Breaking Eden

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

The fate of Eden Hall chapel was sealed in July 2006 when a group of teenage arsonists torched the century-and-a-half-old Torresdale landmark that once served a community of semi-cloistered nuns and its elite boarding school for girls.
The chapel’s legacy lingered until last October, when a city-hired demolition contractor battered and bulldozed the final remnants of the burned-out structure, much to the dismay of local folks who had actively been trying to restore the place to its former glory.
Little did those sentimentalists know at the time that the profiteering on many of the site’s salvable artifacts was just about to begin.
A specialty salvage company in Barnegat, N.J., has already sold one piece of the former house of worship for close to $5,000, and is now marketing additional artifacts for a combined asking price of almost $18,000.
The cash-strapped Fairmount Park Commission, meanwhile, won’t be seeing a cent of the profits — despite being the site’s owner and primary caretaker for more than three decades — nor will the local folks who invested their own money and effort into plans to restore the historic chapel until the destructive fire made that impractical.
"We spent over sixty-thousand dollars, and then we had to fold our tent and go away," said Joseph C. Fluehr Jr., the Northeast real estate agent whose family began a fund-raising campaign in early 2006 to support the ill-fated restoration effort.
Recycling the Past LLC stands to collect thousands of dollars on the Eden Hall remnants, though it had no connection to the structure before the decision was made to demolish it. The Web site of the Barnegat, N.J., company advertises a half-dozen of the chapel’s artifacts for sale, with multiple color photos of each item, along with detailed descriptions.
According to the Web site, the company has already sold a set of hardwood double doors from the chapel’s crypt. The asking price for the set of two was $4,795.
Though not mentioned on the Web page, the parents of St. Katharine Drexel — the Philadelphia native and missionary who devoted her life and family inheritance to helping oppressed people — were once interred in the crypt. They were relocated years before the demolition of Eden Hall.
The Web site also offers a collection of more than 200 decorative floor tiles ($2,750), 30 carved-oak panels removed from clergy seating ($175 each), an oak church pew ($275), a solid brownstone cross from the crypt entryway ($3,750) and a second brownstone cross taken from atop the bell tower ($6,750).
"They’re available for sale because we bought the salvage rights off of the demolition contractor," said Matt White, founder and president of 15-year-old Recycling the Past.
"We get hired to remove artifacts all around the nation. We paid the demolition contractor because he owned (the building)," White said.
That demolition company, Haines and Kibblehouse of Skippack, Pa., took possession of the building and its contents by virtue of the firm’s contract with the city to raze the stone structure and haul away the debris.
When asked about the terms of the demolition contract, a Fairmount Park Commission official referred questions to the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections, which administered the job. An L&I spokeswoman last week agreed to provide the Northeast Times with details about the contract, but that never happened and she failed to respond to a series of follow-up messages from the newspaper.
According to both White and the Fairmount Park Commission official, chief of staff Barry Bessler, Recycling the Past first attempted to purchase the Eden Hall artifacts directly from the city, but White’s bid was rejected.
"The Fairmount Park Commission dragged their feet, and they didn’t think our offer was suitable," said White, who refused to disclose how much his company offered to pay the city.
"We were interested in dismantling that church extensively. It was a beautiful church, and we’re here to salvage artifacts for reuse in the future and for preservation."
According to White, he found out about Eden Hall only after the park commission had approached his company and others with an invitation to bid on the artifacts. White claimed his was the only company that followed the bidding process to its conclusion before the park commission rejected his offer.
"I was told it wasn’t really about the numbers, that it was about saving artifacts, but I really don’t know what else to say," White recalled.
Bessler likewise refused to reveal the amount of the failed bid.
"In talking with salvage companies, we determined it would not be beneficial to accept their offer," Bessler said.
"The bids received for the salvage of items were not deemed to be a benefit to the city."
According to the park commission official, prior to the arrival of White’s firm at the Eden Hall site, the city did some salving of its own. Members of the park commission’s historic-preservation staff chose what to keep and what to ignore.
Among the items kept by the park commission were stained-glass windows previously removed from the building, church pews, crosses and tiles.
"We took the stuff that we felt had the most value, and as much as we felt we could reasonably store," Bessler said.
"At this point, we have no plans for the stuff except to hold on to it. We’re not in the business of selling property that belongs to the City of Philadelphia."
Bessler noted that the restoration of the chapel was expected to cost in the millions, and that was before the fire set by arsonists left much of the roof in shambles. A 19-year-old Bustleton man subsequently was arrested and convicted and sentenced to a city prison work-release program. Several youthful accomplices were judged as delinquent after proceedings in juvenile court.
The chapel was built in 1849 by the Society of the Sacred Heart sisters, who ran an elite boarding school for girls on the property until 1969, when economic conditions prompted the nuns to leave the site. The city then leased it and eventually purchased it.
The Eden Hall school had included numerous other buildings that were mostly destroyed by fires, most notably a large blaze in 1979.
But the three-story chapel — which was designed by English architect Frank Wils and financed largely by Philadelphia banker and philanthropist Francis Drexel, father of St. Katharine Drexel — survived despite a near-constant threat of vandalism.
The July 8, 2006 fire claimed that too.
Joseph Fluehr was as surprised as anyone when he learned where some of the chapel’s key artifacts have ended up. He knows that many people once connected to Eden Hall have a strong interest in preserving anything associated with the school and chapel.
"We were in touch with people who had been students at the school," Fluehr said. "I think they would’ve come back and been part of any celebration. A lot of alumni were interested."
The name of the park surrounding the former chapel site still bears the name of Fluehr’s father, Joseph C. Sr., as a tribute to his efforts in the 1970s to protect the ground as open space.
The younger Fluehr, his relatives and their friends, during the restoration effort, were able to raise tens of thousands in donations. Of their $60,000 in expenses, most went toward architectural assessment and security.
"We kicked in more money after the fire," Fluehr said. "Rather than just say, ‘We couldn’t (rebuild),’ we wanted to be able to do it with certainty." ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com