A Temple, a tour, and a party! On Friday of the National Symposium, we are bringing all Symposium guests together for a series of specially-planned events including that will allow for discussion of challenging topics while also highlighting and celebrating iconic modern sites in the region. 

We start the day traveling via bus to Beth Sholom Synagogue, the only synagogue designed by Frank Lloyd Wright during his long career. Beth Sholom is a work of art in glass and concrete.  But with its design commemorating Mount Sinai, the towering, light-filled space is also a symbol the of faith and undying spirit of the Jewish people and the story of how its congregation is dedicated to preserving the architecture is tale we can all learn from.

Guests will be treated to a tour of Beth Sholom by Helene Mansheim, Lead Docent & Visitor Center Manager for the Beth Sholom Preservation Foundation.

Breakfast and lunch will be provided. 
Note: Food and beverages are not allowed in the main sanctuary. 

Buses will pick up Symposium guests from the Loew's Hotel front entrance and the University of Pennsylvania (34th Street near the Weitzman School of Design) at 8:30 am Friday morning.

Morning Plenary Sessions

Two plenary sessions will cover important and challenging topics in modern preservation.

Afternoon Tour: Modern Clients - Global Architects

The Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia is one of those rare urban locations that has exceptional examples of architecture and landscape design from every period of United States history. This is especially true of the 1960s when global attention came to focus on Philadelphia as it’s architects and planners were energizing modernism with a broader sense of history, as well as social and environmental concerns. Louis Kahn, Romaldo Giurgola, Robert Venturi, and Ian McHarg, all created environments in Chestnut Hill, three of which were for progressive minded-women clients. This tour visits Kahn’s Margaret Esherick House (1959-62), Venturi’s famed “Mother’s House” for Vanna Venturi (1959-64), and the house and garden of famed ecological planner and landscape architect Ian McHarg (house by Oskar Stonorov; 1959). We are especially fortunate to be able to feature – for the first time in decades – Giurgola’s Dorothy White House, now under careful restoration by preservation minded owners after a period of disheartening neglect.

This tour has been designed with the expectation that all Symposium guests will want to see these extrodinary homes in Chestnut Hill. Buses will pick up guests at Beth Shalom, tour Chestnut Hill, then return to Beth Sholom and the original pick up locations at Loew's and University of Pennsylvania.

For those who do not go on the tour, a bus will be available to bring you back to downtown Philadelphia once the morning sessions are over.

Evening Reception

On Friday evening, we'll toast to modernism on the 33rd floor of the PSFS Building, Philadelphia's first and most famous International Style office building, meticulously restored and now functioning as Loew’s Philadelphia Hotel.