![Queen Lane Apartments](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Queen_Lane_Apartments.jpg)
Queen Lane Apartments opened in 1955 as one of several Post-War public housing hi-rise complexes in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
which were built and maintained by the
Philadelphia Housing Authority
The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) is a municipal authority providing Public housing services in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
It is the fourth-largest housing authority in the United States and is the largest landlord in Pennsylvania. PHA ho ...
(PHA). The PHA demolished the Queen Lane high-rise on September 13, 2014. The PHA replaced it with 55 new, affordable rental units] for individuals and families. The first of the new 55 units were opened on December 15, 2015. Mayor
Michael Nutter
Michael Anthony Nutter (born June 29, 1957) is an American politician who served as the 98th Mayor of Philadelphia. Elected on November 6, 2007, he was reelected to a second term on November 8, 2011. He is a previous member of the Philadelphia ...
, City Council President Darrell L. Clarke, City Councilwoman Cindy Bass, PHA President/CEO Kelvin Jeremiah, residents of the nine new units, and other dignitaries joined together to cut the ribbon.
Pre-War History of Public Housing in Philadelphia
Nationwide, the first public housing projects were made possible by
the New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
's
Public Works Administration
The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recove ...
(PWA) program and later by the U.S.
Housing Act of 1937
The Housing Act of 1937 (), formally the "United States Housing Act of 1937" and sometimes called the Wagner–Steagall Act, provided for subsidies to be paid from the U.S. government to local public housing agencies (LHAs) to improve living cond ...
. The Act of 1937 (also known as the Wagner‐Steagall Act), provided subsidies to construct, own and manage public housing to local public housing agencies for “families whose incomes are so low that they cannot afford adequate housing provided by private enterprise"." The United States Housing Authority (USHA) was created and empowered by Congress to “provide loans (up to 90% of development costs at 3% interest) to local government bodies or authorities to construct low‐rent housing projects. The Act included a ‘''statutory cost limit per unit exclusive of land costs''.’ Philadelphia was authorized to receive $20,000,000 in housing funds from the Act. Pennsylvania Legislature approved the Housing Authorities Law of Pennsylvania in an Act of Assembly on 28 May 1937. This law established public agencies known as local housing authorities, and “''required a local legislative body to declare a need for a local housing authority in order for one to be created''.” The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA), a municipal authority providing public housing services in Philadelphia was established under the provisions on August 26, 1937. As a housing authority they were 'authorized to exercise the power of eminent domain to clear slum areas and to provide safe and sanitary dwellings through new construction or rehabilitation of existing structures.'" "Prewar PHA housing projects built between 1938 and 1941 included James Weldon Johnson Homes at 25th and Ridge Avenue, Tasker Homes at 30th and Tasker Streets, and the Richard Allen Homes at Ninth and Poplar. Philadelphia’s public housing program was halted in 1940 when the newly elected mayor Robert Lamberton rejected proposed projects and federal aid. From the onset of World War II to its end, defense housing and war housing needs for whites took precedent ."
History of Queen Lane Apartments
After World War II ended, the PHA began to select sites and conducted public hearings starting in 1950 for the several proposed public housing sites including the 16-story tower at Queen Lane. "Like most of the sites that were ultimately selected for public housing, the surrounding area was already experiencing white flight, and the PHA determined that the $1.6 million (13 million in 2014 dollars) Queen Lane Apartments would be a “nonwhite” project. The building itself, designed by architect partners Gabriel Blum Roth and Elizabeth Hirsh Fleisher, would be a single, jutting 16-story apartment block, despite its situation amongst a sea of three-story rowhouses." "''Of the 10 projects designed and built between 1949 and 1955, only the 120‐unit Queen Lane in Germantown loomed as a solitary, 16‐story elevator building, uncomplemented by adjoining row house''." Groundbreaking took place in 1953 and tenants began to occupy the building in 1955. "Just twenty years after Queen Lane’s opening in 1955, flaws in the high-rise, high-density construction were obvious. Devastating cuts in federal funding led to serious maintenance issues, like chronically malfunctioning elevators. Nearly everyone was dissatisfied by the 1970s. Black civil rights leaders, like Cecil B. Moore, decried horrendous living conditions and “warehousing” of the poor, black Philadelphians, while white residents staged rallies to block new PHA construction and pushed for the teardown of existing units. John Gallery, housing director for then-Mayor Frank Rizzo, stepped into this crisis and took it upon himself to commission a study of the city’s high-rise projects which were largely viewed as “the worst of worst” that public housing had to offer." Eventually, the PHA decided that the Queen Lane Apartment tower needed to come down and be replaced by low-rise affordable housing units with open green spaces and modern conveniences like in-unit washers/dryers and
Energy-Star certified appliances. Former residents of the high-rise began relocating in 2011. PHA paid for the cost of the move, the security deposit, and one month's rent for residents moving to the Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) program. The agency also reimbursed residents for reconnection of their telephone and cable TV service and provided a dislocation allowance of a hundred dollars.
Delays Due to Potter's Field
Shortly after the residents moved out, the project was delayed for 27-months as a result of the discovery of a "
Potter's Field
A potter's field, paupers' grave or common grave is a place for the burial of unknown, unclaimed or indigent people. "Potter's field" is of Biblical origin, referring to Akeldama (meaning ''field of blood'' in Aramaic), stated to have been pu ...
" beneath the site. The bones of thousands of men and women were buried beneath a plot of land adjacent to where the Queen Lane Apartments stood. Established by the
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
in the mid-eighteenth century, it deed reads that it was dedicated as a burying ground for African Americans, mulattoes and strangers who died in Germantown and was used until the early 20th century. This nearly led to the agency scrapping the $22 million project. The Philadelphia Housing Authority, along with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Society, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Philadelphia Historical Commission, Germantown Historical Society, Queen Lane Residents Council, Resident Advisory Board, and four other organizations executed a Programmatic Agreement on February 20, 2014 agreeing to leave the former Potter's Field as-is and to maintain it as a green space in perpetuity. Additionally, the area contained within the Potter's Field had to be legally separated from the remainder of the project and no excavation could be performed within those limits.
Demolition and Implosion
The PHA awarded the demolition of the existing tower and construction of the 55 new units to Construction Manager Dale Corp, (Glenside, PA). The demolition and pre-implosion preparation was performed by Geppert Brothers (Philadelphia, PA). The loading of explosives and implosion of the tower was performed by
CDI (Phoenix, MD). Preparation for the implosion started in June 2014. The tower was finally imploded at 7:15am on Saturday, September 13, 2014 to the delight of many neighbors and former residents. With the demolition of Queen Lane, PHA will have 8 high-rise sites remaining with 16 high-rises containing 1,880 units.
Construction of New Units
Construction was completed by Spring 2016. The overall project consists of five buildings including fifty-five housing units, a community center, and management office set on 2.5 acres in the
Germantown Section of Philadelphia. The development is currently undergoing
LEED
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a
green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...
for Homes certification by USGBC and is 100% Energy Star compliant as required by HUD.
As required by the Programmatic Agreement, no excavation could proceed without an
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
to oversee the operations and to stop excavation whenever something was encountered.
References
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Public housing in Philadelphia
Residential skyscrapers in Philadelphia
Demolished buildings and structures in Philadelphia
Buildings and structures demolished by controlled implosion
1955 establishments in Pennsylvania
2014 disestablishments in Pennsylvania
Residential buildings completed in 1955
Buildings and structures demolished in 2014