Pennsylvania Town Rules Hammerstein House Can Move Forward as Museum

According to The Intell, Oscar Hammerstein II proposed museum in Doylestown Township can move forward, however becoming a theater is off the table. Supervisors approved a stipulation agreement on Tuesday.

Hammerstein's High land Farm Inc is a no profit organization set up to raise money to buy and manage nearly 5 acres of the East Road property from its current owner and is headed by Hammerstein grandson Will Hammerstein. The nonprofit first approached the zoning board in 2014 with a plan to turn the house into a museum with a proposed 400 seat theater.

Tuesday's approval included several stipulations to the drafted museum plan, including an agreement that a theater will not be built. The supervisors voted 4-0 to approve the stipulations.

In 2015, the proposed $20 million theater was struck down by the zoning board. They cited concerns that the theater portions would draw traffic and ultimately disturb the property's historic integrity.

In the report, the board stated, "The evidence establishes that the addition of a three-story, 13,400-square-foot floor area theater structure and a parking field ... materially and negatively impacts the integrity of this historic resource."

Will Hammerstein said he was very happy with the approval and is looking froward to taking the next steps to making the museum a reality.

Hammerstein said, "It's been a long time and I'm just glad, just happy to move on to the next phase of fundraising and making the museum as great as we can make it." No timetable has been set for beginning renovations.

Oscar Hammerstein II and his family lived on the Highland Farm from 1941 until his death in 1960. Hammerstein wrote several of his world famous musicals alongside Richard Rodgers at this home. He also mentored Stephen Sondheim, then a student, while living here.

For the past nine years, the building had been owned by Christine Cole as a bed and breakfast.