Amy Lambert is currently serving as Board President of UCHS. She is an architect and preservation professional with over twenty years experience in design and construction project management. She has researched and written a National Register nomination and a dozen nominations to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, most of them properties in the University City area. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Historic Preservation program, Amy teaches the Introduction to Historic Preservation course at Drexel University’s Westphal College of Media Arts and Design. Originally from Texas, she has lived in Philadelphia for over seven years and is now bringing an 1886 house back from the brink of demolition by neglect; by doing so she is living her personal mantra: anything we love can be saved. What she loves most about West Philadelphia is the rich cultural and social diversity that gives a vibrant energy to the nation’s oldest streetcar suburb, proving that old buildings and landscapes are relevant for people, ideas, and traditions.
Anurag Sagar was born and raised in Delhi, India, where she lived until moving to the US to earn her PhD in molecular biology, at the Rockefeller University in NYC. Since then, she has lived in California and Australia. Anurag moved to West Philadelphia in 1989 where she lives with her husband and their two large dogs. Living in the beautiful Garden Court neighborhood, has made her deeply appreciative of its unique architectural beauty as well as the wonderful ethnic diversity of its inhabitants. Since 2001, Anurag has worked at local community based adult literacy organizations, where she has been particularly engaged in initiatives aimed at helping immigrants improve their literacy and life skills. In addition to her work, Anurag enjoys traveling around the world with her husband, gardening and reading. She is an active member of the Garden Court Community Association, where she serves on its zoning committee, helping to ensure more thoughtful development in the University City area. She has served on the UCHS board since 2021.
George Poulin is a resident of Powelton Village, where he has lived since graduating with a degree in Architecture from Drexel University in 2007. George has served on the UCHS Board since 2014, having held the positions of President and Secretary. Beyond his involvement with UCHS, George volunteers with the Powelton Village Civic Association and is a Board Member of University City District. George is a passionate advocate for historic neighborhoods and is happiest when exploring West Philadelphia’s amazing streetscape. George is a Principal with Strada Architecture, a multidisciplinary design firm based in Center City. His favorite thing about West Philadelphia is the amazing sense of community.
Elmore ‘Moe’ Phillips has been on the UCHS Board since 2008, has served as our Treasurer since 2017, and has been on the Financial Oversight Committee since 2019. A native of Delaware County, Moe has lived in West Philadelphia for over fifty years, and has lived in his home on the 4500 block of Regent Street with his wife, Catherine, for over forty-five years. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Lincoln University (a HBCU) and an Master of Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. Moe is a Certified Public Accountant and currently works as a Revenue Agent for the Internal Revenue Service. His favorite thing about West Philadelphia is the varied architectural character of the homes and the different mix of the people which allows him to talk to people from different backgrounds and ethnic origins.
Peg is a former IT manager and consultant. She has served on the UCHS Board since 2018 and currently serves as our Registrar and on the Financial Oversight and the Membership Committees. On an exploratory walk from Center City, Peg and her husband were intrigued by the gleaming dome of St. Francis De Sales Church. That was over 35 years ago. Since then, Peg and her husband have lived in Cedar Park and continue to enjoy and appreciate the Victorian houses and tree-lined streets of West Philadelphia.
Joe Minardi has served on the UCHS Board for ten years and has served as Vice President and also is the Editor of our newsletter, On the West Side. Joe also serves as UCHS’s primary videographer, video editor and the adminstrator of our YouTube channel. Joe has a degree in Graphic Design from the Hussian School of Art and now is an innkeeper, graphic designer and an accomplished author, publishing four books on Philadelphia history and architecture. In researching material for his books, he has developed close relationships with many of the preservation, historical and library organizations in the city. Joe’s favorite thing about West Philadelphia is the architecture, the warm and and welcoming people, and their dedication to the upkeep their homes. He lives in his native South Philadelphia neighborhood.
Roy has served on the UCHS Board over the last twenty years in several capacities, as Secretary, Vice President, and President, and currently serves on several UCHS committees including Membership, Website, Finance, and Diversity and Inclusion. He is the Executive Director/CEO of AGLP: The Association of LGBTQ+ Psychiatrists, Director of Music and the Arts at the Church of Saint Asaph, in Bala Cynwyd, and Executive Director of First Baptist Church of Philadelphia. He lived on the Willis Hale-designed 4500 block of Chester Avenue (within the Chester-Regent Historic District) until February of 2021, when he and his partner Bob moved to the Drake Tower in Center City. Roy is an alumnus of Drexel University where he studied engineering and engineering graphics, and holds a music degree from Temple University. He is a native of Palmyra, New Jersey, and has lived in Philadelphia since 1973. Roy continues to be inspired by the engaged community in West Philadelphia and the endless variety of architectual styles represented in the built environment.
