Campbell Thomas & Co.

Architecture•Preservation
Community & Transportation Planning

Our People       Awards

The Firm

Campbell Thomas & Co. is an environmentally and community oriented firm of architects and planners with an award winning record in green, transportation, community planning and revitalization, accessibility, historic preservation and practical design and construction. The firm was founded in 1976 by architects Robert P. Thomas and James C. Campbell who originally met through volunteer work on a variety of transportation, preservation and conservation projects. The firm's mission has focused on developing projects that are socially, environmentally, and technology innovative and important. Campbell Thomas & Co. has been recognized as a leader in the fields of conservation, preservation and community development by awards from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, SEPTA, Preservation Pennsylvania, the American Institute of Architects, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and the Foundation for Architecture. The firm is noted for significant public service, especially in the areas important to planning for its projects and clients. The partners give service to such boards and commissions as the East Coast Greenway Alliance, the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, the Accessibility Advisory Board of the City of Philadelphia, the Friends of Philadelphia Parks, and the Schuylkill River Greenway Association.

Campbell Thomas & Co. has performed work in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey over the last twenty years ranging from rail-trail studies, to historic preservation, community planning and development, to mapping. Our clients have included boroughs, community development corporations, non-profit organizations, planning commissions, institutions, and private businesses and residents.

PEOPLE

< Back to previous page

AWARDS

< Back to previous page

KEY AWARDS - CAMPBELL THOMAS & CO.

2018 Golden Spike Award
Presented to Partner Robert P. Thomas by the September 11th National Memorial Trail Alliance “for visionary and exceptional service.”

2018 Curtin Winsor Award
Presented to Partner Robert P. Thomas by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council “in recognition of vision, commitment, and lifelong achievement” in honor or Curtin Winsor, one of PEC’s founders.

2014 Preservation Public Service Award
Presented to Partner Robert P. Thomas by the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia for achievement in preservation in the public interest

2014 Fred M. Coombs Honor Award
Presented to Partner Robert P. Thomas “In recognition of [his] achievements in the field of parks and recreation that have produced positive impacts on the quality of life in Pennsylvania.”

2012 Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia 40th Anniversary Award
Made to Partner Robert P. Thomas for his work as a pioneering board member and for planning so many of the trails that now make up “The Circuit,” the 750-mile trail network of Greater Philadelphia.

2011 National “Rail-Trail Champion” Award
The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy designated partner Robert Thomas as one of 25 national “champions” for his decades of service to the community at large in developing our regional tail network.

2010 Center City Residents’ Association Community Service Award
This award was made to Jim Campbell, partner of Campbell Thomas & Co., for his outstanding contributions as part of the Design Mediation Resolution Team for the South Street Bridge Reconstruction Project.

2010 Bicycle Friendly Business Award
This award was made to Campbell Thomas & Co. at the Silver level by the League of American Bicyclists in recognition of the firm’s commitment to an active, healthy and socially responsible business through the promotion of bicycle for the firm and the community at large.

2009 Green Futures Achievement Award
This award, handed out annually by the Montgomery County Lands Trust, was made to our client, Lower Moreland Township, for the Philmont Avenue Corridor Feasibility Study led by Campbell Thomas & Co. The study plans for a more walkable, transit-oriented town center built around a greenway linked to the Pennypack Valley.

2008 Preservation Achievement Awards – Grand Jury Award
This award was made for the restoration work at Naval Square, which includes the repair and adaptive reuse of the 19th century Naval Asylum on the tidal Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. The developer, and our client, is Toll Brothers, Inc.

2008 Preservation Achievement Awards – Grand Jury Award
This award was made for the restoration work at 1906 Spruce Street, a grand five-bay brownstone and brick mansion in the Rittenhouse-Fitler Historic District. The owner and our client is Wayne Spilove, head of Rittenhouse Management Corporation, and Chairman of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

2008 Preservation Achievement Awards – Public Service Award
This award was made to the members of the Architectural Committee of the Philadelphia Historical Commission who have served during the years 1994-2008, including partner Robert P. Thomas.

