Item Info
Item No: pdcf00589
Title: Widener Branch
Additional Title: Skylight damage at the Widener Branch, 1974
Creation Date:
3/26/1974
Historic Street Address: 2531 W. Lehigh Avenue
Media Type: Photographic Prints
Source: Print and Picture Collection
Notes:
In 1900, the H. Josephine Widener Branch of the Free Library was opened in the Widener Mansion at Broad Street & Girard Avenue. When the mansion was sold in 1946, the proceeds were used to buy and remodel this former bank building further north, at 2531 W. Lehigh Avenue. This 1974 image shows water damage to the skylight in the main reading area, necessitating upcoming rehabilitation.
In 2005, the branch moved to its present location, a new glass-fronted building, three blocks away at 2808 W. Lehigh Avenue.
The Widener Branch serves the communities of North Central Philadelphia, Strawberry Mansion, and Allegheny West.
Geocode Latitude: Geocode Longitude:-75.173223
Geocode Latitude:39.996537