It has been a quarter-century since Lower Merion Township adopted its most comprehensive historic preservation ordinance, which resulted in the formation of the Historical Commission and the Historic Resource Inventory. This action addressed a need expressed by Lower Merion citizens and Township leadership to establish a process to consider historic preservation in the assessment of changes within the community. Since that time, the Township has encountered various challenges to its historic preservation efforts as well as opportunities to use historic preservation as an effective planning tool to improve quality of life in the community. The purpose of this Report is to assess the effectiveness and consequences of these historic preservation efforts and to formulate recommendations to improve the Township’s historic preservation initiatives and processes.

The Report examines various aspects of the Township's historic preservation initiatives including Historic Districts, Historic Resources, the role of the HARB and Historical Commission, and the Township Code. It also contains detailed statistics and analyses of historical data.

The Report was received by the Board of Commissioners in June, 2026 and is made available here in full.

Read the Historic Preservation Report (5 MB PDF)