Groups fight U. over tavern acquisition

The University is about to acquire an important piece of Philadelphia history. But some historic preservationists worry that the 18th Century Man Full of Trouble Tavern, believed to be the oldest tavern in the city, will be too much trouble for the University to maintain. The Knauer Foundation, which owns and operates the Man Full of Trouble Tavern -- consisting of two restored colonial buildings located at 127-129 Spruce Street in Society Hill -- is negotiating to give the museum site to the School of Arts and Sciences. The school would like to convert the buildings into residences for visiting faculty and dignitaries, according to Charles Bronk, SAS director of facilities management. Bronk said SAS has been looking for a site to house long-term guests for years and no appropriate sites have yet become available in West Philadelphia. But city officials, historic preservationists and area activists are disappointed about the loss of the historic tavern, which is "perhaps the oldest house of entertainment remaining from early Philadelphia," according to a resolution passed by the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks in 1959. When it heard that Virginia Knauer -- whose husband, Wilhelm, established the Knauer Foundation and saved the building from destruction in 1960 -- was closing the museum, the Historic Preservation Committee of the Society Hill Civic Association tried to prevent the building from being given to the University. "First of all the neighborhood generally wanted to maintain it as a museum and we were very hopeful it would be maintained as a museum," Dick Ostrander, president of the civic association, said last week. Bronk said SAS will maintain the buildings' outside, but has no intent to run the property as a museum. The civic association and city officials -- including Mayor Ed Rendell -- tried to get the Knauer Foundation to lease the property to Historic Philadelphia Inc. But, according to Charles Peterson, a prominent local architect active in saving the buildings and a friend of the Knauer family, the city's offer did not remove the Knauers' legal and financial liability for the buildings. Bernice Hamel, who chairs the civic association's preservation committee, said she is concerned the University will not be maintain the type of constant vigilance necessary for preserving old buildings. She noted that something as simple as a truck or bus idling outside can severely damage the foundation of such old structures. Bronk said he wants to reassure Society Hill residents that the school will be cautious and vigilant. "We are going to have maintenance contracts and maintain it as well as we maintain any other University building," he said. That is exactly what Peterson is worried about. He said universities have a dismal record when it comes to preserving and restoring historic property, noting that Yale University demolished Noah Webster's original house. He also said he is concerned that the tavern will be too much of a legal risk and financial risk for the University and may eventually be sold to other parties even less concerned with preserving its architecture and history. Although the deal is not yet finalized, the museum has already been closed and its collection of 18th Century artifacts of daily life -- worth thousands of dollars -- has been dispersed, some going to Independence Park and the rest going to members of the Knauer family. The University's acquisition of the tavern is just the latest twist in the 200 year history of the buildings. Stafford's Tavern and the adjacent Benjamin Paschall House -- both of which are now incorporated into the Man Full of Trouble Tavern -- were built in 1759 along the banks of Dock Creek, then a navigable waterway. Notable today for its unique colonial architecture -- particularly its roofline, Stafford's Tavern operated as a bar and lodging house for 125 years, frequented by such famous Philadelphians as John Wood, a renowned colonial clockmaker. But the Tavern had been converted to other purposes and had fallen into disrepair by the dawn of this century. The Tavern was named a historically and architecturally significant building in a federally-sponsored 1933 Historic America Building Survey. But, in 1958, city planners scheduled the Tavern and a large part of historic Society Hill for demolition to make way for the development of Interstate 95. "We thought they should be repaired and restored," said Peterson, who worked along with other concerned Society Hill residents to save some of the area's historic buildings. "We know from looking at the buildings themselves that they were five very important old houses." Peterson said he spent all his spare time for the next two years researching the history of the buildings and trying to prevent their demolition. "Mayor [Richardson] Dilworth got mad at me," Peterson said in an interview earlier this week. "He thought we were all nuts for wanting to save the buildings." In 1959, the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks passed a resolution, written by Peterson, alerting the public that the Tavern and Paschall House were important buildings in jeopardy of destruction. Peterson said he and the other area residents then launched a newspaper campaign to save the Tavern. "After the campaign they didn't dare pull it down," he said. In 1960, Wilhelm Knauer -- the wealthy chairman of the Old Philadelphia Development Corporation -- offered to buy the Tavern and Paschall House from the city redevelopment authority. Knauer proposed to set up a foundation to restore the buildings to their 18th century condition and operate them as a public museum. In 1963, the Knauer Foundation restored Stafford's Tavern and Paschall House, stocking them with colonial artifacts -- including some that were unearthed during excavation of the Tavern cellar. The two buildings were collectively renamed -- borrowing the title of an area bar -- the Man Full of Trouble Tavern and Museum. Until its closing last year, the museum was run by a curator and open to the public only once a month. "It wasn't open much, but at least it was impeccably maintained," Hamel said.