Society Hill

Peterson also drew attention to the City Planning Commission's proposals for rehabilitating the residential area south of Walnut Street. In what may have been the first modem use of the neighborhood's eighteenth-century name, he referred to it as Society Hill. He recommended that the National Park Service give the City Planning Commission as much professional and other assistance as possible. Preservation and restoration in one area would support and enhance efforts in the other.

Without attacking or directly criticizing the Shrines Commission's plan, Peterson was clearly expressing doubts about some of its underlying assumptions. His concept of how the park should be treated was less antiurban and aesthetically more respectful of the historic buildings. The Philadelphia City Planning Commission shared his concern. In July Simon wrote to the vacationing Judge Lewis that Martin and Larson had told him that although they supported the eastern extension in general, they were not prepared to approve the Shrines Commission's design. Furthermore, Robert E. Mitchell, executive secretary of the City Planning Commission, had indicated that the commission would also withhold approval. These differences were largely overcome at a meeting in the City Planning Commission's offices on July 11. Appleman described the planners' attitude at the start of the meeting as "mistrustful." He and Peterson attended the meeting along with Mitchell, Edmund Bacon, the planning commission's senior planner; and the three architects who had long been interested in the project-Simon, Larson, and Martin. The planning commission expressed strong opinions on the retention of street patterns and existing businesses along Walnut and Chestnut Streets. Martin and Larson shared the commission's view that the park should include business buildings along street frontages, although Martin took a less absolute position. Although favoring a screen of buildings along the principal streets, he agreed with Lewis that the area should have a parklike character with extensive expanses of lawn and trees.