Proposed skywalk on Temple's campus hits roadblock

Temple University’s continuous expansion is butting up against one of Philadelphia’s historic districts. At Tuesday’s Architectural Committee meeting, the university unveiled its plans for expanding the Fox Business School and, in the process, further cocooning a stately row of 1870s townhouses in nouveau campus trappings.

The university is applying to alter the setting of the four-story rowhouses, which Temple acquired in the 1920s during an earlier period of campus growth. In 1990 they were incorporated in the tiny Park Avenue Historic District, which originally encompassed several old churches along with a couple dozen rowhouses on a two-block stretch at the heart of campus.

At the beginning of this century Temple, hungry for centrally-located land, decided it needs had outgrown what the townhomes could offer. The historical commission voted to allow a facadectomy to preserve the exteriors on Liacouras Walk, the pedestrian pathway the row fronts upon, and Montgomery Avenue. Behind the historic veneer the university erected a new

building, only one story taller, which stretches back to the north and colonizes what used to be an empty lot.

At the Architectural Committee representatives of the school argued that they’ve already outgrown the new building. They now seek to enlarge it, adding an additional 12 feet to the top—making it more visible behind the row—and expanding it to the north.

The university also hopes to connect the addition to the Fox Business School’s building with a skyway bridge 24-feet above the ground over Liacouras Walk.

For details on the committee's concerns with the skyway, go to PlanPhilly.com.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal