Philadelphia’s defunct history museum is now a blighted eyesore on East Market

It opened two centuries ago as the original home of the Franklin Institute. In 1938, it became a museum for Philadelphia’s history. And for eight decades, the neoclassical building at 15 S. Seventh St. in Center City was a monument to the past, amassing a vast collection of Philly-centric artifacts and arcana.

But since the closure of the Philadelphia History Museum in 2018, the Atwater Kent building has entered a less glorious era — as a blighted eyesore.

Chainlink fencing sags around the front steps of the boarded-up, Pennsylvania blue marble facade.

Thieves pried loose a bronze plaque — inscribed with the words “dedicated to the history of Philadelphia” — from the pillars of the main entrance. There, a lonesome elephant ear weed now grows to chest height.

In the tree-canopied rear garden, once a serene oasis for museumgoers, grows an exhibit of plastic bottles, hypodermic needles, and human waste.

The owner responsible for this sorry estate: City Hall itself.

The neglect of this Philadelphia-owned historic property comes amid deep uncertainty for the nearby East Market corridor. After the Sixers abandoned their plans for a new arena in January, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and City Council vowed to create a fresh master plan for the economically struggling area, long pocked by a vacant commercial properties.

Nearly six months after the arena debacle, it remains unclear how the city’s own assets will figure into that plan. The city continues to entertain proposals for its abandoned Roundhouse police headquarters on nearby Race Street. But the fate of the Atwater Kent building has received comparatively little attention since the museum’s collapse.

The property has been embroiled in a complex legal battle for years — one that revolves around the late radio manufacturer A. Atwater Kent’s will.

Should the property cease to be a museum, Kent’s estate reserved the right to regain title to the 1825 building. It remains unclear if that will happen. In the meantime, the city remains the property’s steward.

City spokesperson Sharon Gallagher said Philadelphia recognizes that the historically designated property sits as “an important location” and officials are “looking at what makes sense for next steps.”

She noted few people have complained about the condition of the building.

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“If no one complains about integrity, maintenance or safety issues or no permits are applied for, there is no reason to inspect the property,” Gallagher said. “We don’t randomly inspect properties.”

Nearly a dozen complaints were lodged about maintenance issues and illegal dumping at the abandoned property between 2019 and 2023, according to 311 records. And preservationists have been complaining directly to City Hall for at least two years.

“This is the heart of our city,” historic preservationist Paul Steinke wrote to city officials last fall. “I’m sure you would agree that such conditions are simply unacceptable and would not be tolerated from a private property owner. Our city must do better.”

Every time Steinke walks past the Atwater, he seems to churn out another critical email. As executive director of the Preservation Alliance, he’s been bird-dogging the city with gripes about the unkempt estate since January 2023.

First, it was the faded American flag that had twisted itself into a knot from the museum’s flagpole — “an affront to our city and nation,” he wrote.

After someone filched one of the historic bronze plaques from the main entrance, Steinke advocated removing its twin plaque and storing it with the rest of the museum’s 130,000-item collection at Drexel University.

Then there is the relentless tide of trash, weeds, and graffiti at the property, now an invitation for illicit behavior a stone’s throw from the Liberty Bell.

“It’s being neglected,” Steinke said in an interview. “And that shouldn’t be the case a block from Independence Mall and ahead of the semiquincentennial celebration.”

Nearly a century ago, when the Franklin Institute moved to its illustrious new home on Ben Franklin Parkway, Kent purchased the building for $30,000 and gifted it to the city.

What began as a modest collection of historic curios grew into a bounty of artifacts — from George Washington’s presidential desk, to Ben Franklin’s music stand, to the shackles reportedly worn by the abolitionist John Brown.

Despite oversight from the Kent estate, the city-run museum fell victim to bureaucratic inertia and political whims.

By the 1990s, it had earned a reputation as a sleepy “ghost town,” to quote former Mayor Ed Rendell. The free-to-all museum had scant programming and little desire to promote itself.

Museum trustees sought to inject new life into the museum, aided by new acquisitions like Norman Rockwell prints and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s collection. But the museum never resolved what some historians viewed as its central problem: it was never good at telling the story of Philadelphia.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia History Museum died a slow death from a thousand cuts

When the museum closed its doors for good in 2018, it began a long, legal process of off-loading its massive collection. In 2022, Philadelphia Orphans Court approved the transfer to Drexel. At the time, the Atwater Kent Foundation expressed interest in reclaiming title to the building, but said it would “wait for the Court’s ruling” on the collection, according to court records.

The transfer faced resistance from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The organization this year lost an appeal to reclaim its share of the museum collection.

The Atwater Kent Foundation’s interest in the building remains unclear. Phone calls to the family went unreturned. An attorney for the city confirmed the foundation has not formally requested title to the property.

It’s further unclear how much restoration work the building would need after years of decay. The Department of Licenses and Inspections visited the property in 2015, according to city records. (Gallagher said there was a 2023 inspection not noted in the records.)

After The Inquirer contacted city officials this month, inspectors visited the property again on June 13 and cited it for eight code violations, including fire safety issues, improper roof drainage, and graffiti.

The short-staffed Department of Parks and Recreation is tasked with cleaning the rear garden area. Steinke said the city has been responsive to his requests, if slow to act. But resource limitations can only be blamed to an extent, he said, as the neglect is ongoing.

In September, he made a complaint to officials after finding the museum grounds in disrepair once again. Weeks later when he returned to the site, he found conditions even worse, according to emails obtained by The Inquirer.

“Please, I am begging you to deploy your departmental resources to this location and simply provide basic cleaning and weed removal on a regular basis,” Steinke wrote.

As of Thursday, the weed growing on the front steps had reached a museum-quality six feet tall.

Inquirer staff writers Ryan W. Briggs and Dylan Purcell contributed to this article.