What Happened to the Houses?
As the city of Philadelphia took possession of the houses in Fairmount Park, park officials destroyed many of the outbuildings (and several of the mansions) and rented the remaining structures to city employees. This system would continue in various forms through the 1970s.
It was only in the years immediately preceding the Sesquicentennial celebrations of 1926 that the houses began to be seen as historic assets. Individuals such as Philadelphia Museum of Art director Fiske Kimball began to restore several of the houses in the 1920s. Elsewhere in the city, the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks began restoring Powel House. In Germantown several stately homes were protected for their historic value. Nationally, historic house museums followed the example of Mount Vernon, The Hermitage, and the Hasbrouck House a half-century earlier and opened their doors to tourists and cultural pilgrims. The National Park Service became the steward of more historic sites as well as those of natural wonders.
In 1976, another flurry of historic interest surrounded the nation's bicentennial, fostering another round of restorations on many of the historic properties within Philadelphia, including those in Fairmount Park.
Yet just a year later, the old mansions of Fairmount Park found themselves front page news for a different reason. In a week-long investigative series, journalist Hoag Levins contended that the practice of allocating city-owned properties to city employees was being conducted without transparency, seemed ripe for corruption, and might lead to breaches of tax law. Levins' critique, while hyperbolic in its tabloid style, was well researched and the actions of several park employees seem borderline unethical at best. Yet the scandal resulted in most or all of the private residents of Fairmount Park being pushed out of the properties they had occupied rent-free. The subsequent vacancy of these homes was subsequently blamed for the fires and vandalism that plagued the previously grand homes.
Throughout the twentieth century, Fairmount Park authorities relied on partnerships with voluntary associations such as the Colonial Dames and the Women for the Bicentennial, and non-profits such as the Fairmount Park Historic Preservation Trust (now part of the Fairmount Park Conservancy) to maintain the historic buildings in their care. Those arrangements were often ad hoc, but in 2007 the park formalized its policy on leasing these properties. Non-profits that vary from the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia to an international youth hostel can lease the properties for $1 per year. In return they occupy and maintain the buildings and in some cases have raised money for additional restoration.