Arts Bank on Broad Street receives historic preservation protections as redevelopment looms
The former bank building is likely to become apartments, perhaps with commercial space as well. It was previously part of the University of the Arts.
The Historical Commission voted unanimously on Friday to add the Arts Bank building at 601 S. Broad St. to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.
That means the building cannot be demolished, and its exterior cannot be substantially altered without permission from the commission.
The 96-year-old building was recently sold in the auction of former University of the Arts properties to Quadro Bay LLC, a development company that offered $2.71 million for the four-story building. The company’s plans include transforming the Arts Bank from a performance space to a residential building, possibly with a commercial use.
No representative of Quadro Bay attended Friday’s hearing, and the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, which nominated the building for protection, said it received no feedback from the new owners. Quadro Bay has declined to comment to the media about their plans.
“We really don’t have any sense of their plans, and we were concerned it [the Arts Bank] could be entirely lost if it weren’t protected,” said Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance, a historic preservationist advocacy group. “It doesn’t preclude the redevelopment of the property, but it helps to ensure that the building’s contribution to the Avenue of the Arts streetscape will be preserved and maintained for the future.”
The successful nomination of the Arts Bank means that seven of the nine former University of the Arts buildings have historic preservation protections. Only Anderson and Terra Halls are not on the local register of historic places.
The Arts Bank was designed by Ralph B. Bencker, a renowned Philadelphia architect also responsible for the Rittenhouse Plaza and West Philadelphia’s Garden Court apartments.
The Arts Bank was built in 1929 for the Southwestern National Bank, a local lending institution that dated to 1886 when it was formed to provide financial services to the growing southwestern sections of Philadelphia.
Soon after its new headquarters opened, the financial institution failed during the Great Depression and was among 30 of Philadelphia’s 89 banks that went under in 1933.
In the following years it became another bank, a concert venue, and a pizza parlor before becoming vacant. It was obtained by the University of the Arts in 1994, enabled by a $6.37 million gift from the William Penn Foundation.
When the University of the Arts went bankrupt and began selling off property to pay its debts, Quadro Bay was the lead bidder but only edged out the Lantern Theater Company by $100,000.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, which is responsible for protecting charitable interests in bankruptcy sales, objected that the William Penn Foundation’s multimillion contribution should be weighed in favor of keeping the building as an arts use like the Lantern’s bid.
Myriad local politicians and advocacy groups also argued in Lantern’s favor, but Quadro was awarded the building in February.