A Philadelphia Historical Commission panel granted
preliminary approval Thursday to a Florida entertainment company to demolish
the Boyd Theater's lavish art-deco interior, despite an anonymous donor's
last-minute offer to save the city's only surviving relic of Hollywood's golden
age.
In reaching its decision, the Committee on Financial
Hardship concluded that the large movie house could not be redeveloped at a
reasonable cost, and that the purchase offer from the Florida company, iPic,
represented the best hope for salvaging part of the historic building at 1908
Chestnut St.
IPic has promised to retain the Boyd's narrow frontage as an
entrance for a deluxe eight-screen multiplex, but plans to raze the L-shaped
building's ornate lobby and auditorium.
Thursday's decision, however, must still be approved by the
full Historical Commission when it meets March 14.
Preservationists had attempted to forestall the verdict by
persuading a deep-pocketed donor to purchase the Boyd, which has been empty
since 2002. Last week, the Boyd's leading advocate, Howard B. Haas, announced
that he had found a benefactor who would match iPic's $4.5 million purchase
price, but declined to name the buyer.
The lack of details about the potential savior appears to
have influenced the committee's decision to approve the demolition request.
"The question was, 'Do we have enough information to
say that it is a bona-fide sale? No,' " explained committee member Bob
Thomas, an architect who specializes in preservation.
At the same time, he suggested that if more information
emerges before the March meeting, the full commission might reverse Thursday's
decision.
The company that now owns the Boyd, Live Nation, could
legally gut the auditorium at any time, since only its exterior is protected
under city law. But Live Nation decided to seek hardship because iPic needs to
knock down the outer walls to construct the multiplex.
The committee appeared to struggle Thursday with the
decision to raze the movie palace, built in 1928 by noted theater architects
Hoffman & Henon and the first Philadelphia stop for such classics as Gone
With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz.
Initially, no member wanted to offer a motion to approve the
hardship request. And after board member Joann Jones finally agreed to initiate
the vote, she had trouble getting a second. In the end, three members voted in
favor, and Sara Merriman abstained.
Their brief discussion, which followed two hours of spirited
testimony from both sides, was full of grim determination. Several members said
that they felt as if they were presiding over a funeral.
"It was a funeral for a movie palace," Haas said
after the vote. "We will vigorously oppose this. We don't believe they
have applied the right legal standard."
The Boyd, the last of the great palaces that once lined
Chestnut and Market Streets, seems to have had nine lives.
Thursday's action was not the first time that a city agency
has sanctioned the Boyd's demolition. After the Historical Commission refused
to list the theater on the city's historic register in 2002, developer Ken
Goldenberg obtained an over-the-counter demolition permit.
He later decided to sell the theater to Live Nation, which
planned to convert the 2,400 seats into a Broadway-style venue. The project was
scuttled after Live Nation decided to get out of the theater business.
After the Boyd received landmark status in 2008, Live Nation
made a deal to sell it to developer Hal Wheeler, who wanted to incorporate the
Boyd into an adjacent hotel tower and use its ornate auditorium as a
multipurpose venue. Wheeler died before the sale was completed.
During the years the Boyd has sat empty, it has steadily
lost supporters.
"It's easy to be a Friend of the Boyd when you don't
live across the street," said Dan Coyle, a resident of William Penn House,
who complained that the theater was a magnet for vagrants, graffiti, and rats.
Perhaps the biggest blow came when Sharon Pinkenson, who
runs the Greater Philadelphia Film Office and was a founding member of the
Friends of the Boyd, announced her support for iPic late last year. Like
several others who testified in favor of the hardship application, she argued
that Center City would benefit from another first-run movie theater.
Preservationists counter that there are several downtown
theaters, and that the Boyd could be something more.
"You wouldn't destroy a Rembrandt painting just to
preserve the frame," complained Larry Pitt, a neighbor.
Source: Philly.com
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