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The houses transitioned over to LED lighting in 2005 and were last refurbished in 2016. In recent years, rising maintenance costs have required the need for a full replacement. The $2.1 million project is completely replacing the failing system, which has struggled with significant connectivity challenges, regular power outages, and mounting issues. Designed by lighting specialists The Lighting Practice, this fully designed system will mount the Row’s iconic lights to 10 historic buildings along Boathouse Row. The project includes upgraded technology and durable housing boxes to protect the system from weather and wildlife damages. The new lighting system has 6,400 individual LED lights, with 16 million color combinations.
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Surviving into the twenty-first century, it became one of the nation’s oldest amateur sports associations. Introduced in 1979, the lighting along Boathouse Row has become an iconic feature along the Schuylkill River, where most of the boathouses date back to the 19th century. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
Boathouse Row lights return along Schuylkill River in Philadelphia for 1st time in nearly 1 year - CBS News
Boathouse Row lights return along Schuylkill River in Philadelphia for 1st time in nearly 1 year.
Posted: Fri, 08 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
henning larsen's klaksvík row club is backdropped by the faroe islands' fjords
In European folklore the undine is a water nymph, and appropriately lends its name to one of Philadelphia’s famous Boating Clubs. The stone façade and castle-like turrets of the Undine Barge Club Boathouse make number thirteen on Boathouse Row stand out among its neighbors. Founded in 1856, the first clubhouse was small, but renovations in the 1880s expanded the structure and the Fairmount Park Commission’s standards required the building be made of stone.
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Boathouse #1 is Lloyd Hall and is the only public boathouse facility on the Row.[2] Boathouse #15 houses the Sedgeley Club, which operates the Turtle Rock Lighthouse. The boathouses are all at least a century old, and some were built more than 150 years ago. Thank you for your interest in becoming a Boathouse Row Lighting Partner!
henning larsen celebrates the legacy of rowing
The lights have experienced outages due to ongoing maintenance issues and this project is upgrading the entire system to reduce future maintenance needs and keep Boathouse Row’s lights on for years to come. Each boathouse has a character of its own that reflects the accomplishments of the clubs that use it. Each one is outfitted with a dock along the river, and the bottom levels of the homes are where the clubs keep their boats — ranging from old, wooden single-person boats to long, eight-person racing boats made of fiberglass that can run $40,000 apiece.
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This building isn’t just a functional space for athletes — it’s a celebration of Faroese sporting heritage and a welcoming destination for both locals and visitors. Perched along a scenic fjord, Klaksvík Row Club is establishing itself as a cultural hub, and is recognized by its sloping green roof and timber facade. Henning Larsen’s multi-faceted urban plan was initiated in 2018 and prioritizes pedestrian access and lively public spaces. The Row Club, alongside a children’s skating rink and central plaza, exemplifies this focus on community interaction. Just last year, the architects had revealed a mass-timber university building proposal for the Faroe Islands’ largest town, Tórshavn (see designboom’s coverage here). A major Philly landmark, this picturesque strip of rowing clubs is made up of mock Tudor and Victorian boathouses from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The walls are covered with images of the Olympians and world champions that came before the people sweating in the training room twice a day. Take a step into 10 Boathouse Row, walk up the wooden stairs, past a sign outlining history of the house, past a training room, past the space where some of the greatest athletes in the region relax together. "We worked with the lighting practice on the design of a robust system of light strings and channels that would be able to withstand animals, weather and be a less vulnerable system moving into the future," Rasheed said. "We didn't really know how much people would miss it when the lights went off," Tara Rasheed, senior director of capital projects for Fairmount Park Conservancy, said.
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Philadelphia-based lighting design firm 'The Lighting Practice' designed an upgraded custom lighting system, and Eagle Industrial Electric worked as the onsite contractor. The Philadelphia staple, first introduced in 1979, went dark on March 20, 2023. Officials with the Fairmount Park Conservancy said the previous lights had suffered extensive maintenance issues. The Visit Philly Overnight Package — booked more than 190,000 times since 2001 — comes with free hotel parking (worth up to $100 in Center City Philadelphia), overnight hotel accommodations and choose-your-own-adventure perks.

Whether observed from the riverbank or during a stroll along Kelly Drive, Boathouse Row is a tangible representation of Philadelphia's history and enduring connection to rowing. Despite these controversies, the twenty-first-century Boathouse Row serves as a landmark and gathering place for athletes from around the country, from novices to Olympic-caliber rowers. Many of the associations that built the first boathouses survive and continue to support thriving club programs while also serving as venues for high school and collegiate rowers. One of the most celebrated races every spring, the Dad Vail Regatta, welcomes oarsmen and women from collegiate programs and features a novice race for corporate sponsors, a fund-raising tool that fuses Philadelphia’s rich history of rowing with its future. The boathouses are seen as centers of the rowing community around the United States. Rowers from the boathouses compete at every level, including local clubs, high schools, colleges, summer racing programs, and international-level athletics.
Philadelphia’s Boathouse Row, photographed here in the latter half of the twentieth century, is one of the first sights visitors to Philadelphia see when they enter the city from the west. The structures that make up this architectural landmark represent Philadelphia’s special fusion of sport and history. Philadelphia’s Boathouse Row is a National Historic Landmark that reflects the city’s fusion of sport, culture, and history.
Throughout the year, Boathouse Row sets the backdrop for time-honored races including the Stotesbury Regatta, the Schuylkill Navy Regatta, the Philadelphia Youth Regatta and of course, the massive Dad Vail. Some of the clubs also hold programs for rowers of every experience level to learn and hone their skills. The Klaksvík masterplan is well underway, with further plans to prioritize pedestrian access and expand public spaces.
Excitement for the newest installment of lights was palpable on the way to its glow-up. "Each one of these has a red, a green and a blue LED inside of it," Hoyle said. "And so how, depending on how you mix those, you'll get any of those various 16 million different colors and the shades." PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A Philadelphia staple along the Schuylkill River banks returned Thursday night after nearly a year.