Click above to view Re-Use Design and Feasibility Study Information Packet (Adobe Acrobat document, 22MB)

The PM&PA has been awarded a design services grant through the American Institute of Architect's Community Design Collaborative (see http://cdesignc.org/). Thanks to the kind cooperation of property owner Richard Chakejian, the grant will be used to conduct a conceptual design/feasibility study. With Mr. Chakejian's support, the CDC study will examine the possibilities for what, if undertaken, could very well may be the most groundbreaking adaptive re-use in Pennsylvania history.

The end product of the conceptual design/feasibility study will be a specific vision of the best way to create a mixed use, new urbanist high-tech/green community of conscience centered around a national memorial, museum, research center, and conference facility – all concerned with disability history. These facilities will be the first of their kind in the nation.

This is your chance to influence Pennhurst's future! Please feel free to contribute your thoughts and ideas to this page!

As responsible citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we are indebted to the the Community Design Collaborative and all of the members of the Design Team and Task Force for their efforts in this monumental effort to envision and plan for Pennhurst’s future

The word “monumental” is carefully chosen;  Historically, architecturally, and socially, Pennhurst itself is a monument.  The site is sacred ground in the history of our nation's struggle for conscience-guided behavior. It is particulalry important that this site is located in a Commonwealth founded on enlightened principles of tolerance and understanding--two concepts themselves of monumental import for our common future.

Pennhurst has also been a monumental challenge, particularly in the period beyond its embattled history as an operating institution.  Protracted litigation and successive changes in state administration allowed the site to sit vacant for nearly twenty years, becoming a monumental white elephant in an otherwise growing and prospering region. 

The challenges that face the proponent of any development plan for Pennhurst are, yes, monumental.  Whether or not the ultimate plan includes the sort of adaptive re-use and historic preservation the PM&PA advocates, the strength of the plan comes from the sort of thoughtful engagement of concerned citizens and their leaders that this conceptual design/feasibility study hopes to orchestrate.  We thank the property owners for their willingness to allow us all to work with them in returning this site to productive and meaningful use.  We keep them in our thoughts and prayers as we move forward together.  We look forward to your thoughts and suggestions for the site's future.
 

Pennhurst Re-Use Study Design Team:

Community Design Collaborative Volunteers

John Milner Architects, Lead

Larsen and Landis Structural Engineering

Thomas Comitta Associates

Wallace, Roberts, & Todd Design, Site Planning
 
Task Force:
 
P.A. Senator Andrew Dinniman (PA-D) (represented by Jonathan Ewald, Outreach Representative) - Senator Dinniman's BIO

Chester County Planning Commission (represented by Jeannine Speirs, Senior Planner)

Chester County Economic Development Council (represented by Gary Smith, President and CEO, and Thomas H. McIntyre, Director of Government and Municipal Services)

Schuylkill River Greenway/Schuylkill River National and State Heritage Area (represented by Kurt Zwikl, President)

Temple University Institute on Disabilities (represented by Marc Holmes III, Academic Coordinator)

National Trust for Historic Preservation (represented by Anita Franchetti, Field Representative for the Northeast Field Office) 

Wu and Associates (represented by Katherine Ng)

Arcadia Land Company (represented by Jason Duckworth)

Preservation Pennsylvania (represented by Melinda Higgins-Crawford, Executive Director)

Chester County Historic Preservation Network (represented by Peter Benton and Karen Marshall)

The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia (PILCOP) (represented by Judith Gran, Esq.)

The ARC (represented by Janet Albert-Herman)

U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (represented by Yasmine Grandelli, Constituent Services)

Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia

US Congressman James Gerlach (represented by Bryan Kendro, District Director)

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Comments:
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Jay	07/15/2010
Destroy it. A place of countless atrocities not to mention probably a biohazard.
Salvatore DiBlasi	07/13/2010
Pennhurst looks like it should be a school. A place of higher learning would suit it well. But never in my wildest dreams would I ever have suggested it become a halloween haunted house attraction! What a shameful and exploitive development!
Liz Nussear	05/29/2010
I want to see Admin Bldg to become a museum with photos, furniture, court documents, and to be restored to reflect what residents had to endure. There should be tours. The architecture there is very impressive. I'd pay 20 to revisit the campus.
Alecia Beatty	05/25/2010
Pennhurst is a beautiful building that should be open to the public. It has appeared to be haunted. Raise money to renovate the building by allowing ghost hunts. So much can be learned from this wonderful building. Please allow the public to access it.
Elaine	05/13/2010
Pennhurst should be restored in sections as a museum and history center for mental health/mental retardation, and the rest left as is as a memorial. Some buildings should be put to use offering community mental health services, something which is in dire need in every community.
Mike	03/10/2010
I agree that part of the campus should remain as a museum, but it's such a huge complex, many of the buildings could be reused. I'd personally like to see it used as some sort of educational center.
Alex	03/04/2010
What about turning the campus into another Pennsylvania State University or college such as Shippensburg or Millersville? Pennhurst University of Pennsylvania! Please let me know what you thiunk!
Anna Strobler	02/06/2010
I have been interested in the history of Pennhurst since I was a child. I believe that the best use of this property is to not to enchance or remodel it, but to return the campus to the way it was in the early 1900s. It could be a historical museum funded by private and government support. The best way to keep the memories of Pennhurst alive is to keep them as they were when the residents were living there.
Tari L.	01/25/2010
I would love to see Pennhurst follow the model of Eastern State Penitentiary, maintaining the site in a ruin form but restoring parts as well. There should be an area dedicated to the history of Pennhurst along with artifacts and photos. Personally, I would love to be able to go in and photograph the site as it stands now while learning all about it's history.
Mark	01/16/2010
I thin pennhurst should be brought back to its original form as best as possible. This land is history. Whether its bad or good its still a part of history. And being the history nut that I am. I think it sucks that I live 2 minutes from Pennhurst and I cant even get onto the property to see history and the beautiful buildings and property. The furthest I made it was the powerplant. I'm not about destroying history. Its about learning from it. Let people learn.

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