by Marian Forman
Did you ever wonder about the meaning of the column-like structures in the CityView circle and garden? Their significance is related to the rich history of the property where we now reside. Before it was CityView, before it was Korman Suites, before it was Buttonwood, this was the home of the Preston Retreat, a maternity hospital for married, indigent mothers.
Preston Retreat-1837. Some of the wall and columns are still at CityView
The Retreat was founded in 1836, a year after the death of its creator, Dr. Jonas Preston, a Wilmington physician. Born in Chester, Preston graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1784, then furthered his studies abroad. He also served in the Pennsylvania House and Senate, where he was instrumental in passing laws providing for the education of Pennsylvania’s poor.
The Retreat was his dream. In his will, he left more than half of his estate for the hospital. It was to be for pregnant married women whose only requirement was that they could not pay for services. There were no class or race distinctions. In its nearly 100 years of existence, the Preston retreat served 15,674 women. Mothers would register three to six months before “confinement” to secure prenatal care. Some women reportedly entered for up to twelve deliveries! Dr. Preston loved children, and though he had none of his own, scores of children were named for him by grateful parents.
When it opened in 1865, the Retreat was the only institution in Philadelphia that taught mothers how to care for their babies. It was considered a “God send” by the community and was ranked number one in the world for safety at childbirth. In the facility, there were 113 sets of twins delivered and only 21 deaths among the first 2,200 maternity cases. Even more significant, while nationally one mother out of every ten died from “childbed fever,” only 74 deaths occurred during 95 years at the Preston Retreat.
Construction of the Retreat, financed by Preston’s money and his shares of the Schuylkill Navigation Company, was approved by the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1836, shortly after his death. The facility was to occupy an eight-acre lot on Hamilton Street between Schuylkill 2nd (21st Street) and 3rd (now 20th). A large lot was needed to serve the many expected to use the Preston Retreat. An architectural competition was held. The winning design was very similar to the Greek Revival style of Girard College’s Founders Hall, designed by the same architect, Thomas Ustick Walter. Walter also contributed to the design of the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
The lot was at a high elevation, considered a way to slow the spread of infection. Walter’s design was the only one that placed the building within a walled park. The terrace inside offered patients a beautiful setting and the building, set high, provided added ventilation, thought then to prevent the spread of disease and speed recovery. Today, our garden and its stone paths reflect the garden of the Preston Retreat.
The Retreat took three years to build and went $30,000 over budget. While under construction, shares of the Schuylkill Navigation Company became practically worthless. Thus the Retreat was unable to open for six more years, and then only to a resident doctor and his family. Due to the urging of Preston’s widow, progress was finally made. However, the first destitute married mothers were not admitted until 1865.
The building was renovated many times, with electricity finally added in 1909. It then became affiliated with Pennsylvania Hospital and continued as a training site for maternity nurses, until the building was closed forever in 1960. Pennsylvania Hospital later named its maternity site the Preston Building. But in 1963, the Redevelopment Authority demolished the old building, leaving an empty lot until ten years later, when construction began on phase one—CityView’s north tower.
All that remains of the Retreat are the columns at the front and back of CityView and an inscription near the buildings’ entrances that reads, “The Preston Retreat was here but now it is a circle for arrivals and departures.” The concrete columns on our grounds, bulldozed over when the Preston Building was demolished, were uncovered when the south tower (CVII) was constructed.
In 1990, sculptor Winifred Lutz was commissioned to create an installation at CityView, through the One Percent Art Program, which requires one percent of building funds to be directed to art that defines the space being built. She used segments of the columns from the original building and named her sculpture “How To Retain Site Memory While Developing The Landscape.”
Photo by Winifred Lutz
There also is the light and glass sculpture atop our building. Commissioned by the Redevelopment Authority’s Fine Arts program, the work was created in 1990 by Stephen Antonakos, who called the piece “Neons For Buttonwood.” He was the first artist to use neon in the realm of fine art and was internationally renowned for his work.
From indigent mothers to neon lights, CityView has a history steeped in interesting and colorful Philadelphia stories.