Grandson of Oscar Hammerstein Regroups After Doylestown Twp. Zoning Board Rebuff
By Jim Melwert
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- Plans to turn the late Oscar Hammerstein II's farm in Doylestown into a theatre and museum were crushed last night with a unanimous vote by the local zoning board to deny variances to the property.
Hammerstein's grandson has been trying to preserve the property where some of the most famous Rodgers-and-Hammerstein works were written.
Today, Will Hammerstein sat down to talk about the future of the property. "We need a little bit of a miracle at this point," he admitted.
Will Hammerstein, the grandson of the legendary writer, says the unanimous vote comes as the board labels his plan a "neighborhood changing" event, an explanation he finds hard to swallow given the neighboring properties.
"One is a four-lane highway. Another is a 115-acre golf course, another is a 15-acre office park with six large office buildings," Hammerstein told KYW Newsradio today. "On the fourth side is a residential neighbor."
He says there is the slim possibility of having an off-site theatre, but the small, 400-seat theatre was central to their plans: "having a theatre 150 feet away from his study, and on the land where he roamed."
Now, Hammerstein says he'll wait for the full report before deciding a next step.