Tag Archives: #thisplacematters

meanwhile in easttown, demolition by neglect at 32 waterloo avenue?

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First I will start with somewhere under ALL of this mess is supposedly a house built in 1890. It was bastardized in the 1960s. I wonder what it originally looked like? Someone had said it was possibly a stable or livery originally, so an adaptive reuse would be normal for modern living but LOOK at what neighbors have to literally look at today?

I went looking in ChesCo Views to see who owned the property and obviously it’s an investor or investment group. There are a few properties involved.

Here’s what I found in public records:

Dilapidated property

I don’t have all the details but I asked around and apparently 32 Waterloo was part of an original plan for an office building?

I found these old articles:

Supervisors delay decision regarding parking issues at Waterloo Complex
Proposed Berwyn residential, office complex faces hurdles
Plans approved by Easttown planners after lively exchange
Waterloo Complex applicant is all out of patience

Local scuttlebutt has it that they weren’t actually able to do what they originally wanted to do. So houses that they owned were rehabbed and rented out I have been told.

So here’s an excerpt from a 2008 article in Main Line Media News (you know back when our local news was actually reported by our local papers and not disemboweled by hedge funds):

Anger was the word of the evening – or at least the most memorable word – at Tuesday night’s Easttown Planning Commission meeting when Michael McNulty, who is applying for land-development and conditional-use permits for the proposed Waterloo Complex on his property in Berwyn, became upset with the commissioners and stormed out of the room.

Because only two members of the Planning Commission attended Tuesday’s meeting, there was no quorum, and it was unclear why the absent members did not show.

However, chairman Mitch Shiles and commissioner Joe Tamney stayed to hear requests and presentations from community members.

McNulty’s lawyer, Joe Ryan of Ryan, Emory and Ryan, LLP, reported to the commissioners that they had spoken to township engineer Surrender Kohli and landscape architect Lisa Thomas as was requested by the Easttown Board of Supervisors at their most recent meeting. Ryan said that Kohli and Thomas both sent letters approving some changes that were made to the plans for the complex and adding some comments on additional things that they would like to see amended.

Ryan told the commissioners that Kohli wants a note added to the plan stating that no signs will ever be placed on the property, but McNulty spoke up and said that while he isn’t currently applying for a sign, he was not going to promise to never have one because he might want to rent space out to someone who needs a sign for a business.

“We’re not going to agree to a note,” Ryan said. He added that they would comply with anything required by township zoning laws and sign ordinances but that a note agreeing to never place a sign on the property would not fall within the scope of those laws.

McNulty then began to express his anger over having to go back and forth between the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors without getting a final verdict on the request for the permits, especially because his paid legal representatives must come out to each meeting.

“I’m paying these guys hundreds of dollars to be here… yeah, shake your head,” he said angrily to one of the commissioners.

He asked the commissioners to let him know before the meetings if there would again be no decision made.

“Let me know so we don’t do this dog-and-pony show, so we don’t get kicked back again,” he said.

McNulty said that he was “venting,” but Shiles said that he limits the amount of venting allowed in Planning Commission meetings.

“I’m just trying to invest in this township. You guys can’t see the forest for the trees,” he added.

“We’re out of this; forget it,” he muttered as he and Ryan and the others involved with the complex proposal walked out of the room.

“I think the township is being hurt by the arrogance and incompetence of the Planning Commission,” McNulty added in a phone interview on Wednesday. “Every time we go back it’s something new, something new. Last night was the coup de grace – no apology for wasting everybody’s time. That’s why Berwyn looks like it looks.

“I think I’m the only guy in that room who ever read the Comprehensive Plan,” he added. “We haven’t asked for a variance, we haven’t said, ‘Hey, we’ll do this if you do this,’ we’ve done nothing but try to ferret out of them what they want.”

McNulty said that at last count he has spent $130,000 in attorney and legal fees, and “we are no closer.”

