Since 2011, at least six congregations that occupied historic sacred places have left the Graduate Hospital area, a neighborhood that has gentrified in recent years. But so, too, can the sort of rapid, upscale change often labeled as gentrification. For instance, rising poverty and declining quality of life in an area often have a negative impact on the condition of religious buildings and the stability of the congregations that occupy them. ![]() The research, which included in-depth interviews with the leaders of 22 congregations, found that neighborhood change of any kind can threaten the stability of historic sacred places. Others had become homes to arts and culture centers, service agencies, and professional office complexes. Eight were being used as schools, and six housed preschool or childcare centers. In addition, 82 buildings, about 10 percent of the total, had been put to new uses, including 17 as multifamily residences and seven as single-family homes. Another five percent of the buildings, 39 in all, were vacant and from 2011 to 2015, 23 were demolished. While 83 percent of the city’s historic sacred spaces remained in religious use at the time the research was done, 378 of them were no longer occupied by the buildings’ original congregations. To varying degrees, those outcomes have been happening for years. Possible outcomes include abandonment of the buildings, which could lead to vacancy and deterioration or demolition takeovers by other congregations and reuse as schools and apartment buildings or other purposes. ![]() And it found the condition of the surviving structures, as judged by systematic examination of their exteriors, to be mostly good or very good overall.Įven so, many congregations are likely to face tough decisions in the years ahead about what to do with their aging buildings, some of which face major and potentially costly repairs to their interiors and operating systems. The research, done for Pew by PennPraxis* at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design with assistance from Partners for Sacred Places, found that 839 historic sacred buildings were still standing in the city in 2015 and early 2016, one for roughly every 1,900 city residents. The Pew Charitable Trusts recently published an in-depth report on the subject, Philadelphia’s Historic Sacred Places: Their Past, Present, and Future, with historic sacred places defined as those built for religious purposes before 1965. In addition, these structures have provided a range of community services that reach beyond their own congregations into the surrounding neighborhoods.įor these reasons, it is important to understand the condition of these often massive buildings - and the factors that will help determine what happens to them in the years ahead. ![]() Buildings constructed as houses of worship have long enriched Philadelphia’s urban landscape, embodying the city’s legacy of art and architecture and adding to a history of religious and ethnic diversity.
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