View looking east from below Eighth Street showing the Masonic Hall at 713-721 Chestnut. The hall, built 1853-1855 after the designs of Sloan & Stewart, was razed by fire in 1886. Shows adjacent and tenant businesses, including Marxsen & Witte, china and glass (713 Chestnut); H. A. Osterle & Co., trimmings; and Marvin & Co., safes (721 Chestnut)., Title supplied by cataloguer., Yellow paper mount with square corners., Attributed to Bartlett & French., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, with edited., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of views of Philadelphia., 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. 83., Arcadia caption text: In 1855 the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania opened a new hall on the north side of the 700 block of Chestnut Street, the site of an earlier Masonic Hall. The Masons occupied the top three floors of the Gothic brownstone building, designed by Philadelphia architect and Mason Samuel Sloan, and rented the first floor out to commercial tenants. Initial enthusiasm for the building faded quickly as problems with water in the basement and poorly ventilated rooms became apparent. By the time of this c. 1868 view, a Masonic committee had described the building as “a gross failure both in its plan and its construction.”, Digitization funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Creator
Bartlett & French, photographer
Date
[ca. 1868]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Bartlett & French - Associations [(8)1322.F.27b]