“The level of frustration felt by my client and his partners became very evident last night at the meeting. It is unfortunate that it has come to that, but he has been mistreated by the Planning Commission, and last night was the last straw. They didn’t get a quorum and apparently no one notified the participants… there was no apology from the commission,” Ryan said the following day.

“My client is dealing with time requirements set by township ordinance and state law. The Planning Commission seemed to infer that because my client was unwilling to extend his time limits that we were somehow inconveniencing the township. So we intend to move forward to the Board of Supervisors for their action on the project.”

But if the supervisors don’t approve the plan at their meeting on Monday, April 8, McNulty said that he’s “going to give up the dream I’ve been chasing to have an office building in Berwyn. I didn’t think it would be that hard to make happen when I’ve been overinvesting… I’m investing in this. I’m not a developer who’s going to sell the building and move on.”

But, he added, if the plan doesn’t get approved, McNulty said that he will sell the land and move on.

OK so apparently this guy McNulty’s entity still owns these properties correct? I just pulled the records today off of ChesCo views, right? So it kind of makes me laugh because it’s almost like when people threaten to leave a Facebook page or a Facebook group, but they never do?

I remembered when all of this was happening at the time I just never knew what happened to it as an issue until someone posted a picture of 32 Waterloo Ave. over the weekend.

Back to local scuttlebutt. Somewhere along the line, thank heavens, plans for an office building in the middle of Berwyn‘s historic village fell apart. Now, if I recall correctly, when this first started, some of the people in Berwyn came to us at the then Save Ardmore Coalition (now defunct) to ask us how we organized. I also seem to remember now that I’ve started digging back into this that this was covered at the time on the Save Ardmore Coalition blog because we did cover other areas. And at that point the site had multiple bloggers.

So I found all the articles that exist on coverage of this issue of these properties being consolidated for an office building in Berwyn’s historic village. What I was told by locals is that at some point after all of this, the man that owned the properties fixed up all the others and rented them out.

However this one property at 32 Waterloo Avenue has something wrong. I don’t know what the deal is but sitting like this you know something happened right?

So Easttown what is the deal? Intentional blight? Demolition by neglect? It’s also concerning because this is an area of Berwyn that has a lot of investment properties. And if one gets to slide by on subpar standards of property upkeep, the others might follow? Or one would think a real estate holding company like Eadah, that takes reasonably decent care of their properties and has property in that neighborhood might also be bothered by this ?

I honestly don’t know what’s going on, but I will close with a little montage of Google Earth photos of this property at different times over the years.

You be the judge.

it’s groundhog day in west chester borough

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HT to West Goshen Sunshine for alerting all of us to this latest episode of stupidity by West Chester Borough.

Once again West Chester Borough is trying to develop the parking lot at Church and Chestnut for a fake “attainable” housing development and destroy the West Chester Growers Market? And I can tell you that I believe development there wouldn’t either be “attainable“ or affordable. In my humble opinion, it would just be another hot mess for this over developed town.

Presentation and discussion at 1:03. Assholes. And yes I just said that. Out loud.

Go to 1:03

It’s like literally every few years they have to have some latest greatest stupid development plan to destroy one of the regions most established and well respected farmers markets, and the neighborhood where it’s held.

The Borough of West Chester doesn’t need more development they can’t handle what they already have.

They tried this in 2013:

west chester growers market at risk! help save the market!

While the market may not bring huge revenue, tall buildings or more parking spaces to the Borough of West Chester, they do bring something of great importance:

COMMUNITY.


Please if you live in the borough, contact your borough representative and ask them to consider these factors as they make their decision:

  • This market hosts 2000+ people every Summer Saturday
  • They provide a sense of community, where neighbors talk to neighbors
  • Their market acts as a drawing card to downtown businesses. Customers frequently shop there after leaving the market.
  • If the lot is developed, there is a chance that the Growers Market will no longer be able to serve the community.
  • So please, if you value the sense of community and supporting the local farm fresh foods that our market has brought to West Chester, contact your borough representative and tell them what the market means to you.
  • Remember, they represent you.

