Germantown YWCA during January, 2016 snow storm, unsealed and open to the elements since 2010 and 2012 fires. (Courtesy of Bradley Maule)

Dear Neighbors, 

I am writing to invite you to a “Heart-Showering” at the Germantown YWCA on Valentine’s Day, this Saturday, from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Heart-showerings were a new concept to me until I received this letter:

 “…the Germantown YWCA has been selected as the 2026 site for the Young Friends of the Preservation Alliance’s (YFPA) annual “Heart-Showering“… Our hope is to elevate awareness of the Y’s history and continued importance to Germantown … showcasing the community’s interest in preserving and thoughtfully reusing it. We’ll be gathering to place handmade paper valentines on or near the site as a sign of collective care. We would love to have you join us.”

The YFPA has been hosting Heart-Showerings for 40 years! Recent honorees include Church of the Advocate in North Philly, the Marian Anderson House in Center City, and Broad Street’s Uptown Theater. Good company, indeed!   

As the 2021 co-founder of Friends for the Restoration of the Germantown YWCA Building with the indefatigable Yvonne Haskins, I am grateful that our long-vacant YWCA has been chosen for this honor. It has motivated me to ask why this particular building has inspired so many Germantown and Northwest residents to fight for its survival and restoration.

Version one of Friends of the Y was founded in 2015 by Yvonne and my daughter Emaleigh, a dance student at the Y in the ’80’s. Their goal was to stop the building’s demolition, as it was declared “imminently dangerous” by the Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I) after a 2012 fire. A petition and Intense organizing brought results!

Touring the site, former L&I Commissioner Bennett Levin described at least two feet of combustible trash.

“Here we have a historically certified building of significant architectural merit that is owned by an agency of the City of Philadelphia … lapsed into a state of significant disrepair and structural distress. The building is open, even though there is a big lock on the front door.” 

In 2006, the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (PRA) loaned $1.3 million to Germantown Settlement to purchase the Y. Not a cent was repaid, and the City spent $425,000 in 2013 to retrieve its damaged property after Settlement’s 2010 bankruptcy. Later costs through the PRA have included over a million dollars on stabilization and security of the Y, fencing, debris removal, and maintenance.

Councilmember Cindy Bass greatly helped by securing $2.2 million towards the stabilization; unfortunately, I — and others — also believe she used Councilmatic Prerogative to block a strong 2015 proposal to develop the YWCA into low-income senior housing, a great fit with Center in the Park next door.

Bass stated, “I don’t think we should take the first thing that comes along…” and expressed her objection to subsidized housing on the commercial corridor.   

Another decade has now gone by, but community activists are still working to get the building redeveloped to meet current community needs while honoring its rich progressive past. 

So why does this one building matter so much? Is it because it was built in 1914 by prominent architect Louis H. Rush? Is it its Georgian Revival style? Most of us don’t know what that is beyond red brick and symmetry. Yes, it’s 110 years old and on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, but I think these facts are just a small part of the answer.

I believe this building commands the love of Germantown and beyond because of its history, which precedes the building’s existence by nearly half a century. It began in 1870 when the Young Women’s Christian Association of Germantown was founded in Elizabeth Smith’s home on E. Penn Street. Those gathered were concerned about the mill workers, young single women living in boarding houses with no place for wholesome company or education. This was 45 years before the building at 5820 Germantown Ave. opened its doors to much fanfare in 1915.

During its 135 years of existence, the YWCA of Germantown was a force to reckon with, a rare combination of social service agency on the one hand and activist social justice organization on the other. In the 100th anniversary lookback book in 1970 (available at Germantown Historical Society), Lucy Perkins Carner wrote that the YWCA was more than an organization; it was a “movement.” 

Through the years, the Germantown association aided working women in mills and factories; was a fierce advocate for women’s autonomy and later for LGBTQIA rights; and, despite its segregated beginning, an early proponent of integration and civil rights. When the locally famous “Women of Germantown” mural was painted in 2001, the YWCA’s motto was “empowering women, eliminating racism.”

In keeping with Black History Month, I want to share one of the YWCA’s extraordinary early events. In 1928, “Under the auspices of The Inter-Racial Committee of the Germantown YWCA,” our neighborhood hosted “Negro Achievement Week!” It was jointly organized by the main association and “the Colored Branch” at 6128 Germantown Avenue, now Settlement Music School. 

This precursor to Black History Month included such luminaries as sociologist Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, poet James Weldon Johnson, and artist Laura Wheeler Waring. Following the passage of the Y’s 1946 Interracial Charter, the Germantown YWCA integrated.

Those fighting to save the building also take Inspiration from women leaders like Maggie Kuhn (1905–1995), who boldly taught sex-education in the 1930’s, and Clarice Herbert (1916–2006), who oversaw teen dances in the “step down room” before becoming the YWCA’s first Black Executive Director in 1968.

Alongside Maggie and Clarice on the mural is YWCA volunteer and philanthropist extraordinaire Sarah W. McLean (1853–1933), whose generosity largely paid for the 5820 and 6128 buildings. 

In a recent letter to Mayor Cherelle Parker, retired Mt. Airy professor Anita Foeman said:  

“I am writing today to support the preservation and development of the YWCA on Germantown Avenue… This building holds deep historical and personal significance for me. As a young person in the 1960s, the YWCA was a hub for activity for my group of friends—we listened to R&B music, played games, did crafts, and shared our dreams. It was a place where I learned that I could achieve my life goals. During graduate school, I spent years playing Friday night volleyball there, building friendships that I cherish to this day. We must honor this important location. I ask for you to be a good steward of this invaluable community asset.”

It is this history and these stories and experiences that motivate hundreds to fight for the YWCA building.

At first, hanging Valentines on a vacant building may seem silly, even pointless, but we think it is directly linked to one of the YWCA’s best traditions. Strong arts programming flourished at the Germantown YWCA until its doors closed in 2004-05. So did having fun, feeling joy, and experiencing hope as Anita Foeman describes in her “memoir letter” to the Mayor. Heart Showering is simply a creative way for the community to express their love for the Germantown YWCA Building while giving voice to the urgency of now.

Please join us for the Valentine’s Day Heart-Showering, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m., 5820 Germantown Avenue. Bring a handmade heart to hang up with a memory, a hope for the Y’s future, or a plea to those who control its fate.

Ahead of that, join the Friends of the YWCA at our Heart-Making Event tonight, February 11, 5–7 p.m. at Das Good Cafe. All art supplies provided! Join us!

Peace,
Ann Marie Doley
On behalf of Friends for the Restoration of the Germantown YWCA Building
@savegermantownywca

Ann Marie Doley is a longtime, almost 50-year-old Germantown neighbor, mother of two, and community advocate. She is active in neighborhood preservation, particularly as a Friend for the Restoration of the Germantown YWCA Building, and other issues affecting our neighbors.