Environmental stewardship is part of George School’s Quaker identity. In fact, George School has been “green” since before green was green. The most dramatic case of sustainable reuse happened in the 1970s when Philadelphia’s Twelfth Street Meetinghouse, built in 1812, was saved from destruction and moved thirty miles north of Philadelphia and reassembled on the George School campus.

The move was prompted by the building’s destined demolition after the sale of the property to The Philadelphia Savings Fund Society as part of its center city expansion program. F. Palin and Helen Spruance and their family generously offered to defray the cost of reconstructing the building on the George School campus. The Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting donated the funds for disassembling the structure and transporting the materials to campus.

Tons of construction materials were moved thirty miles north of Philadelphia to be reassembled into its old, familiar form—albeit with modern facilities and infrastructure—on the George School campus.

This remarkable endeavor saved many elements for reuse: eight sixty-foot hand-hewn roof trusses, exterior trim, thirty windows with shutters, benches and cushions, interior wainscoting, flooring, countless bricks (about 75 percent of the old bricks were salvaged, washed, and blended with new brick during reconstruction) and five doorways with doors, porches, and marble steps.

Of this material, six of the trusses and an original floor joist are from two earlier Philadelphia meetinghouses that date back to 1696 and 1755, underscoring that Quakers have been recycling for centuries. The floor joist lies along the north wall of the building. If you look closely, you can see the initials of one of the original carpenters, Abraham Carlisle (A.C.) and his apprentice, Isaac Coats (I.C.) in rose headed nails in the joist.

The Twelfth Street Meetinghouse is particularly rich in Quaker history, service and significance. The historic building was the birthplace of the American Friends Service Committee and the headquarters of many local, national, and worldwide Quaker organizations. It served as the meetinghouse for Penn Charter School until the school moved to Germantown some fifty years later. Today, the building serves as a gathering and performance space and houses music classes, the school archives, and meetings for worship for both George School and Newtown Friends School.

Editor’s Note: Watch "It’s all about the trusses," Charles Hough's account of the brick-by-brick move of George School’s Quaker Meetinghouse from its location on Twelfth Street in Philadelphia to the school’s campus from 1972 to 1974. You also might enjoy “Who Moved the 12th Street Meetinghouse” by Mark Franek which appeared in the spring 2009 issue of Penn Charter Today.