LOWER MERION — Two historic buildings in Bala Cynwyd are being purchased.
Gratz College announced they have entered into an agreement to purchase the Levering Mill Tribute House and Levering Mill House.
“The new campus will empower Gratz to further accomplish its mission to advance Jewish wisdom and education,” explained President Zev Eleff. “On the Main Line, just as in Melrose Park, Gratz will be a major incubator of culture and learning. Our faculty and staff are eager to synergize our significant resources and abilities with the needs of the Lower Merion community, Jewish and otherwise.”
Both buildings sit next to one another on Bala Avenue near Levering Mill Road. The tribute house name comes from a plaque at the entrance to one of the buildings, signifying it as a memorial to those local residents who died in World War I and a tribute to all who served.
The buildings date back to the 1920s and consists of the larger building, the Levering Mill Tribute House, and the smaller Levering Mill House. The Tribute House, with a ballroom, served as and a smaller structure that once served as the first library for Bala Cynwyd.
In 2016, the Woman’s Club of Bala Cynwyd donated both buildings to the Merion Foundation, the grant-making arm of the Merion Community Association. The Merion Community Association owns another Lower Merion historic properties, the Merion Tribute House.
According to a press release from Gratz College, the school’s “expansion to the Main Line will complement Gratz’s public programming on the Mandell Campus in Melrose Park.”
“The new Gratz campus will host public programming and serve as a cultural center and gathering space for Gratz’s constituents and neighbors. The campus, complete with two buildings and gardens, will provide ample area for community education, large events, and a coworking space for coffee-sippers. Planning is already underway to create a Holocaust Education Digital Lab that will feature the Elie Wiesel Digital Archive and the USC Shoah Foundation’s Dimensions in Testimony interactive technology,” according to the college’s press release.
Kathy Elias, Chair of the Gratz Board of Governors, describes the Board’s decision to move forward, “We enthusiastically support this move as we respond to the expansion of our educational programs and needs for the future.”
Officials from Gratz College said the Levering Mill campus is a fitting home for them.
“The campus was constructed over one hundred years ago by the Women’s Club of Bala Cynwyd, an organization established to champion suffrage, fair labor, and other social rights. As a nonsectarian institution founded in the Jewish tradition and in the image of the peerless philanthropist, Rebecca Gratz, the College shares a like-minded heritage with the Women’s Club,” according to its press release.
Gratz’s senior leadership anticipates wide use of its large auditoriums, kitchen, and the library building—the first public library in Lower Merion—that will be reimagined as a pluralistic Beit Midrash learning site for people of all types to learn and draw from Jewish wisdom: through engagement in text study and Jewish history, to participation in cultural programs, conferences, and festivals convened in partnership with local organizations.
“In this post-pandemic period, we have seen a movement among Jewish organizations to take big bets on physical space,” said Eleff. “In Jewish communities such as Boston and Detroit, we have seen creative amalgam sites that coalesce Jewish learning with hospitality, Jewish gathering with coffee-drinking. We’re going to cultivate our own fresh model, in a way that fits the needs of our local community.”
Eleff added that Gratz has received an enthusiastic welcome from municipal officials, the Lower Merion School District, and synagogue and Jewish nonprofit leaders.
State Representative Mary Jo Daley remarks, “I am delighted to welcome Gratz College to Bala Cynwyd and look forward to engaging with this historic institution as an inspirational presence to our community. Gratz’s mission as a leader in human rights, Holocaust education, and antisemitism awareness is timeless and essential. We will all benefit from having them as a neighbor!”
Levering Mill Tribute House is located at 382 Bala Avenue in Bala Cynwyd and the Levering Mill House is next to it at 327 Levering Mill Road.
The College will close on the property in the Summer of 2024. The Gratz College main office will remain in Melrose Park, where it will continue to serve the local community.