Angela Kent is an interior designer and owner of Storyful Design LLC, living in Spruce Hill since 2013 with her husband and daughter. She first moved to Philadelphia from Maryland to attend college at Arcadia University and then remained here to start her interior design career, working at various architectural firms. She has served on the UCHS Board since 2020 and has helped lead the West Philadelphia Interiors Project, is a member of our Website Committee, and organized the Powelton Village Garden tour. She also serves on a building management team at Tabernacle United Church in West Philadelphia. Her other interests include gardening, travel, writing, hosting parties, and taking long walks to explore and observe. Her favorite things about West Philly are the diversity, gardens, architecture, Clark Park Saturday mornings, and forming a community with neighbors.
Kelly E. Wiles has served on the UCHS Board since 2015. Originally from South Carolina, she moved to West Philadelphia in 2013 after she graduated with a Masters of Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds bachelor’s degrees in Historic Preservation & Community Planning and Art History from the College of Charleston. Kelly assists with and drafts Philadelphia Register of Historic Places nominations with UCHS and the Keeping Society of Philadelphia and also is a member of our Website Committee. She currently works for the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a program lead in the Environmental and Historic Preservation branch in Region 3, which covers the mid-Atlantic. Her favorite thing about West Philadelphia besides the architecture is the vast options of Ethopian food and the drinks at Fiume.
Heather Calvert as served on the UCHS Board since 2017. She is the executive director of MindCORE, a center at the University of Pennsylvania for the integrative study of the mind. She has a Master’s in Public Administration from Penn’s Fels Institute of Government and a BA from Villanova University. Heather also serves on the board for The Woodlands. She and her family foster working dogs in training from the Penn Vet Working Dog Center. Born in Tennessee, and raised in Europe as a military brat, Heather has lived longest in West Philly, her home for more than 20 years. Her favorite thing about living in West is discovering quirky neighbor-created delights from really great cornice paint combos to hobbit houses to funny election signs.
Lee Garner is an electrical contractor, working mostly on residential and upgrading existing homes since 1982. Originally from Upstate New York, he has lived in West Philadelphia since 1975. He and his wife, Anne, have lived on Chester Avenue since 1989, where they raised their four children. Lee attended Earlham College, studied German language and culture in the old countries, travelled extensively around this country and many others, and found mentoring in construction right here in Philadelphia. He joined the UCHS Board in 2009 and is responsible for installing Streetcar Suburb date markers. As an old house contractor since 1975, Lee has promoted the preservation of West Philadelphia actively to homeowners. Lee also raises hundreds of cactus and house plants and judges entries at the Philadelphia Flower Show.
Brian Spooner has lived on South 48th Street since 1968 and joined the UCHS board 20 years ago. He grew up outside London and trained as a Russian interpreter. He holds a degree in Latin and Ancient Greek and a doctorate in Social Anthropology from Oxford University. In 1968, he was invited to take a position in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and Curator for Near Eastern Ethnology in the Penn Museum. He was director of Penn’s Middle East Center from 1986 to 1995, and continued his ethnographic research in numerous countries in Asian and the Middle East. He finally retired at age 86 in 2021, and is using the free time of retirement to finish his writing projects and to explore anthropological issues in the social history of Philadelphia. He enjoys living in Philadelphia due it its proximity to a number of the country’s major cities, and in West Philadelphia because he his able to live in a large Victorian house.
Elyana Tarlow grew up in Philadelphia and went to Girls High and Temple University. She spent some of her adult life in Baltimore and Central Pennsylvania and then moved back to Philadelphia when she retired. She was in house counsel for several corporations including financial institutions where she focused on commercial lending and real estate and was then in private practice representing clients in commercial transactions and real estate. She also taught business law at Gettysburg College. Elyana has been on the UCHS board since 2021 and is the is the co-president of the Garden Court Community Association and also serves on their zoning committee. She especially enjoys the farmers market at Clark Park and the shops along Baltimore Avenue.
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