The Icon on Ellsworth Street: Keith Haring’s “We The Youth” Could Soon Be Protected Forever
This Wednesday, September 16, the Philadelphia Historical Commission will vote on whether to officially designate Keith Haring’s 1987 mural “We The Youth” as a historic landmark. But the decision might hinge on a developer’s silence that’s raising questions about art, preservation, and who gets to decide a neighborhood’s future.
On the corner of 22nd and Ellsworth in South Philadelphia’s Point Breeze sits one of the most important works by one of America’s most important artists. The mural explodes across the side of a rowhouse in Haring’s unmistakable style – vibrant dancing figures in red, blue, yellow, and green, outlined in that confident black line he made famous. Each figure is unique, each one alive. And nearly four decades after it was painted, it has never left its original spot.
Only One: Keith Haring collaborative public mural still standing in its original location anywhere in the world.
How It Started: “We The People”
In September 1987, at the height of his career, Keith Haring came to Philadelphia for a specific reason: to paint somewhere nobody important was looking. While the city’s bicentennial celebration of the U.S. Constitution was happening in the polished neighborhoods around Independence Hall, Haring chose Point Breeze – a neighborhood struggling with vacancy and disinvestment. He didn’t want to paint where everyone already went. He wanted to paint where people lived.
For three days (September 1-3, 1987), Haring worked alongside 14 teenagers – 6 from New York and 8 from Philadelphia – plus three local artists: Clarence Wood, Gilberto Wilson, and Jose Seabourne. The project was a collaboration between the nonprofits CityKids NYC and Brandywine Workshop. Each student brought their own designs, patterns, and symbols into Haring’s outlined figures. It was participatory art in the truest sense: not a famous artist coming in to create for a community, but with it.
The mural’s name, “We The Youth,” echoes the Constitution’s opening: “We The People.” But this wasn’t about government documents. It was about who the youth were – creative, diverse, joyful, energetic. Each figure felt like it was dancing or celebrating. Some figures had letters or symbols inside them. Some had lines or patterns. Teenagers from two cities, working with one of the world’s most celebrated artists, made something that would outlast nearly all of them.
A Personal Note on Legacy
Keith Haring, 1989
Keith Haring was a gay artist working in the 1980s – a time when the art world and mainstream culture were beginning to grapple with the AIDS crisis. Haring became one of the most visible gay artists of his era, using his work to speak to themes of life, community, and human connection. He died of AIDS-related complications in 1990 at age 31. His commitment to public art and youth collaboration wasn’t abstract for him – it was about putting art in the hands and hearts of the people who needed it most.
The Slow Fade and the Rescue
1987: Mural painted over three days by Haring, local artists, and 14 youth collaborators.
2013: Restored by Mural Arts Philadelphia after wall damage threatened the piece. The restoration was funded by the Keith Haring Foundation and led by artist Kim Alsbrooks, who had learned Haring’s techniques in the 1990s through workshops inspired by his original method.
2026: Nominated for historic designation by Alexander Till, a preservation planner at the City of Philadelphia. Now waiting for official approval.
When Mural Arts Philadelphia stepped in for the 2013 restoration, they didn’t just slap paint back on the wall. They engaged in what the organization calls “intensive restoration” – months of wall repair, careful color matching, and a commitment to honoring what Haring had originally created. The organization has stewarded the mural ever since, and their Executive Director Jane Golden has called it “the only Keith Haring collaborative public mural still located at its original site.”
What Historic Designation Actually Means
Philadelphia has roughly 4,000 murals. Almost none of them are protected landmarks. If the Historical Commission votes yes on Wednesday, “We The Youth” would become the city’s first outdoor mural on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places – a big deal not just for Haring’s legacy, but for how cities think about public art preservation going forward.
Historic designation doesn’t mean the city owns the building or the mural – it means the property owner has to maintain it in a way that respects its historic significance. The building at 2147 Ellsworth Street has multiple owners: the side wall (where the mural is) is co-owned by a real estate developer, and the rest of the building is owned by OCF Realty.
Almost every stakeholder – Mural Arts, the Keith Haring Foundation, preservationists, the community – has publicly supported the designation. But there’s one voice the public hasn’t heard from: OCF Realty.
The Developer in the Room
OCF Realty is widely known in Philadelphia for aggressive development and gentrification in Point Breeze. The company, owned by developer Ori Feibush, has been the neighborhood’s most visible and controversial developer for years – building hundreds of new rowhouses with roof decks that sell for over $500,000 in an area that was once 900 vacant lots. Long-time residents have accused OCF of displacing working-class and poor families to make room for younger, wealthier ones.
OCF hasn’t publicly stated whether they support or oppose the historic designation. And that silence is doing something powerful: it’s raising questions about whether a real estate company’s business interests – keeping the property flexible for future development, avoiding restrictions on renovations – might be different from what the community, the city, and the art world actually want.
“The silence of the controversial real estate company has left some wondering how the company’s business interests could affect its stance on the mural’s long-term preservation.”
No one is saying OCF will destroy the mural or neglect it on purpose. But the unanswered question hangs over Wednesday’s hearing: What does OCF want for that building? And does that align with permanently protecting a work of art that has become an icon of Point Breeze community identity?
Why This Matters Now
Point Breeze in 2026 looks almost nothing like Point Breeze in 1987 when Haring arrived. Most of the 900 vacant lots are gone. The neighborhood is expensive. Long-time residents have moved out or been pushed out. The mural has become, paradoxically, both a symbol of the neighborhood’s creative legacy and a symbol of what it’s lost.
If the Historical Commission votes yes, the mural gets protection. It becomes a landmark that OCF Realty (or any future owner) has to maintain as historic. That doesn’t reverse gentrification. It doesn’t bring back displaced families. But it does say: this matters. This moment – when Haring and teenagers painted together to celebrate youth and community – that wasn’t just a blip. It’s worth protecting forever.
And maybe that’s enough. Maybe it’s enough to say that at least this stays. At least this corner remembers.
Want to Follow This Story?
The Philadelphia Historical Commission hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, September 16, 2026. Mural Arts Philadelphia is accepting public comments in support of the designation. If you care about public art, community preservation, or Keith Haring’s legacy, this is a moment to pay attention – and maybe to speak up.