003 Navajo Street
(1924; Robert Rodes McGoodwin, Architect)
This Cotswold-style stone house was designed by Robert R. McGoodwin and built for developer Dr. George Woodward in 1924. Happy birthday! The house is one of several on the block built by Woodward, and their designs were likely influenced by a trip the Woodwards took to England in the summer of 1914. The houses on this block of Navajo Street and on other streets nearby were situated to take advantage of Woodward's newly-created, still treasured Pastorius Park. This was the home of Philip Price Jr., former state senator, Fairmount Park commissioner, attorney, and community service executive.

Dorothy Shipley White House
717 Glengarry Road (1963; Romaldo Guirgola, Architect)
Designed in the International Style by Romaldo Guirgola, the house at 717 Glengarry Road was built in 1963 for Dorothy Shipley White, who was recently widowed at the time. White wanted "a small house with a large sense of space." The result was a modern house with three cubic spaces oriented around a two-story center hall. As Giurgola taught at the University of Pennsylvania with Louis Kahn, Robert Venturi, and other members of the "Philadelphia School," Giurgola was influenced by them and the design of the house reflects these influences. After years of neglect, the home was listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places by a coalition led by the Conservancy, and is now being rehabilitated and sensitively expanded.

Question Title

* 2. Commercial Nominees (Choose ONE Commercial Nominee)

Seventh-day Adventist Church
8700 Germantown Ave (1852-3; John Notman, Architect)
Designed for the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill by John Notman, architect of the Athenaeum and Laurel Hill East Cemetery’s Gate House. Its parsonage – now the home of the Chestnut Hill Conservancy – was built 5 years later. Upon the completion of a new sanctuary in 1950, the Presbyterian Church moved into a property adjacent to Chestnut Hill Hospital. SdAC then occupied and remains in the building. The original church spire was removed in the mid-1960s.

Fairview Nursing and Rehab Center/Eldon Hotel
156-186 Bethlehem Pike(ca. 1860, 1884, 1945)
Joseph Eastburn Mitchell - also once the owner of Chestnut Hill Conservancy’s building - built his Gothic residential villa on a knoll overlooking Whitemarsh Valley. In 1884, George Simpson converted the property into his Eldon Hotel and boarding house, one of three resort hotels catering to summer vacationers. Simpson added a new wing, which which is the middle part of the present complex. The Eldon operated as a hotel until 1910, when it was converted into the Kenwood mental sanitorium. In 1945, the property became the Fairview Nursing Home.

John Story Jenks School
8301 Germantown Ave (1922-3, 1968; Irwin Catherine)
Named after local resident John Story Jenks, the Jenks School has its roots in the Harmony School, founded in 1794 as Chestnut Hill's first public school. After several relocations, the school found a more permanent location at 212 West Highland Avenue and renamed the Josephus C. Gilbert School. In 1924, after the closure of the Gilbert School, the Jenks School opened and received its students. Designed by Irwin T. Catharine and built by Cramp & Company in 1922-1923, the school and its retaining walls have been local landmarks for over 100 years, with a Day and Zimmerman-designed addition built in 1968.

Question Title

* 3. Commercial/Public Nominees (Choose ONE Commercial/Public Nominee)

Blum’s Antiques
45 E Chestnut Hill Avenue (ca. 1870; Charles Taylor, Builder)
Originally built as a barn-like structure by Charles Taylor circa 1870, this was converted into a storefront by 1925 when 43 was from a store into a garage and later back to a store. In the late 1950s, Jack-in-the-Box Antique Store opened, followed by Chestnut Hill Antiques and Gifts in 1961. In 1967, Blum's Antiques expanded from their 1930 Center City location, buying it in the late 1970s. Current proprietor Barry Blum is the 3rd generation to run the now-90-year-old business, which specializes in “quality 18th & early 19th century American and European antiques."

St. Martins Station
311 W Springfield (1884, 1889; Washington Bleddyn Powell)
Designed by the architect of the Chestnut Hill West and other stations on the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) line. Initially named Wissahickon Heights and built as a 1-story structure in 1884, a 2nd-fl station master's apartment was added in 1889. With many PRR stations suffering from neglect, concerned community members established the St. Martins Station [and Grounds] Committee in 1962, which still tirelessly works to maintain the station and grounds.

Streeper’s Pharmacy
8532 Germantown Ave (1892, attributed to George Pearson)
Built for pharmacist Frank P. Streeper, the design of this Tudor building has been attributed to George T. Pearson. Drug stores occupied the site for the next 100 years; after Streeper's Drug Store (also an afterschool hangout for local school children) it was the home of the Battin & Lunger Pharmacy until 1991.Later occupied by J. E. Caldwell Company and O'Doodles, it now houses J.D. Susanin’s Palladio, a custom framing and interior design firm.

Vote now through November 15.

Publicly chosen winners will be revealed on December 3rd
at the Architectural Hall of Fame Preservation Party!

One vote per category! One ballot per person, please!

Question Title

* 1. Residential Nominees (Choose ONE Residential Nominee)

Question Title

* 2. Commercial Nominees (Choose ONE Commercial Nominee)

Question Title

* 3. Commercial/Public Nominees (Choose ONE Commercial/Public Nominee)

Question Title

* 4. Please enter your name.

Question Title

* 5. Please enter your email address.

Vote now through November 15. Publicly chosen winners will be revealed on December 3rdat the Architectural Hall of Fame Preservation Party!One vote per category! One ballot per person, please!

Question Title

* 1. Residential Nominees (Choose ONE Residential Nominee)

Question Title

* 2. Commercial Nominees (Choose ONE Commercial Nominee)

Question Title

* 3. Commercial/Public Nominees (Choose ONE Commercial/Public Nominee)

Question Title

* 4. Please enter your name.

Question Title

* 5. Please enter your email address.

Vote now through November 15.

Publicly chosen winners will be revealed on December 3rd
at the Architectural Hall of Fame Preservation Party!

One vote per category! One ballot per person, please!