MEDIA RELEASE: Welcoming UNION Studio as Design Partner for the Revitalization of the Henry Ossawa Tanner House
September 15, 2025 | For additional commentary, reach out to Friends of the Tanner House at info@savethetannerhouse.org
The Henry Ossawa Tanner House, 2908 W. Diamond St., July 2025
Friends of the Tanner House is proud to announce that we’ve partnered with UNION Studio Architecture & Community Design to provide design services for the planned revitalization of the National Historic Landmark Henry Ossawa Tanner House in North Philadelphia. Our estimated six-month-long, community-informed process will deliver construction-ready documents and cost estimates to inform the comprehensive capital campaign necessary to realize the world-class site of heritage engagement and neighborhood cultural anchor we’ve been organizing since late 2021 to establish. This design project has been funded with support from the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development (DCED) and we offer a special nod of gratitude to the offices of former State Rep. Donna Bullock and State Sen. Sharif Street for their endorsements.
Victoria Bryant, Project Manager for UNION Studio, shared “At UNION, our mission has always been to serve communities by shaping spaces that hold meaning, depth, and belonging. To join hands with Friends of the Tanner House is not simply a project - it is a profound honor. The Tanner House is more than brick and mortar; it is a vessel of memory, a keeper of voices too often silenced, a testament to the brilliance, resilience, and creativity of Black life in America. Their story is our story. My story. To be entrusted with such a mission moves us deeply, and we are humbled to stand alongside Friends of the Tanner House in carrying it forward.”
Photo Credit: Lori Waselchuk. From the Friends of the Tanner House Welcome Back Teacher Happy Hour (8/29/2025), featuring our Union Studio Project Manager Victoria Bryant (sleeveless in Black), and Union Studio Associate Principal Ben Willis (hat, glasses, green shirt)
Friends of the Tanner House Co-Coordinator Christopher R. Rogers Ph.D. notes “We’re grateful to have UNION Studio as partners in this process, as we accomplish new benchmarks for our organization and the stewardship of 2908 W. Diamond St. Their mission-oriented, values-aligned nature wowed us through the open RFP process. We appreciated the diversity of the team they assembled alongside the depth of experience in advancing community-forward projects like ours. We believe we’ve found the right folks with the right set of talents and skills so that the revitalization of the Henry Ossawa Tanner House is nationally understood as one of the premier ready-to-go investment opportunities for uplifting Black heritage during America’s semiquincentennial.”
The Friends of the Tanner House preservation approach is guided by a commitment to ennoble the site’s historical significance and enable its continued relevance as a place of cultural vitality through work in partnership with existing and emerging local community institutions through the Friends of the Tanner House Community Partner Network. Inclusive of intentional opportunities for community feedback, we intend to thoughtfully discern what should be preserved, what might be preserved, and what may be consciously transformed or newly designed. This process of careful interpretation will allow the revitalized house to support both the storytelling of the Tanner family’s remarkable history and the storymaking that will shape its future—anchoring community memory while creating space for new voices, uses, and futures.
About UNION Studio | Union is a nationally practicing, mission-driven firm committed to designing sustainable places that will be loved for generations. Their work includes urban planning and community design, civic and institutional buildings, mixed-use developments, and housing of all types. Their expertise lies in understanding the overlapping and interwoven needs of community and client to shepherd the creation of new places that are financially and socially successful and benefit the community and the environment. Learn more about their practice at https://unionstudioarch.com/
About Friends of the Tanner House | The Friends of the Tanner House, Inc, is an organization dedicated to preserving and revitalizing the National Historic Landmark Tanner family property at 2908 W. Diamond St. Through our heritage stewardship, the Friends of the Tanner House honors the growth, development and sustenance of the rich Black cultural life of North Philadelphia with family-centered artistic, intellectual, and cultural programming. We currently operate as a fiscally-sponsored project of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia while we capacity-build toward self-management. Learn more about our work and opportunities to support us through https://savethetannerhouse.org/
Stay connected to this process by signing up for the Friends of the Tanner House mailing list at https://savethetannerhouse.org/