Click here for West Chester Borough Council: https://west-chester.com/227/West-Chester-Borough-Council

Click here for the Mayor of West Chester Borough: https://west-chester.com/213/Mayor

Click here for the Borough Manager: smetrick@west-chester.com

The Borough Manager’s phone number is: 610-344-3346. His name is Sean Metrick. He came from the Borough of Narberth, and he should know better.

Even if you don’t live in the Borough, but if you patronize the West Chester Growers Market or work in the borough or have friends in the borough I urge you to contact West Chester ASAP.

Tell them the numbers of “needed” units is wrong, ask them to produce the data that lead them to that number. They have to prove that this isn’t just to support developers etc.

Somewhere along the line we have to start saying no, and meaning it for development that is removing things that are integral to our communities.

I don’t know why West Chester Borough seems to think this is a good idea every few years but it’s time for people to stand up now and stop this before it goes further.

This is not about affordable housing. This is about some developer getting a project and making money. This is about coin. Nothing more, nothing less and I can have that opinion.

#savethewestchestergrowersmarket

joseph price house in west whiteland 2024

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Photo Courtesy of @morning_reveries

I have lost count of how many times I have written about the Joseph Price House in Exton at 401 Clover Mill Rd, Exton, PA 19341 on the corner of S. Whitford Road. It has been on my mind because of the weather lately. Especially with all of the flooding and downed trees around S. Whitford Road.

So here’s the house….continuing to rot. I last wrote about it in October, 2023.

I wish some newspaper writer or TV reporter would take a break from murders, Trump, snow, etc. and focus on the serious lack of preservation by some property owners in Southeastern PA with regard to historic structures like this house, which is recognized as a historic asset by the federal government as well.

Brief rant over.

#THISPLACEMATTERS

yes another post on the joseph price house in exton which has been historically rotting for decades.

william penn safe (for now) and josh shapiro says he did it?

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So I wrote about this yesterday, right? I didn’t originate the news about the National Park Service and William Penn in his Philadelphia pocket park at 2nd and Walnut off of Samson Walk. It was international news after a few hours yesterday which made me notice. William Penn being discussed by British newspapers will do that.

total b.s. leave william penn alone.

Well about half an hour ago I noticed an update on the NBC10 app and apparently the hair brained stupid idea, plan, or proposal is now revoked and of course the I-95 Superman known as Governor Josh Shapiro is taking credit for swooping in to save the day?

Groan….politics….

IMHO the people did this with instant public outrage, not the Governor who is using this as political capital to feather his own political nest. I mean Governor you are everywhere these days so what is it you are interested in? A US Senate Seat? A Presidential bid? Sorry not sorry something has to be cooking, right? So while he’s at it, how about those pipeline issues, Governor darling?

Anyway, here’s what NBC10 is saying:


NBC10 Philadelphia: NPS withdrawals plan to remove statue of William Penn from site of his Philadelphia home

Published January 8, 2024 • Updated 12 mins ago

The National Park Service (NPS) has withdrawn the review of a renovation plan that included the removal of the statue of William Penn from the site of his former Philadelphia home. 

The NPS asked for input on the future for the park, located near the intersection of 2nd and Walnut Streets off Sansom Walk in Philadelphia’s Old City neighborhood, and they certainly received it — at least online.

The online site where the public was supposed to provide comment on the Welcome Park proposal on Monday—the first day of a 14-day period where the NPS were going to receive public input on the plan.

By 6:30 p.m. Monday night, the NPS said the public comment period was closed.

“The preliminary draft proposal, which was released prematurely and had not been subject to a complete internal agency review, is being retracted. No changes to the William Penn statue are planned,” the NPS said in a statement.

…In a statement on the plan, the NPS said the goal of the proposed renovations were intended to create “a more welcoming, accurate, and inclusive experience for visitors.”

After the proposal was withdrawn the NPS said:

“The National Park Service (NPS) remains committed to rehabilitating Welcome Park as the nation prepares to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. Upon completion of all the necessary internal reviews, the park looks forward to engaging in a robust public process to consider options for refurbishing the park in the coming years.”

