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What are you thinking?
Bellefonte Through the Years Staff
Without a doubt, one of the saddest things to happen in Bellefonte, in recent memory, was the destruction of the Bellefonte Academy building. The west end of Bishop Street now has a noticeably large hole in the landscape, and Bellefonte has a void in it's illustrious history. It was sad enough to watch the building and grounds slowly deteriorate over the years, but, adding insult to injury, after sitting atop the hill, overlooking the Big Spring, for nearly 200 years, fire wiped it from the landscape in an afternoon in July 2004.
Even though the Academy had been closed since the 1930s, the mere presence of the imposing and distinguished Academy building served as a constant reminder of the greatness that was once the Bellefonte Academy.
Although long gone from this earth, the structure also helped us remember "Jimmy" Hughes and the long list of distinguished citizens that he and his father had educated. Who will remember the large number of great athletes that played baseball, basketball and football for the Academy? Who will remember the notoriety the Academy brought to Bellefonte? Who will remember the endless list of Universities from Pennsylvania, and surrounding states, that sent athletic teams to Bellefonte to play versus the Academy? When was the last time that the US Naval Academy sent a football team to Bellefonte? Our the University of Pittsburgh, Syracuse, University of Pennsylvania?
Now that memory is honored by wiping away all visible signs of the Bellefonte Academy.
It was very discouraging to see that Torron, the State College group planning to develop the site, had already obtained "guidance" from the HARB. One would therefore assume that the design presented to the Borough Council followed their "guidance." If so, what are they thinking?
HARB, an organization that recently, citing concerns over the "project's impact on the historic Bellefonte streetscape," turned down a local group's request to have a permanent sound system installed downtown, signed off on this structure? Say it ain't so!
When the High Street bridge was replaced by Penn DOT, HARB demanded the old railing remain in place. It was determined to be a "contributing factor in the historic district." The light poles on the bridge were replaced with replicas and HARB even demanded that all the signal poles be painted black to fit in with the Historic District.
If the railing and poles on the bridge must be painted black to fit in with the Historic District, why put a modern looking six story condominium on Academy Hill?
It would only seem logical that if you are concerned about the "historic Bellefonte streetscape" you would want a building atop Academy hill, that ideally replicated the appearance of the Bellefonte Academy. OK, maybe that's asking too much, so, if not that, maybe Torron could incorporate some of the major design elements of the Academy building. How about the columned entrance?
What are you thinking? This is our 2 cents.
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