Designating historic objects

The Gross Clinic by Thomas Eakins.

Hmm. Philadelphia has something in its preservation law that DC doesn't have, the ability to designate historic objects. This includes sculptures and other items, apparently including paintings, according to this Philly Inquirer article, "Street: Designate painting 'historic'" subtitled "Under Philadelphia's historic preservation code, removal of Eakins' work could be halted. There is precedent for its use."

From the article:

Mayor Street has nominated Thomas Eakins' masterpiece, The Gross Clinic, for protection under the city's historic preservation ordinance, noting the painting's deep historical and cultural resonance throughout Philadelphia, city officials said yesterday.

Designation as a "historic object," a rarely used category of the preservation code, would prevent the painting from being altered or moved without the express approval of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. Its proposed sale by Thomas Jefferson University for $68 million ignited a burgeoning controversy.

The first such designation blocked the removal of Dream Garden, a shimmering mosaic in the old Curtis Publishing building, which its owners sought to sell in 1998.
Dream Garden photo by Dave Thomas. The Dream Garden" it is 15 feet high by 49 feet long, it consists of 100,000 pieces of hand fired glass which are of 260 different colortones, It was made by the Tiffany company based on a painting by Maxfield Parrish.

Index Keywords: historic-preservation