In April the Historical Commission designated the Drexel-Govett Historic District to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. The University City Historical Society nominated the district.

This new historic district is in the Spruce Hill neighborhood of West Philadelphia. It includes 95 buildings between 39th and 40th Streets, bounded by Baltimore Avenue at the south and Delancey Street at the north. The buildings are mostly residential, built between 1865 and 1883.

The district features dense housing near public transportation, a reflection of Philadelphia’s streetcar history. The district is named for one of West Philadelphia’s most prominent individuals, Anthony J. Drexel, and developer Annesley R. Govett. Both men were influential in building the district and their development encouraged growth in the Spruce Hill neighborhood. Prominent architects such as Samuel Sloan and G.W. and W.D. Hewitt designed many of the buildings. The district’s buildings include Italianate, Second Empire, Neo-Grec, and Queen Anne styles.

The Drexel-Govett Historic District is a snapshot of the nineteenth-century development patterns that spread west from the Schuylkill River.

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