Item Info

Historic Street Address: 713-721 Chestnut Street
Media Type: Scrapbooks
Source: Print and Picture Collection
Notes:

Item 1, left:  Flyer advertising an exhibition of wax figures, saved from an 1886 fire and dubbed "The Miracle of the 19th Century!  The Phoenixian Wonder of Temple Theatre Fire."  The new Masonic Temple in Philadelphia, at 713-721 Chestnut Street, was built by the Sloan and Stewart architectural firm in the 1850s.  Outgrowing its needs, the Masons sold the building in 1873 to the Temple Theatre & Egyptian Musee proprietor George Brotherton.  The comic opera "The Little Tycoon" was being produced at the theatre when, on December 27, 1886, the building burned to the ground.  (According to the flyer, the operetta production was moved to the Arch Street Opera House.) The only surviving artifacts from the attached museum was the tableaux depicting the Crucifixion of Christ.  Deemed a miracle, the unscathed wax figures were put on display--for a 10-cent admission--at the nearby Temple Hall on 1217-1221 Chestnut Street.  Philadelphia writer and poet Eleanor Donelly penned a poem, "The Miracle of the Musee", reproduced in this flyer, to commemorate the event.  Printed flyer, 11.5 x 19.5 cm, 1886. 

Item 2, right:  Caption reads, "The Miracle of the Fire."  Newspaper article and sketch, reporting details of the "miraculous" survival of wax figures depicting the Crucifixion of Christ, which were recovered unharmed from an 1886 fire that completely destroyed the Temple Theatre & Egyptian Musee building that housed them.  In addition to this article, see above for more details.  Text and sketch from an unidentified publication, 5.5 x 26.5 cm, 1886. 

Creation Year: 1886
Geocode Latitude: Geocode Longitude:-75.152931
Geocode Latitude:39.949823

Call Number: A917.481 P536 v.19
Creator Name: Castner, Samuel, Jr., 1843-1929 - Compiler
Sloan & Stewart - Architect