Photo by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local

A panel of city preservation experts offered a standing-room-only crowd some strategies last night on helping to preserve historic neighborhood buildings as waves of development continue to roll across the city.

Several groups have been fighting to save historically important buildings from demolition proposed by developers looking to build housing for the young professionals and students who are largely responsible for the recent upswing in the city’s population.

“We need to stop the demolition derby,” Paul Steinke, head of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, told an audience at the Walnut West Public Library (40th and Walnut).

The goal of Wednesday’s meeting was to provide local residents and community organizations some ways to save historic buildings, including private residences, from future demolition. Steinke and others on the panel hope the fight currently brewing over Jewelers’ Row along the 700 block of Sansom Street might garner enough attention that city officials, including politicians, might become more preservation friendly.  Continue Reading