State Historic Commission Critical of Convention Center Plans
In a report sharply critical of construction and demolition plans for the proposed downtown hotel and convention center, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) says the project would “adversely affect the Lancaster Historic District.”
The report also indicates “due to the extent of development and demolition” that the National Park Service would not approve the project for federal tax credits.
The report was sent to Thomas D. Smithgall, Project Manager of the High Real Estate Group, in a letter dated April 24, 2003. On March, 7, 2006, Newslanc.com contacted an official at the PHMC, Ann Safely, who indicated that the bureau had recently met with Penn Square Partners, that the construction and demolition plans hadn’t changed, and that the contents of the letter still stand.
Among the PHMC’s objections:
1) the demolition of the Oblender Building, which is a “major contributing building to the historic district;”
2) the construction of a 12-story hotel tower on top of the Watt & Shand department store building is “grossly out of scale and character with the historic building;”
3) changes in character to the Watt & Shand building where “… there will be no sense that one is entering into a former department store.”
The PHMC report also indicates that there is a “high probability for historic archaeological sites in the area of this project.” This refers to the Thaddeus Stevens House located on the same block. Longtime Lancaster city resident Stevens was a prominent abolitionist and Congressman before the Civil War, and active during Reconstruction. He is credited as a pioneer in the area of public education in Pennsylvania, and with being the principal force in guiding the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution through Congress.
The Watt & Shand Department Store Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building was designed by eminent architect C. Emlen Urban, and constructed in 1875 in the Beaux Arts style.