The Boyd Theater [AP]

City Council's Rules Committee this afternoon endorsed legislation that would allow the Philadelphia Historical Commission to preserve not just the exteriors of historically significant buildings but the interiors as well.  But that's all the action that legislation will see until after Council's summer recess ends in September.

Councilman Bill Green introduced the legislation with an eye toward the Boyd Theater, opened in 1928 with a stunning art deco interior but long since closed and in danger of demolition.  The chairman and executive director of the Historical Commission told Council today that they support Green's legislation in concept but that their board had not voted on whether to take a position on the issue.  The City Planning Commission also hasn't voted on the matter.

That prompted Councilman Frank DiCicco to suggest holding the legislation unless someone could cite a building interior that faced imminent doom. "I would suggest we take the summer to just figure this all out," DiCicco said.

Green pushed for action. "With the Boyd up for sale once again and the future treatment of our other treasured spaces uncertain, I think we need to move on this legislation," he said.  But Green accepted the committee's move to approve the legislation without a suspension of Council's rules, which means it can't be approved by the full Council before the start of the summer recess after June 19.