Yeah, this is Philly, but it bears commenting on. A big hospital wants to sell a treasure. Hmmm, can't they raise money any other way? Look at Bryn Mawr Hospital, and wonder like everyone else, are they in the business of medecine or real estate? And isn't it interesting that Mayor Street can appreciate history when it suits him? Too bad he couldn't have been so thoughtful or immediately proactive with regard to historic sites like
the Dilworth House or Rindelaub's Row, huh?
Street: Designate painting 'historic'
Under Philadelphia's historic preservation code, removal of Eakins' work could be halted. There is precedent for its use.
By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Culture Writer

Mayor Street has nominated Thomas Eakins' masterpiece, The Gross Clinic, for protection under the city's historic preservation ordinance, noting the painting's deep historical and cultural resonance throughout Philadelphia, city officials said yesterday.

Designation as a "historic object," a rarely used category of the preservation code, would prevent the painting from being altered or moved without the express approval of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. Its proposed sale by Thomas Jefferson University for $68 million ignited a burgeoning controversy.

The first such designation blocked the removal of Dream Garden, a shimmering mosaic in the old Curtis Publishing building, which its owners sought to sell in 1998.