The Roundhouse in Philly will not be historically designated after tie vote

Have a question about Philly's neighborhoods or the systems that shape them? PlanPhilly reporters want to hear from you! Ask us a question or send us a story idea you think we should cover.

After more than 60 years, the Roundhouse may be demolished.

The Philadelphia Historical Commission on Friday voted down a nomination to preserve the curvilinear building at 7th and Race streets on the city's register of historic places. The decision means the city-owned property, the former home of the Philadelphia Police Department, may now be knocked down to make way for new development.

A committee of the commission approved the designation last September. But a similar motion failed on Friday by a 6-6 vote.

"This property is over three acres in a crucial intersection of the city. And with further development on Market Street, this will become an even more pivotal piece of land and the opportunity that the city has here with this parcel is immense," said real estate developer Zachary Frankel, who chairs the commission.

Mayor Cherelle Parker 's administration did not support the designation, a stance that runs counter to what residents wanted . A spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The vote follows a monthslong community engagement effort that garnered considerable support for preserving one of the city's more notorious buildings. Approving the nomination would have given the commission jurisdiction over the envelope of the midcentury property, which became a symbol for police brutality not long after it opened.

The large parking outside of the property was not part of the nomination.

Friday's decision comes as the 76ers seek to build a new basketball arena at 10th and Market streets, a project Parker has said will help revitalize Market East , a disjointed stretch of blocks east of City Hall that has struggled to thrive for decades.

With the failed motion, the city is now free to sell the parcel.

The Roundhouse was constructed in the early 1960s, a time when the city was working to modernize its municipal services. Giving the police department its own space was part of that effort. The force had previously been headquartered in the basement of City Hall, a location reformers thought encouraged political patronage.

Amid a downturn sparked by deindustrialization, the city was also searching for ways to make Philadelphia a place people wanted to stay. Architecture was one of the solutions officials hoped would engender that civic pride.

Built in the Expressionist style, the Roundhouse was designed around three elevator shafts — one elevator in the center for the public, and two on each side of the building for department personnel and people being detained in its basement holding cells.

The layout was also meant to make it appear as if the building was embracing Franklin Square Park across the street — and the city as a whole.

"You have an openness all around the building. There's no back to this building. There's no dark side to this building," Jack Pyburn, an Atlanta-based preservation architect, told WHYY News last year.

All of the property's individual parts, more than a thousand in all, were fabricated off-site, then assembled at 7th and Race streets. The building is one of only a handful of buildings from that era to use precast concrete, a Dutch technology that enabled the building's engineers to create complex components with extreme precision.

While the design was meant to usher in a new chapter for the police department, the building became known for the painful experiences people endured while they were locked up inside, including at the hands of corrupt homicide detectives during their interrogations.

During Friday's meeting, there was overwhelming support for preserving the building, in part because of that history.

"We have a penchant in this country to erase negative history and then when we repeat it there's not a lot of reminders. This is an opportunity to...recognize those who were wronged here and those who were mistreated in this situation," said preservationist Oscar Beisert.

Others praised the building's architecture . They argued the property could not be replicated today and that its value extends far beyond Philadelphia.

"The Roundhouse is Philadelphia's Falling Water. And honestly in way better shape structurally," said Dan Macey, a member of a local chapter of Docomomo, which nominated the building along with the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia.

Following public comment, the commissioners voted on the nomination. The tie vote means the Roundhouse's days may be numbered.