May 3, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Seminary to redo Avenue front
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI

In two years, the corner of Allens Lane and Germantown Avenue could have a new look that welcomes the community onto the campus of The Lutheran Seminary at Philadelphia.

The seminary announced, to West Mt. Airy Neighbors at its April 10 board meeting that it was planning to reinvent its Germantown Avenue appearance. Specifically, it wants to take down part of its stone wall and make a welcoming courtyard for the community.

The plans are still conceptual, said George Yu, architect for the seminary, who presented the potential design at the meeting, and the seminary is hoping to coincide its construction with PennDOT’s Avenue project.

Part of the Avenue project, Yu said, is to lower the sidewalk on the seminary side of Germantown Avenue, which currently lies well above street level. But by lowering the sidewalk, the stone wall that borders the seminary — now at about six feet high — will become eight to nine feet high.

“It’ll make us look like a mighty fortress,” Krey said at WMAN’s meeting, and the seminary wants to avoid that.

Yu said the seminary is looking to become more a part of the community. Already, the seminary’s facilities have been used for many community events, including WMAN’s candidate forums. East Mt. Airy’s Neighbors’ offices are also on the grounds.

Yu quoted Krey during his presentation as saying that the 21st century seminary is not a “cloister,” meaning that it does not keep to itself, but wants to be connected to the neighbors.

The plan, which Yu made clear is just conceptual and would not be able to start for more than a year because of planning and bidding, would take away part of the stone wall across the street from Wawa and Valley Green Bank.

The ground will be excavated from around the chapel to reveal its basement, which holds EMAN’s offices and could hold a bookstore and coffee shop, Yu and Krey said. The basement would be given larger windows.

The area between the chapel and the torn down wall will be paved with two terraces — the upper one will be level with the church’s entrance and another will be level with the street. Krey and Yu said they imagined it as a courtyard, where people could sit and enjoy coffee, books, etc.

Krey said this was part of the campus’ master plan, but this project was set for five or six years from now. He said PennDOT’s Avenue restoration presented a good opportunity to get the project done while the Avenue was already being worked on in order to lessen the impact on the neighborhood.

Another factor that sped the project up was the interest of the Bishop Claire Burkat of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Lutheran Senate to return her offices and the senate’s offices to the city. These offices moved about 12 years ago to Norristown, said Krey, much to the disappointed of Ed Rendell, who was mayor at the time and wanted to keep the offices in the city. But the new bishop is interested in coming back into the city, and chose Mt. Airy and, subsequently, the seminary for its offices.

Krey said this is good news not only for the seminary, but also for the business district because those offices bring people to the area for meetings, events and more.

Krey said it would be better for the PennDOT project to hold until next summer, and spokesman Gene Blaum said a request has been made by Mt. Airy businesses, which will be affected by the construction to push the project back until 2008. But Blaum was not sure if PennDOT had decided to honor that request.

The PennDOT project is scheduled to start in August, continue through November and then pick up again in January, after the holiday season, said Blaum.

Conceptual plans were presented to EMAN at its board meeting on Tuesday, after the Local went to press.

Contact staff writer Kristin Pazulski at 215-248-8819 or Kristin@chestnuthilllocal.com.