William Chandlee

When William (Will) Chandlee (1928-2011) bought 313 Spruce Street in 1963, it was “a ruin.” The first-floor façade had been torn off, and a plate-glass window was installed for a luncheonette. He came to Society Hill in part because friends in the neighborhood encouraged him, and he believed that redevelopment would be successful. His parents helped him buy the place, and his father, an architect, designed most of the renovations and did some of the work. Will describes how he got his mortgage. He made the building into four apartments, including his own, and kept as much of the original details as he was able. He tells how he made the garden, complete with fountain, himself, collecting old bricks from sites of demolished buildings on what would become St. Joseph’s Way and bringing them home by the wheelbarrow-full. He bought two marble mantel-pieces from a nearby house when it was torn down. He talks about many friends in the neighborhood and details work they did when renovating their houses. Will also talks about several of his near neighbors who were lifelong residents of the neighborhood and whose antecedents came from Ukraine. He describes the people who would come around the neighborhood before dawn, driving a horse-drawn wagon and taking materials of any value from the sites of houses being worked on. Many, but not all, of the neighbors whom Will mentions and calls friends were gay. Will does not self-identify as gay, although it is likely that he was. His interview makes the reader aware of the significant role that LGBT people played in the redevelopment of Society Hill in the early years.

Transcript

DS: This is an interview with Will Chandlee. The date is October 28, 2009. The location is 313 Spruce Street in Philadelphia, PA. The interviewer is Dorothy Stevens.

[Tape is turned off, then on again]

DS: Will. Tell me, when did you come to Society Hill?

WC: I bought this house in 1963 with my father. But I had some friends here before that, so I was familiar with the neighborhood. Want me to go on and just tell you? When I bought the place, it was a ruin, of course. The first-floor front had been pulled out and was replaced by a plate-glass window. It was the Spruce Street Luncheonette. Where the two salons were originally in the front, the floor had been lowered to street level, and there was a long counter with stools to sit on and Coca-Cola signs and things (1:00) like that. Fortunately, the entrance hall was intact with the arches, and the stairway to the third floor was intact. It just needed to have the old lead paint burned off, which I spent about two years doing.

DS: So you did that work yourself.

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© 2009 Project Philadelphia 19106™. All rights reserved.

About the Interview

Interviewer
Dorothy Stevens
Transcriber
Cynthia J. Eiseman
Interview Location
313 Spruce Street
Interview Date
October 28, 2009
Interviewee
Chandlee, William
Narrator Type
Redeveloper - Restoration
Oral History Sources