Here is what Penn wants to demolish: http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~aslaksen/conventionhall.jpg http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~aslaksen/conventionhall2.jpg This deplorable display of architectural robbery must not stand. I am assembling more information and photos and will be posting the web soon, but for the time being, learn what can be done to save this magnificent building at http://www.philadeco.com (this site is currently out of date but I am told it will be updated shortly). The convention hall is an art deco masterpiece and could be a showpiece of the school, just like College Hall, the Fine Arts Library, and Franklin Field. There is nothing less historic about it than any of those other popular stops on the campus tours, so why must it be destroyed? This building hosted several national political conventions (including the nomination of FDR to a second term), the pope, and numerous high school and university commencement ceremonies. There is no shortage of real estate immediately adjacent to it, and the building could easily be restored and retrofitted for use by the University or the City. Instead, both of these institutions have let it languish since the Convention Center opened in Center City. This need not be the case. This building begs for adaptive reuse. Philadelphia has few remaining large-scale examples of art deco architecture. 30th Street Station and Post Office are the two most prominent examples. The University should save Convention Hall and allow it to take its place alongside those glorious buildings. Let the Hall be the ceterpiece for the revitalization of Civic Center Blvd. Destroying Philadelphia's history is not progress. Let us appreciate its beauty, "for no man knows, once it is destroyed, if its protective warmth will be found again" (from a mural in Manayunk). James Aslaksen, Student Philadelphia aslaksen@seas.upenn.edu

In addition to the many events that James mentioned, Convention Hall also hosted many wonderful musical debuts on the main stage of that building. In September of 1964 ... The Beatles made their Philadelphia debut there. In May of 1965 ... The Rolling Stones performed for the first time in Philadelphia on that stage, and in August of 1967, The Who gave their first Philadelphia performance on the stage of Convention Hall. Colonel, Student Penn sheehyt@sas.upenn.edu

Here is a copy of an email I sent to the office of the president; I encourage others to do the same. presweb@pobox.upenn.edu I just read the DP piece on the demolition of the convention center and museum buildings, and was horrified to learn that the museum demolition was well under way. My class commencement was held in Convention Hall, and while I applauded the move to Franklin Field shortly after my commencement, I was glad to have seen a building otherwise unknown to me during my four years at Penn, despite it's proximity. While I'm thrilled that Penn is expanding its borders, it should be a better steward of the land it acquires. The Convention Hall and Museum buildings are distinguished pieces of architecture that could have been incorporated into the historic thread of the campus. I did my postgraduate work at Harvard, and was on the faculty at Columbia for much of the late eighties and early nineties, and they have a much more distinguised collection of historic architecture. Penn, having 'grown up' later than those two institutions, has a more mixed collection of great buildings and these two would have added some gravitas to a comparatively modern campus. Shame on Penn for not taking better care of it's holdings. I would love a response with further information on Penn's efforts to mitigate the damage already done. Bruce Yawitz, MD, Los Angeles, California Bruce Yawitz, physician Los Angeles radyawitz@aol.com

and lets not forget, convention hall was also the long time home of the fabulous philadelphia warriers (does anyone remember wilt chamberlin?) predesesors to the 76'rs. you can't duplicate history so don't destroy it. bill figures penn parent & former philadelphian who attended many warrier games in "the hall" bill figures, penn parent florida

I too am always saddened to see a piece of history disappear, yet it seems that everyone is romanticizing a building that is in such poor shape, it would need millions of dollars in work to restore, and then the "original" building would be replaced. This land is valuable to the growing UPHS and will serve Cancer patients, who require a great deal of services in a clean, modern environment. Did you know that currently cancer patients receive their chemo in the hallway of a bank of rooms in Penn Tower? It is not that Penn is tearing down history to build a Starbucks. They are doing it to serve many of Philadelphia's sick, disabled, and injured in a new, modern, state of the art environment. As the spouse of someone who can benefit from these service, I can see the value of creating such a building. I will miss the Convention Hall too, but it is time for the memories of the past to give way to serving millions now and in the future who are in such desperate need of quality medical care in a quality establishment. Laurie Heusner, Teacher Philadelphia

I also agree that it would be a shame to demolish this building. On my first visit to Penn I remember looking at that building and thinking -- wow, that's an impressive structure. Isn't it possible to at least save the exterior? Please don't replace it with some character-less "functional" monstrosity. There are already too many of those around. Stu Dent

The city of Philadelphia dumped this white elephant off on Penn because they had no use for it: Sure those who care, pony up the extra hundred million to fully clean (the asbestos alone would be huge) and restructure a seventy year old out of code building for the purpose of delivering state of the art medical care. or buy up a few blocks of West Philadelphia and do a swop. OBTW, where have you been for the past decade and a half when this has been an active project under discussion? Don't come out of the basement except when it's time for the fifteen minutes of fame? Then there's that with that attitude Imperial Rome would never have given us the Collesium as it was built over the old Roman circus. Or are you really arguing that any dynamic institution like Penn really belongs out in the countryside where expansion wouldn't run into anything old? Valley Forge is nice this time of year, maybe it's not too late... Ben

To Ben's assertions about asbestos removal, I'll point out that the asbestos removal must be done anyway as a prelude to demolition and is underway now. Were Penn not intending to demolish, encapsulation of the asbestos, without removing it, is a more cost-effective and safe approach. Adaptive reuse and renovation of solidly built older buildings is almost always less costly than new construction. Greener too, since existing building materials are recycled in place. For a given amount of money spent on a project, adaptive reuse puts a greater proportion of the money into the pockets of skilled laborers and craftsmen. Economically and environmentally a win-win for all. I would also point out, and UPenn has conceded this point, that there was no involvement of the larger Philadelphia communities outside the campus in the supposed long-time discussions in formulating these grand plans. Cheers, Jayfar Jayfar Southwest Center City

No one can argue against cancer treatment, but I don't see proof that demolishing what is arguably one of Philadelphia's most historically significant buildings is the best way to go about providing state of the art medical services. Jayfar