Glass negative showing exterior view looking east from State House Square at the red-brick building constructed on South Fifth Street for the Library Company of Philadelphia in 1789 after designs by Dr. William Thornton. After the construction of two new buildings - the Ridgway Building in South Philadelphia and the Furness building at Juniper and Locust Streets - the Fifth Street library was sold in 1880. A signboard for The Central News Company is visible across the front facade of the building, which in this image, is being demolished to make way for the Drexel Building. Men wearing suits and bowler hats sit in the grass nearby. The Forrest Building (119-127 South Fourth Street) is visible in the distance. Central News Company operated from the building from 1883 until 1886., Title from entry in photographer's diary., Inscribed in negative: No. 13., Photographer remarks: Overtimed., Time: 2:10, Light: Faint sun., Reproduced in The Print and Photograph Department of the Library Company of Philadelphia's Center City Philadelphia in the 19th century (Portsmouth, N.H.: Arcadia Publishing, 2006), p. 10., Arcadia caption text: In 1887, the old Library Company building was demolished to make way for the Drexel Building. Ironically, this office building was demolished in the late 1950s when the American Philosophical Society (founded 1743) built its state-of-the-art library on the site, featuring a reproduction of the Library Company’s original façade as designed by William Thornton., Digitization and cataloging edits have been made possible through the generosity of David Marriott Morris, Eleanor Rhoads Morris Cox, and William Perot Morris in memory of Marriott Canby Morris and his children: Elliston Perot Morris, Marriott Canby Morris Jr., and Janet Morris and in acknowledgment of his grandchildren: William Perot Morris, Eleanor Rhoads Morris Cox, Jonathan White Morris, and David Marriott Morris., Edited.
Creator
Morris, Marriott Canby, 1863-1948, photographer
Date
April 22, 1887
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Marriott C. Morris [P.9895.1105]
Illustrated trade card depicting a bird perched on a branch of a flowering tree., Copyrighted 1878 by Wemple & Kronheim, N.Y., Contains the Central News Company's (Phila.) net price list of Wemple & Kronheim's day and Sunday School reward cards (Series No. 1-36) printed on verso., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Gift of Miriam Levy., Digitized.
Date
c1878
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department trade card - Central [P.8666.3a]
