The Opportunity

Lower Merion Township Building and Planning Department received a Certified Local Government Grant for photorecordation of the Township’s locally designated historic districts and properties. The grant would enable the Township to create a photographic record of the township’s historic resources and to inventory and evaluate the individual features of each property.

The Challenge

Lower Merion Township includes 1,120 historically designated properties, most of which contain multiple buildings, secondary structures, and landscape features like gardens and retaining walls. Among the properties were multiple academic, institutional and religious campuses and six residential and commercial historic districts. PS&S was asked to document all of these properties and their ancillary features in a brief window of time, before the Spring leaf-out of deciduous trees would block the view of many buildings and resources. The desires of the client and the funding sources include that the buildings must be designed to LEED Silver and Energy Star criteria. The site has indirect access from a County Highway and backs up to open, undeveloped acres which will be developed in the future to fill additional community needs. Important to this project was to provide architecturally relevant and compatible aesthetics and finishes to meet local approvals and compliance requirements for the town, County and State funders and stakeholders.

The PS&S Solution

Within the available timeframe, PS&S thoroughly documented all of the historic districts and properties within the Township, resulting in over 1,500 final photos. In addition, our report evaluated each of the ancillary features of the individual properties and provided recommendations as to which features contributed to the historical significance of each property. The efficiently conducted survey fulfilled the Township’s goals within the budget allotted by the CLG Grant, providing a detailed record of the distinctive historic districts and properties as well as a tool for future planning and management within the districts.