The park is located on the site of Penn’s former home, it is also named for the ship, Welcome, which transported Penn to Philadelphia. 

The design and construction of Welcome Park was funded by the Independence Historical Trust and was completed in 1982, notes the NPS in the statement….The withdrawn proposal called for the William Penn statue and Slate Roof house model at the park to be removed and not reinstalled.

Yeah, Super Josh did all of this, right? Public outrage at the National Park Service’s latest bit of stupidity and political pandering and a complete disregard of the actual history of William Penn had nothing to do with it? The fact that it is a Presidential election year has nothing to do with it either ? (Somewhere Dana Carvey is reviving Church Lady and isn’t that special.)

Park withdraws review of Welcome Park rehabilitation proposal

Date: January 8, 2024
Contact:Andrew McDougall, 215-435-4372

PHILADELPHIA — Independence National Historical Park has withdrawn the review of a draft proposal to rehabilitate Welcome Park and closed the public comment period. The preliminary draft proposal, which was released prematurely and had not been subject to a complete internal agency review, is being retracted.  No changes to the William Penn statue are planned.  

The National Park Service (NPS) remains committed to rehabilitating Welcome Park as the nation prepares to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. Upon completion of all the necessary internal reviews, the park looks forward to engaging in a robust public process to consider options for refurbishing the park in the coming years.  

The park is located on the site of William Penn’s home, the Slate Roof House, and is named for the ship, Welcome, which transported Penn to Philadelphia. The design and construction of Welcome Park was funded by the Independence Historical Trust and was completed in 1982.   

Updates on the project may be found on the park’s website at www.nps.gov/INDE.

Now let’s do remember that this park is barely a park and more of a rather dated 1980s concrete jungle masquerading as a park and has been since it was created . So making it more of a green space and honoring nature which is so part of Native American culture and history is not a bad plan, but William Penn and his slate house replica and his legacy should remain on the site that was his home in Philadelphia.

Also and once again people are in an uproar over William Penn because he owned slaves. At Pennsbury Manor. Quaker Charles Thomson, the most famous inhabitant of historic Harriton House in Bryn Mawr , Irish-born patriot leader in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress throughout its existence owned slaves before he freed them. Thomson prepared the Journals of the Continental Congress, and his and John Hancock’s names were the only two to appear on the first printing of the United States Declaration of Independence. He designed the Great Seal of the US too. So should he be removed from history too?

My point is some Philadelphia Quakers did own slaves and some known as “fighting Quakers” also fought in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and even WWI and WWII. Those are historical facts.

William Penn kept enslaved people. These are some of their names.

Slavery is wrong in today’s world, it wasn’t wrong quite yet in that world many centuries ago. It is an inconvenient truth yet part of the history that made this country. You can’t cancel all of our founding fathers and US history, nor should you. It was a different time. People and culture was different. Society was different. I say that as someone who has the genealogy of discriminated against people in my DNA. And there are plenty of people also descended from indentured servants as well as slaves.

Again, our history is our history. Covering it up and/or removing it means we could be doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. Being open to all segments of history gives us the opportunity to learn so yes that should include Native American and history of other indigenous peoples (like the Inuit tribes) and slavery and black history along with everything else. They are all pieces of the crazy quilt of American history.

We can’t pretend bad things didn’t happen and we shouldn’t. But history doesn’t exist for the convenient bits, it exists for ALL of it, including William Penn.

Face it before there was George Washington, or Thomas Jefferson, or John Adams or Paul Revere or Betsy Ross or Prince Hall or Louis Glapion or George Middleton or Absalom Jones or Richard Allen, there was William Penn.

History has a place in our lives. We live in Pennsylvania. We fight to see pieces of land that were William Penn land grants saved, we need to save him too. There would be no Pennsylvania without William Penn.

