Pennsylvania Hospital CMP

Pennsylvania Hospital

Conservation Management Plan

Project Background

Pennsylvania Hospital is the first chartered hospital in the nation, founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond. The Hospital has long been an innovator in patient care, treatment techniques, and medical research. Today, patients are cared for in state-of-the-art facilities, but the heritage of the institution remains a source of ongoing inspiration.

The National Historic Landmark Pine Building, outbuildings, grounds, and extensive collection of historical artifacts of Pennsylvania Hospital have incredible significance and require skilled preservation techniques by highly trained specialists. Safeguarding this iconic institution and its holdings requires an understanding of conservation and management needs, sustainable sources of funding, and adherence to an overarching conservation philosophy that articulates and embraces the challenges inherent in the Hospital’s role as both a modern hospital and a public-facing cultural institution.

Plan Objectives

At the request of the Office of the Chief Executive Officer of Pennsylvania Hospital, the Center for Architectural Conservation (CAC) and PennPraxis at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design developed this Conservation Management Plan (CMP) to provide recommendations and guidance for the future conservation and preservation of the historic Pine Building, grounds, and collections of Pennsylvania Hospital.

For the purpose of this project, a Conservation Management Plan is

“… a document which sets out the significance of a heritage asset, and how that significance will be retained in any future use, management, alteration or repair.”

Developing a CMP for Pennsylvania Hospital serves many functions:

it sets out the significance of the site including all historical assets as a whole
provides a clear and comprehensive conservation history
assesses and prioritizes the conservation of various site components
provides a framework for prioritizing work in the future, proposed scenarios, potential funding sources, and recommendations for cyclical maintenance that will help ensure consistency in conservation and management approaches
provides an updateable reference document for how to holistically approach conservation, use, and development based on the retention of significance

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