In 2013, Abington’s school board voted to tear down historic Glenside Weldon in Keswick village. Many of us don’t know about it, and none of us went there, but for almost 90 years this impressive building served the Abington community. Many of us also do not know its connection to the greater Philadelphia area and the east coast. 

Philadelphia has countless buildings of significant architectural importance — beautiful stone, brick, and concrete structures all over the city, many far past their original beauty due to years of modernization and neglect over architectural integrity. 

What you may not know about Glenside Weldon is its link to landmark structures in the local area: the castle at Arcadia University, the Philadelphia Art Museum, Keswick Theatre, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Stotesbury Manor, and Lynnewood Hall. They were built to show off the wealth and ability of human workmanship; however, without the immigrant working class laborers that built them, they would have none of the significance that adorn their facades. It is their work that is projected onto the facade, their belongings in the walls, their hands that molded plaster and cement, their skilled woodworking, their craftsmanship, their art. 

Lynnewood Hall, in Cheltenham township, is a 110 room mansion that is being sold for 19 million dollars. It is the equivalent of a French palace and it sits unoccupied (owned by First Korean Church of New york) with no intent to repair it, renovate, or turn it into something beneficial to the county, state, or country as a whole. There are videos on youtube of its interior. I suggest you go watch them. Stotesbury Manor is now four massive columns in a field, holding up nothing. 

With all the strip malls, parking lots, and copy and paste houses, it’s easy to forget that America has a rich, beautiful architectural past. Let’s not forget these places and their intention to make a lasting impact on the generations of Americans after them. 

All of these buildings were designed by an architectural firm based here in Philly, owned and operated by Horace Trumbauer, a kid from Jenkintown who is hardly heard about in recent history. Works like this add a certain symbolism, and landmark monuments make a lasting impression on the landscape, and add a beauty that can only be appreciated by sight. 

This is what we have built, and it should be remembered for the identity that it instilled into America’s communities. If the county wants to build new, then they should rebuild the old for their significance, and give another generation that connection with history. Besides, I for one am tired of the bland modern architectural styles of today, and I know for a fact we can do a lot better if we let our people put their minds to it.