Looking at North Broad Street today, it is hard to imagine the grand buildings and private mansions that were erected there in the late nineteenth century.

The area was developed contemporaneously and in occasional rivalry with, the upper West Side of Manhattan.

Indeed, the Hotel Majestic was inspired by the famed Dakota in New York City and opened as a residential hotel with many amenities.

While the powerful leaders of Philadelphia society once clustered around Rittenhouse Square, the nouveau riche of the gilded age (and the foreign-born and Jewish entrepreneurs who were unwelcome there) adorned North Broad Street with a profusion of innovative and elaborate building styles.

On-line, one can find well-told accounts of the spectacular rise and sad decline of North Broad Street.

This building later became the home of the ministry of Father Divine, the charismatic faith leader, and later still deteriorated into a haphazard arrangement of store fronts.

The building was demolished in 1971.

One is grateful for civic cultures that endure and prosper through many generations, enabling the survival of architectural and cultural monuments.

This hand-colored postcard photograph was made sometime around 1920.