This is one of my favorite pieces of architecture in the city. I love the archways with patios opening into the center of the building and would love to explore the inside. In fact, there is so much of Philly that's off limits but would be fun to explore such as the abandoned full size pool located a few stories underground City Hall.
Anyway, here is a little blurb from one of the local papers in regard to the history of Ms. Divine. She was built in 1894 and her last tenant, The Universal Peace Movement vacated the premises finally in 2000. It's switched hands a couple times since then and it's caretaker is a former member of the Peace Movement, named David Peace.
""Time passes silently in the Divine Lorraine Hotel, onetime playground of the industrial barons and pearl-clad matrons who resided along North Broad Street at the beginning of the last century. Later it would become home to the Universal Peace Mission Movement of Father Divine, the controversial and colorful religious leader who claimed to be Christ incarnate and whose followers oversaw the Lorraine for more than half a century. Under their watch, it became the first high-caliber hotel in Philadelphia to allow black guests."
(excerpt from the City Paper, Jan. 13, 2005, Mike Newall)
9 comments:
Great photos for drive-by! Thanks for the history of the hotel.
It would be cool if someone would convert this hotel into apartments. Why do you say there are parts of Philly that are "off limits"?
Long, long ago I attended a conference in Philly and stayed in a quaint old hotel downtown, very near the Norman Rockwell museum. I was charmed by the portions of the city that I visited.
I love the angle on this shot!
Susan
Love this architecture! Absolutely gorgeous. Great perspective, too.
Very cool, I like the first shot especially.
Oh nice.
Reminds me I need to go away for weekend skips more than I need to stay home fretting (which has been the recent mode).
Yeah to great bones and old buildings. Like these snaps very much.
The angle speaks of the title - that looking up into the sky... divinity! Love the look of the building. Phillie is so much cooler than I knew.
Susan- Off limits meaning closed off from the public. In the case of the abandoned pool, city government would definitely not want random people wandering below city hall in a place where they could potentially be hurt. The Divine Lorraine is only open to the caretaker and many of it's windows are boarded up.
Julie- You'd be surprised by the different cool places in Philly. What always astounds me are the incredible architectural details that can be found on the most delapidated row homes because those homes are so old and the craftsmanship doesn't match todays standards. Regularly, you can find tile mosaics, carved stonework, or carved woodwork details on those buildings and homes.
Cool shots of a really neat building.
That is such an interesting building--I like how you captured it. I'm also fascinated by "off limits" spots in the city. I've heard that Cinci has lengths of subway tunnel--completely unused, because they changed their mind and didn't put in a subway system. I'd love to go underground and explore that.
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