Have a good night and keep an eye on this story.

christmas comes to loch aerie

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It is no secret that I love Loch Aerie Mansion. I love Addison Hutton architecture and this house is just magical! The difference from way back when I started photographing her. Here are some photos to illustrate the remarkable restoration:

Loch Aerie opened her doors today for a Christmas open house. All that was asked of her visitors was to bring a new toy for Tpys for Tots or non-perishable food for the Chester County Food Bank. In return, we got to soak in the beautiful Christmas spirit of Loch Aerie all restored, take photos with Santa and enjoy some holiday goodies along with cocoa and hot cider.

There were a whole bunch of adorable children, taking photos with Santa! My friend was the Santa and he had a great costume!

Loch Aerie should be awarded all sorts of awards for historic restoration and adaptive reuse that works. I loved this open house this afternoon. Enjoy the photos!

Loch Aerie is in East Whiteland Township, Chester County.

If you are interested in Loch Aerie as an event or wedding space it is located at 700 Lancaster Avenue, Malvern/Frazer PA 19355. Their website is www.lochaeriemansion.com

Enjoy the photos!

#vote chester county

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Get out and #vote Chester County.

Don’t just talk about it, do it !

From one end of Chester County to the other our lives, our way of life, where we call home, and the future of our children depend upon it.

If you don’t get out and vote, we will all end up with the government we deserve.

yes another post on the joseph price house in exton which has been historically rotting for decades.

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⚠️Correction: I wanted to get this video out there, and it has been a federally listed historic resource since the
early 1980s not the 1960s⚠️

The Joseph Price House. 401 Clover Mill in Exton, West Whiteland Township, Chester County. The corner of Clover Mill Road and S. Whitford Road. Historically rotting since we can safely say 1988 when the current owners acquired the property.

I actually know people who tried in recent years to purchase the historic house to save it but present owners can never seem to sell, can they? Do they think they will get millions of dollars more than property is worth? And if I am honest, part of what I fear with this property is not only the house, completely falling apart to the point where it can’t be saved, but the possibility of this property ending up in some weird tax sale, and someone unscrupulous getting the property and then just tearing down a legit and registered historic house.

I have made a black-and-white photo of this house in its current state the banner for this website and the Chester County Ramblings social media channels. The reason I did that in June is because I think it’s beautiful and needs to be saved, and I keep hoping if people keep seeing the house, it will provoke conversations, and folks will ask questions, send me old photos and history. Recently, someone did. Their dad was born in the house in 1926.

South side of Joseph Price House 1926.

I took exterior shots with a zoom lens from across the road earlier this year in June. I did not trespass. The house as previously mentioned is in grave peril.

save the joseph price house in west whiteland NOW!

I had questioned before if the house was secure. At one point it did have a caretaker but after what I saw through the lens of my camera I do not see how it is possible for anyone to live in that house safely or legally. But I suppose anything is possible?

Interior Joseph Price House, date and photographer unknown. BUT believed to be only a few years old.

However a couple of years ago I was sent a couple interior photos of recent vintage. I do NOT know how they were obtained. I also don’t know who sent them to me and I have searched to find the old message and it is long gone. I have never posted these images but I think it is time. Maybe it will of help to motivate West Whiteland to get the owners to properly secure the structure or even help someone, anyone to get a conservation/preservation buyer? I figure the current owners have to be getting up there in age? I also found a random and old court docket with the owners on it, have no idea what it was about does anyone?

Anyway this house is glorious and if Loch Aerie in neighboring East Whiteland could be saved and repurposed with a new life, why not this place too?

#thisplacematters #history #historichouses

I mean are there ANY reporters TV or print media with the gumption to cover this? It’s not a human bleeding and dying, it’s just a house. A historically noted house. We can’t save everything but we should save some things, right?

Save the Joseph Price House in Exton. But please don’t trespass there, it is still someone else’s property.

today at ebenezer, hope rose like a phoenix from the ashes

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This won’t be a particularly long post and over the next couple of days I will be going through photos from the sign ceremony to post but today my heart was happy and full of joy.