2008 Center City Residents’ Association Community Service Award
This award was made to Jim Campbell, partner of Campbell Thomas & Co., for his work on improving the replacement design for the new South Street Bridge

2008 Center City Residents’ Association Bobbye Burke Historic Preservation Award
This award was made for the restoration work at 1906 Spruce Street, a grand five-bay brownstone and brick mansion in the Rittenhouse-Fitler Historic District. The owner and our client is Wayne Spilove, head of Rittenhouse Management Corporation, and Chairman of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The project was one of thirteen entries.

2006 10th Annual Community Leadership Award
This award was made to partner Robert P. Thomas by the Riverbend Environmental Educational Center “in Appreciation for his Contributions to Environmental Leadership.”

2005 Access Achievement Award
This award was made to partner Robert P. Thomas by the Mayor’s Commission on People with Disabilities of the City of Philadelphia “for outstanding commitment to increasing access for people with disabilities through the removal of physical and attitudinal barriers.”

2005 Access Achievement Award
The American Swedish Historical Museum received this award from the Mayor’s Commission on People with Disabilities of the City of Philadelphia for making all three floors of the museum accessible to the disabled. Campbell Thomas & Co. had prepared the Museum’s Accessibility Study, and then served as architect, designing the elevator addition and bathroom modifications.

2005 Bicycle Advocate of the Year Award
This award was made to partner Robert P. Thomas “for his outstanding contributions to bicycling in Greater Philadelphia by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia (BCGP). The Coalition particularly noted the firm’s work in designing major area multi-use trails such as the Philadelphia-Valley Forge Trail and the Perkiomen Trail.

2004 Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) Philadelphia Award
This award, for contributions to transportation in the greater Philadelphia region, was made to partner Robert P. Thomas in recognition of the firm’s work particularly in the area of advocating for, and designing “green” alternatives including bicycle/pedestrian facilities and projects enhancing public transportation.

2000 Preservation Achievement Awards
Nominated by the City of Philadelphia Office of Housing & Community Development, Marlton Residences located at 1721-31 Marlton Avenue was selected by the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia as one of six Achievement Awards in the Greater Philadelphia area. This non-profit membership organization actively promotes the appreciation, protection, and appropriate use and development of the Philadelphia region’s historic buildings, communities and landscapes. The developers responsible for the miraculous rehabilitation of these once severely deteriorated row houses involved the partnership of We the People with AIDS/HIV & Pennrose Properties, Inc.

2000 Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Awards
Preservation Pennsylvania in partnership with the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission awarded their Neighborhood Revitalization Award, as well, to the Marlton Residences located at 1721-31 Marlton Avenue. This award honors the magnificent rehabilitation of these once abandoned and severely deteriorated German Baroque row houses as a significant contribution to the field of historic preservation while also providing affordable housing for individuals with AIDS and HIV who would otherwise be homeless.

1999 Rudy Brunner Award for Urban Excellence
The Rudy Brunner Award seeks to promote fresh and innovative thinking about cities, and to encourage us all to demand and build excellence in the urban environment. As a Rudy Brunner Silver Medal Winner, The Parkside Avenue Rehabilitation in the 4100 and 4200 blocks was chosen for its incorporation of political, community, environmental, and formal elements into an inclusive and multidimensional whole. The extraordinary rehabilitation of the once vacant and fire damaged German Baroque Mansions along Parkside Avenue proved to display a successful resolution of these varied -and at times competing- interests integral to the creation of an excellent urban place.

1999 NARHO Award of Excellence
One of only eleven in the region to be nominated, this Special Needs Housing Restoration at 1324 Walnut Street in Philadelphia was chosen for its excellence in historic rehabilitation. 1260 Housing Development Corporation used the Historic Preservation Tax Application process to financially assist with the conversion of this former historic office building, located in the Center City East Commercial District into 15 one-bedroom apartments for persons of special needs.

