Adaptive Re-Use of Upsala

Cliveden of the National Trust

Recipient

Grant Year 2009

Grant Amount $200,000

Status Completed

Updated May 30, 2023

This project allowed Cliveden to adaptively re-use Upsala (a historic home on the site of Cliveden) for office space and community programming. The renovated building is used as a center for community revitalization, including neighborhood safety meetings, a teen writers' workshop, and a resource center for the area's many historic houses. The work on the building included construction of an accessible entrance and restroom, and installation of new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. The work also allowed Cliveden to remove some office space, leading to more effective preservation of the National Historic Landmark building, the site of the 1777 Battle of Germantown.

uestions of ractice

Audiences take in Liberty To Go To See, 2015, at Cliveden’s Main House, an interactive dramatic event based on the Chew Family Papers, produced by the New Freedom Theatre and featuring a script created through a year-long partnership between Cliveden and the Philadelphia Young Playwrights.

Interview

Inside Cliveden of the National Trust: Q&A with Executive Director David Young

Recipient

Cliveden of the National Trust

Cliveden of the National Trust is an eighteenth-century historic house and the site of the 1777 Battle of Germantown. A National Historic Landmark, the site includes two historic properties on over five acres of green space in Philadelphia's Historic Germantown. Cliveden preserves and interprets over 200 years of American history through the lives of the Chew Family and their staff, both enslaved and in service, and it offers programming for children and adults to connect the past and the present.

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