Toll to City: "We have a solution we think you'll like"

In a surprise move, Toll Brothers announced a plan to replace the roof on the Biddle Hall, the main building of the historic Philadelphia Naval Home at 24th and Grays Ferry Avenue, with one that will be "true in appearance" to the roof in place in 1846.

The graffiti-scarred, arson-damaged Philadelphia Naval Home, March 11, 2003.
Toll has owned the National Historic Landmark site since 1988.

"We've studied the City's report, and we have a solution we think you'll like," Toll Brothers spokesperson John McDonald told judge Seamus P. McCaffery at a March 4 hearing in the Criminal Justice Center. Johnson claimed that a permanent roof, true in appearance to the 1846 roof, could be put up in ten to twelve weeks to replace the roof of the National Historic Landmark destroyed in a five-alarm fire in the early morning hours of February 3. That fire was deemed to be arson and investigations are ongoing. The new permanent roof, Johnson claimed, could be put on as quickly as the temporary roof the city had proposed prior to the February 26 hearing before McCaffery.

"This is the first we've heard of this," a visibly surprised Andrew Ross, senior counsel in the city's legal department, responded. "We hadn't heard a word about this before we entered the courtroom. Obviously, we'd be thrilled if it could be done, but what does 'true in appearance' mean? True-in-appearance has to be true."

Johnson announced that Toll had retained James Campbell, of the firm of Campbell, Thomas & Co., 1504 South Street, to serve as architectural historian on the project. He estimated that it would take 30-60 days for Toll Brothers to secure the necessary permits from the department of Licenses and Inspections and the various historical commissions, following which work would commence. [Based on how quickly the approvals can be granted, the roof could be in place as early as June or as late as August under the proposed timetable.] He also asked for expedited permits that would permit Toll to remove debris and to store or salvage significant architectural elements for later use or reproduction as Biddle Hall is restored, and announced that Robert Toll, chairman of Toll Brothers, is now personally committed to seeing the entire site developed on an accelerated timetable.

Construction on Biddle Hall, the first of three buildings designed by architect William Strickland for the Naval Home complex, was begun in 1827. When work was completed on the Grecian Revival structure in 1833, the central portico was roofed with copper and the two wings with slate, as William Strickland noted in his December 1829 report to Congress (reprinted in Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, November 1832). Both of these roofing materials usually last for decades -- centuries, in the case of copper -- in the absence of major structural changes.

Judge McCaffery urged all parties to work diligently to expedite the study, permitting, and construction process. "I wake up every morning and I think, 'there will be another rainstorm, another snowstorm, what's happening to the building?'" He set a date for the next public hearing: April 2, 2003.

"Don't wait till April 2 to tell me that you've run into a problem, though," McCaffery said. "I want this to keep moving. Pick up the phone and call me and we'll see what we can work out to keep the momentum going." At the same time, though, McCaffery said he wanted to keep the hearings public. "There will be no closed doors or backroom deals in this process. The neighborhood has a right to be kept informed."

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