1997 Sign Solutions President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Providing Handicapped Accessibility
Sign Solutions, specializing in ADA compliant signs and ADA building surveys, presented Robert P. Thomas, AIA, Partner, their President’s Award. The award recognized the following CT&C rehabilitation projects: a collection of Parkside Avenue Apartment Buildings in the 4100-4200 blocks, the Chamounix Mansion Youth Hostel in Fairmount Park, and a row of Gratz Street houses in North Philadelphia, Mr. Thomas creatively directed the rehabilitation of the buildings, constructing low income housing and providing access to all.

1997 AIA Honor Award for Design Excellence
The Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) selected The Brentwood Apartments located at 4120-30 Parkside Avenue as one of five awards, which transformed formerly abandoned buildings into “gifts returned to the community”. The developers’ rehabilitation of these structures helped return Parkside Avenue to its original grandeur as the neighbor to Fairmount Park’s Centennial site and provided affordable housing for new and old residents and institutional uses for the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation.

1997 Transportation Ideas Competition
Campbell Thomas & Co.’s entry of a proposed SEPTA tear-off map, in the absence of transit information readily available to locals and visitors presently, won an Honorable Mention Certificate for originality. Furthermore, SEPTA listed CT&C’s entry in a booklet distributed at the Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s Annual Fund-Raising Dinner.

1996 Building Excellence Awards of the Delaware Valley
As a continuation of the Parkside Historic District rehabilitation, the Brentwood Apartments located at 4120-30 Parkside Avenue were selected as one of the finalists in the Philadelphia Business Journal search for the best Residential Multi-Family Housing Project. The developer for the rehabilitation of this magnificent row of German Baroque mansions was the Parkside Historic Preservation Corp & Brentwood Associates.

1996 Architecture of Sustainable Communities Awards
Campbell Thomas & Co was awarded a Certificate of Recognition for innovative design solutions for more sustainable communities in the Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan Region. CT&C’s active participation with the construction of the Philadelphia Valley Forge Bikeway, planning a proposed Philadelphia Zoo Transportation Center, the new construction of Solar Homes in the 1500 block of Thompson Street, and the intensive rehabilitation of the Brantwood Apartments at 4150-52 Parkside Avenue offered models of building, energy, transit, and environmental conservation along with alternative transportation and community planning.

1993 Building Excellence Awards of the Delaware Valley
The Brantwood Apartments located at 4150-52 Parkside Avenue were selected as one of the finalists in the Philadelphia Business Journal search for the best Residential Multi-Family Housing Project. The developer for these two vacant German Baroque mansions was Parkside Historic Preservation Corporation.

1993 Historic Preservation Commendation
As contributions to the field of historic preservation, the Hill Cafe Project on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Harrisburg Pennsylvania, and the Brantwood Apartments, Parkside Avenue in Philadelphia received Outstanding Achievement Awards from the Pennsylvania Historic & Museum Commission's Bureau for Historic Preservation.

1992 Building Excellence Awards of the Delaware Valley
Selected as one of the finalists in the Commerce Bank -Philadelphia Business Journal search for the best Residential Multi-Family Housing Project was the Bancroft Court Apartments located at 1604 Allegheny Avenue. The developer for this duplex modular housing project was the Octavia Hill Association.

1991 Awards of Merit for Urban Design Excellence
The Bethesda Broad Street Project located on Broad and Brown Streets, Parkside Historic Preservation Corporation's Brantwood Apartments at 4150 Parkside Avenue and the National Temple Solar Houses of the 1500 block of Thompson Street, were the winners of three out of the six awards given for "Model of Affordable Housing in Philadelphia Region" by the Foundation for Architecture. The Foundation is a non-profit institution established by the AIA’s Philadelphia Chapter to develop and enrich public awareness of Philadelphia’s built environment, thus improving the quality of Philadelphia’s architectural future.

< Back to previous page