Architect Doug Seiler regards the former Montgomery County prison in Norristown as an opportunity to preserve a long-neglected, historically significant property and repurpose it into a center for culture, entertainment, and education to bolster the borough and its arts district.
But when Kenneth E. Lawrence, chair of the county board of commissioners, looks at the massive Gothic landmark on East Airy Street, he sees a symbol of historical injustice, as well as a downtown redevelopment obstacle more than ripe for demolition.
“We are not prepared to ask taxpayers to spend millions of dollars to preserve a monument to a system of incarceration that disproportionately imprisoned people of color,” Lawrence said in a prepared statement during the Aug. 17 commission meeting.
Lawrence, the first Black commissioner in Montgomery County history, called the prison — which is laden with asbestos and lead paint — a “hazardous structure that … should not be the face” of the county or the borough and should make way for “a better and higher purpose” on the site.
The county’s move to raze the block-deep structure, also known as the Airy Street Prison or “the Castle,” has sparked an online petition drive by demolition opponents and dueling letters to the editor in at least one local publication.
The Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia headlined the prison battle in its August “Advocacy Update” urging readers to sign a petition against demolition. A public “Save the Prison” meeting of the Norristown Historical Architecture Review Board is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at 2 West Lafayette St. downtown.
The prison was designed in 1851 by Napoleon LeBrun, the architect of the Academy of Music as well as other noteworthy buildings in Philadelphia and New York City. It has sat empty since the late 1980s, and a tree has been growing from one of its turrets for years.
In July, the commissioners approved a contract of nearly $995,000 to raze the county-owned property. The borough council would have to approve a demolition permit for work to begin.
County officials said a 2019 assessment conducted by a consultant following what was described as a partial roof collapse on a rear portion of the building concluded that reuse of the structure would be cost-prohibitive.
Demolition by neglect?
“The roof isn’t collapsing in the front portion of the building. It’s solid as a rock,” said Seiler, who was a founding member of Conserve Our Old Prison Inc. in 2000. The nonprofit completed a study of how to renovate the jail for uses such as live music, a butterfly house, and exhibits or programs by local museums, arts organizations, and others.
“For years the county didn’t want to spend a dime on the building,” Seiler said. “Now they’ve committed $995,000 to tear it down? They should use that money to abate the hazardous materials, make repairs, and wait for a developer to come along.”
Commissioner Joseph Gale, who voted against demolition (due to its cost, local media reported him saying), declined a request for comment.
Commission vice chair Jamila H. Winder said that while she believes in historic preservation, “it’s not to preserve a structure that memorializes incarceration. We should be investing public dollars into programs and services that keep people out of the criminal justice system.”
Gains and losses
With a population of about 36,000, Norristown serves as the county seat and is home to about 1,800 county jobs. A $90 million Montgomery County Justice Center project that includes historically accurate renovations of the original courthouse — like the prison, designed by LeBrun — is well underway downtown.
Preservationists said Norristown has lost too much of its historical and architectural fabric. They talk about a beloved downtown YWCA building demolished to make way for a CVS. Older residents still fondly remember the Norris, an Art Deco movie palace on Main Street.
“Norristown keeps on eating its own,” said Olivia Brady, a longtime resident and former borough council member who helped establish the historic review board.
“There’s no real mechanism to make sure that developments are in keeping with Norristown’s historic character,” she said. “I just hope the destruction of the prison can be delayed until a proper study can be done on adaptive reuses for it.”
Borough council president Thomas Lipera said the time for studies has passed. “Creating an opportunity for economic growth is what we need,” he said.
“I hear from the preservationists, and I don’t mean any disrespect to them, but why do they want to preserve a prison that disproportionately locked up Black and brown people?” he said. “I’m interested in seeing downtown grow. Preserving a prison is not the way to do that.”
Last Saturday, a “Save Me” sign was posted prominently on the front door of the prison and attracted the attention of a pedestrian named Greg Jacobs.
“I’m Norristown born and raised, and I don’t think the jail should be torn down,” he said. “It’s still a historical landmark, and other towns keep their historical landmarks. But Norristown is wiping out its history.”
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