Background:

Since 1871, the home of the University Barge Club has been #7 and #8 Kelly Drive. The building that houses the club is a key element in the Boathouse Row National Historic District, which constitutes one of the most recognizable features of Philadelphia’s unique historical landscape. As one might expect, the maintenance, conservation and preservation of the UBC boathouse has presented significant financial challenges over time, given the physical toll taken by weather and the river. Major repair and conservation projects have taken place throughout the boathouse’s history, many of them concentrated in the past 30 years, including the rebuilding of the club’s balcony. Up until 2004 all of them were supported through UBC membership fundraising.

In 2002, major cracks appeared in the walls of one of the boat bays. Faced with this sizeable repair, a group of UBC club members applied to the IRS in 2004 for the creation of a separate tax-exempt charitable entity, the UBC 1871 Foundation. The purpose of the proposed foundation was to “engage in conservation activities pertaining to the maintenance and preservation of this historically and architecturally significant structure.” Central to the IRS’s approval of the 501(c)(3) entity was the consideration of public benefit from the viewing of the boathouse, both from a distance (even from across the river) and close-up, including being able to view the interior through all the house windows on the first floor. In authorizing the new 501(c)(3), the IRS required assurance that nothing would be allowed to obstruct the public’s view of the boathouse. Because this assurance was given to the IRS, UBC has remained the only boathouse on the historic Row that has kept itself free of fencing.

In 2007, the UBC 1871 Foundation contracted with Preservation Design Partners in conjunction with Keast & Hood, Co. Structural Engineers to complete a study of the building, with recommendations and projected costs, for present and future maintenance and preservation activities over the next 20 years. The report, An Architectural Conservation Assessment Report of the Exterior and Structure of the University Barge Club, was completed and submitted to the UBC 1871 Foundation in 2008.
Among the projects recommended by the report, the most recently completed are the upgrading of the roof structure (2016) and the installation of a new roof, which was completed in 2019.

UBC 1871 Foundation Governance and Authority:

The UBC 1871 Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation completely separate from the University Barge Club. It has its own Board of Directors, by-laws and bank accounts. The 1871 Foundation owns the exterior façade, supporting structure, apron and docks of the boathouse, while the UBC rowing club is responsible for maintaining the interior of the boathouse.

The UBC 1871 Foundation:

• Allows donors to make tax-deductible gifts to the Foundation
  for present and future maintenance and preservation activities.
• Qualifies for “matching gift” opportunities to augment employee
  donations on a tax-deductible basis.
• Allows the Foundation to pursue gifts and grants from outside
  sources for conservation and maintenance purposes.

For more information, contact UBC1871CHAIR@gmail.com.