Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1905. "Hotel Flanders." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Below is the same view from October of 2013.
That's not The Union League Building behind the hotel. It was, at the time, the 5th District Police Station.
Chiropody, Manicuring and Hair Dressing - that about covers it all.
Below is a shot of the Victorian that Downer mentions in a previous post. You can see it peeking out further down the street past the Flanders. Neat building!
215 (South) Walnut is still there, now an Applebee's.
A tip pf the Hatlo hat to Shorpy. The architecture of this era was so richly detailed - you could spend 8-10 minutes examining that photo. At the same time you could imagine how incredibly expensive it would be to maintain, if it had been preserved. All that ornate masonry, in a freeze/thaw climate zone. Fuggetaboutit - there are not enough tuck-pointers in existence to keep such a structure in good form.
A review from many years ago rated it as "okely-dokely."
I wonder what she was selling? Dresses, millinery, possibly foretelling the future? Also the plaque to the left of her window shows a Cross on what could be a coffin, I'm pretty sure that was part of the architectural ornamentation. I tried Googling the image but couldn't find an exact match.
Just another modern building at the location. It looks as thought the building next to the old Flanders on Walnut is still in place, but with its front drastically altered. Not in the street view, the old Victorian - I think it's a Victorian - with the gabled roof, on 15th is, thankfully, still present.
Nine stories tall and no wider than a two car garage - I'm surprised a strong wind didn't knock it over!
The Hi-Diddley-Hotel Flanders.
Wow, what a photo. I used to work in a building at the southwest corner of 15th and Walnut (the current home of Stephen Starr's Butcher & Singer, which is the former home of Striped Bass, as seen in the "The Sixth Sense." From what I can gather, the Hotel Flanders used to be on the southeast corner of 15th and Walnut, with the main entrance on 15th.
Still there!
[The skinny building at 12th and Spruce is not the same as the one in our photo. - Dave]
The hotel, at 15th and Walnut, was demolished long ago, as has much of old Center City. The Union League Building, the Second Empire style building seen behind the hotel, still stands, at least.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5