Can you make an owner utilize their historic site?

Temple doesn't have the best track record with historic buildings.

Starting in the mid-twentieth century, Temple University acquired and demolished "slum housing," churches, fraternal lodges, cemeteries, and more to make way for brutalist architecture. The administration even attempted to demolish the Baptist Temple in the late 1990s. In recent years, acquired buildings have been torn down to become empty lots.

The limestone facade of the mansion, facing Broad Street. Photo my own

Preservationists and pubic historians worry that the Burk Mansion may be next.

Built in 1906, the mansion is one of the few remaining relics of North Broad's heyday during the Gilded Age. Its limestone facade peers out over chain link and wrought iron fences, closed off from the rest of the neighborhood. The building was a residence until 1942, and then the headquarters for the Upholsterers International Union until 1971. That year Temple acquired the mansion for the new home of its daycare.

When Temple purchased the Burk Mansion from the Upholsterers' Union, North Philadelphians rushed to have it placed on the City and National Registers of Historic Places. In the previous 20 years the Temple administration had demolished historic churches, row homes, and Monument Cemetery. They feared the mansion was next. Instead, it was repurposed to fill a community need, and operated for 20 years before a fire led to its abrupt closing in 1995. It's been vacant ever since.

The building's status on the register of historic places has forced Temple to perform maintenance, replacing a leaky roof, cleaning up the overgrowth on the lot, and removing boards from the windows facing Broad. But other than that, it just sits there, with remnants from the daycare scattered throughout the house and the daycare annex. What could be another daycare, desperately needed student housing, or office space is wasted, left to decay.

The graduate program in public history is currently working on updating the significance statement for the parcel and brainstorming uses for the site, including a community garden. But while the Temple administration is happy to front millions for an on-campus football stadium, they're less likely to fork over the cash needed to restore the site.

One fear from the thousands surrounding the building: will it go the way of 1810 Liacouras Walk and the Baptist Temple, with an intact facade but a gutted interior, devoid of any historic character?