We the undersigned, ask the Montgomery County Commissioners to halt demolition plans to raze the Old Airy Street Prison. 

The famed architect Napoleon LeBrun, who designed the Philadelphia Academy of Music and Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul submitted a design for the jail. The castle-like structure was built in 1851. Though not as large a complex as the historic Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, many have said it has a much more attractive façade in its grim imposing kind of way.

There is no good reason for The Old Montgomery County/ Airy Street Prison at 35 East Airy Street in Norristown to be destroyed. The Old Jail is part of a “Golden Age” of architecture in the county seat that we will never see again. In a time of prefab and drywall, cold glass and steel rarely are seen such public structures with the depth of character and timeless stark beauty that one sees in such a building as the old prison. It is an iconic part of the Norristown skyline.

The Airy Street Prison has been closed for many years. While other historic sites on the outlying sections of Montgomery County have received attention, notoriety and funding for renovation, the imposing, iconic, magnificent Old Airy Street Prison in Norristown, right across the street from the court house, has not.

We therefore strongly oppose the demolition of the prison and a re-evaluation as to the importance of the structure. There are many uses it could have, if the political will exists.