I love this site, and I love the history it represents, and today I felt hopeful. Today I felt the old souls were pleased… and I could also feel more recent souls who loved Ebenezer whom I knew, Ann Christie and Al Terrell were smiling.

Also something unexpected happened. Today I got a thank you for my contributions to Ebenezer. That is a place that is so special to me, and the thank you was heartfelt. It came from Pastor April Martin and Bertha Jackmon. Coming from them that really meant something special to me. No one really has ever publicly recognized my efforts, and it’s one of those things where no brass band was ever needed, but a simple thank you today meant the world.

My relationship with the East Whiteland Historic Commission doesn’t really exist. I genuinely like a couple of the members and a few members past and present have always been truly really nice to me, and I enjoy speaking with them and knowing them a little bit, BUT I know most of those people do not like me, and a few do not go out of their way to make me feel welcome. And part of the things that have upset me about Ebenezer was trying to talk to them over the years. None of them are bad people, but they are quite cliquish, and not necessarily welcoming to someone like me, or anyone who isn’t their normal person.

Part of what I realized today is I don’t need their approval or permission to love local history. They honestly did a really nice job with the ceremony. Ebenezer’s graveyard is nicely cleaned up. A bunch of stones have fallen over but it’s partially the site itself, and there are new homes being dug around it. The plan is to restore the stones and cap the church ruin which is perfect.

There is a brand new website and fundraising will need to be done for the future and if there are folks who can set up a non profit to help Ebenezer live long into the future visit https://www.historicebenezerbactonhill.org/

It was really nice to visit Hiram and Joshua today too.

Many thanks to Chair of the East Whiteland Supervisors Scott Lambert and Manager Steve Brown for their support of preserving this historic site and for arranging all sorts of things today and East Whiteland PD for making a sometimes busy road behave today.

Again, I will post photos over the next few days. In the future I would like to plant daffodils and snowdrops by the grave stones after they are reset.

a giant waste in radnor township.

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Today, March 32, 2023

I can’t tell you how many people told me I didn’t know what I was talking about when I wrote the post recently about the old Wayne Bed and Breakfast Inn.

March 10, 2023

Well, one of my readers contacted me this afternoon and told me that she was being destroyed beginning today. A little while ago I was sent a picture which is the first one on this post.

Demolition has begun. Truly a goddamn waste.

This beauty is going with barely a whimper from Radnor Township. A property of historic import, which also had been lovingly and meticulously restored. In the place of this great house will be some soulless McMansions, probably front and loaded to boot.

Also, now gone are so many of trees, and the beautiful gardens. And those gardens had some very old plantings. I think it was an ash tree that was very very old on this property and they didn’t even take cuttings from it. It survived when many of its species did not. Radnor Township pays lip service to being good environmental stewards and tree tenders too, in my humble opinion.

This is a waste. It is purely a waste. And I hope the ghosts of that bed-and-breakfast haunt that new development and future residents. This place could have had an adaptive reuse that could have been worked into this brand new development.

This is why I urged Radnor Township residents to start going back to meetings. And something you should start with sooner rather than later is Fenimore Woods. If you think Fenimore Woods should be left as woods, you know the way it was originally intended, don’t depend on an old politician to be your sole voice who has been commissioner so many times throughout the years that he can’t not act like a commissioner even when he’s not in office.

Get involved in your township before it’s too late. And get yourselves a new manager too. Maybe it’s time for all of you to start adding up all the crazy stuff that has happened under his watch. Are you really better off with him? Or don’t you deserve better? And yes, you can question who governs you and you should. You also deserve a manager who is accessible to residents and you don’t have that.

If any of you take photos of the demolition in process, or have old photos of this place, feel free to send them I will post them.

RIP Wayne Bed and Breakfast Inn at 211 Strafford Avenue in Wayne, PA.

#saveberwyn (pass it on)

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These are not my words to follow. They are the words of a friend. These are words he is saying publicly, so I am sharing them. Easttown is on the verge of once again destroying Berwyn.

#SaveBerwyn

Pass it on.

#ThisPlaceMatters