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The Ever-Expanding Map of Demolished Frank Furness

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A little while ago, we showed you a map of how different Center City Philadelphia might have looked had so many of Frank Furness' uniquely beautiful works not been demolished - many of them shockingly soon after they were completed. Since then, we've learned heartening news of several Furness churches that have been saved from demolition, but several of you, in response to our request to help expand our map, have emailed to inform us of additional Furness treasures that are sadly long past saving. Here's the updated map, whose most recent entry, the John G. Johnson House on South Broad, once housed the core of early European works that now reside at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

· The Frank Furness you'll never see in Center City [Curbed Philly]
· One less Furness Lost: Church of Atonement [Curbed Philly]
· How a Furness church was saved (19th Street Baptist Church) [Curbed Philly]

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Church of the Redeemer

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Full name: Church of the Redeemer for Seamen and their Families."Designed in 1878, the new brownstone edifice contained a reading room that provided bibles and other religious reading for sailors and their shipmates. It also included a parish house, known as the “Brewer School House” in honor of its donor, Charles Brewer of Pittsburgh. The building was subsequently used as a club house for boys. And in the 1960s, it was used as the meeting place for the Queen Village Neighbors Association. The ornate Victorian structure burned down in 1974."

Rodef Shalom Synagogue

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Completed in 1868, this was the congregation's first building, constructed in the Moorish Revival style.

The McKean Townhouses

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Built in 1869, Demolished in the 1920's.

Provident Life and Trust Company

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1876 - 1960: Considered to have been one of the architect's greatest works, in which he "experimented with architectural features that would become part of his distinctive design vocabulary: unorthodox stone massing; revealing (and even highlighting) structure; compressed, piston-like columns; polychromy, all in a Moorish-influenced Modern Gothic style."

Chestnut Street Station

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1888 - 1963: "Built as the main passenger station for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The station was essentially built on stilts, with the main entrance from the Chestnut Street Bridge, 30 feet above ground level...Through the station's innovative plan, he separated the flow of passengers waiting to board the trains from those arriving."

Franklin Building

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"The Franklin Building was designed by Frank Furness in 1895 for William West Frazier of the Franklin Sugar Company. Frazier was a childhood friend and major patron of Furness throughout his career having him design houses, clubs, and offices over the years. The Franklin Building was demolished in 1940. The property at 125 S. 12th Street has been a parking lot in the 70+ years since it was knocked down."

Alexander J. Cassatt Townhouse

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Built for the then-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, demolished just after 1971.

Broad Street Station

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When it opened in 1893, this was the world's largest passenger railroad terminal. It was demolished in 1953. The adjacent Arcade Building and Pedestrian Bridge, completed in 1902, was demolished in 1969.

The Arcade Building

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The building adjacent to Broad Street Station, completed in 1902, was demolished in 1969. "The Pennsylvania Railroad hired Furness, Evans & Company to design the Arcade Building, an office building of the same red brick, stone and terra cotta as the station, that connected to it through a pedestrian bridge over Market Street. This relieved much of the pedestrian traffic at street level, and the City permitted the Arcade Building to be built over the 15th Street sidewalk."

Guarantee Trust & Safe Deposit Co.

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"Part of Chestnut Street’s “Bank Row,” the Guarantee Trust and Deposit Company was constructed between 1873 and 1875. The bank’s design was closely related to Furness and Hewitt’s Academy of the Fine Arts, featuring a central entrance block bordered on either side by a mansarded pavilion. The building’s brick and marble façade referred to the Venetian Gothic, and the rational segmented plan reflected Beaux Arts logic."

Lutheran Church of Holy Communion

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Built 1870-75 by Fraser, Furness, and Hewitt. Demolished Early 20th Century."The entire building cost, including the lot, about $200,000. The church was among the firm's most polychromatic works, and design of the church was praised at the American Institute of Architects conference at the 1876 Centennial."

Francis Thomas Sully Darley Residence

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John G. Johnson Home left his art collection to the City of Philadelphia with the provision that it be exhibited at 510 South Broad Street, but when the fire marshal found the residence not to be fireproof, in June 1933 the 275 works were "temporarily" transferred to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The City demolished the Broad Street house to build a medical clinic in the late-1950s.

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Church of the Redeemer

Full name: Church of the Redeemer for Seamen and their Families."Designed in 1878, the new brownstone edifice contained a reading room that provided bibles and other religious reading for sailors and their shipmates. It also included a parish house, known as the “Brewer School House” in honor of its donor, Charles Brewer of Pittsburgh. The building was subsequently used as a club house for boys. And in the 1960s, it was used as the meeting place for the Queen Village Neighbors Association. The ornate Victorian structure burned down in 1974."

Rodef Shalom Synagogue

Completed in 1868, this was the congregation's first building, constructed in the Moorish Revival style.

The McKean Townhouses

Built in 1869, Demolished in the 1920's.

Provident Life and Trust Company

1876 - 1960: Considered to have been one of the architect's greatest works, in which he "experimented with architectural features that would become part of his distinctive design vocabulary: unorthodox stone massing; revealing (and even highlighting) structure; compressed, piston-like columns; polychromy, all in a Moorish-influenced Modern Gothic style."

Chestnut Street Station

1888 - 1963: "Built as the main passenger station for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The station was essentially built on stilts, with the main entrance from the Chestnut Street Bridge, 30 feet above ground level...Through the station's innovative plan, he separated the flow of passengers waiting to board the trains from those arriving."

Franklin Building

"The Franklin Building was designed by Frank Furness in 1895 for William West Frazier of the Franklin Sugar Company. Frazier was a childhood friend and major patron of Furness throughout his career having him design houses, clubs, and offices over the years. The Franklin Building was demolished in 1940. The property at 125 S. 12th Street has been a parking lot in the 70+ years since it was knocked down."

Alexander J. Cassatt Townhouse

Built for the then-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, demolished just after 1971.

Broad Street Station

When it opened in 1893, this was the world's largest passenger railroad terminal. It was demolished in 1953. The adjacent Arcade Building and Pedestrian Bridge, completed in 1902, was demolished in 1969.

The Arcade Building

The building adjacent to Broad Street Station, completed in 1902, was demolished in 1969. "The Pennsylvania Railroad hired Furness, Evans & Company to design the Arcade Building, an office building of the same red brick, stone and terra cotta as the station, that connected to it through a pedestrian bridge over Market Street. This relieved much of the pedestrian traffic at street level, and the City permitted the Arcade Building to be built over the 15th Street sidewalk."

Guarantee Trust & Safe Deposit Co.

"Part of Chestnut Street’s “Bank Row,” the Guarantee Trust and Deposit Company was constructed between 1873 and 1875. The bank’s design was closely related to Furness and Hewitt’s Academy of the Fine Arts, featuring a central entrance block bordered on either side by a mansarded pavilion. The building’s brick and marble façade referred to the Venetian Gothic, and the rational segmented plan reflected Beaux Arts logic."

Lutheran Church of Holy Communion

Built 1870-75 by Fraser, Furness, and Hewitt. Demolished Early 20th Century."The entire building cost, including the lot, about $200,000. The church was among the firm's most polychromatic works, and design of the church was praised at the American Institute of Architects conference at the 1876 Centennial."

Francis Thomas Sully Darley Residence

John G. Johnson Home left his art collection to the City of Philadelphia with the provision that it be exhibited at 510 South Broad Street, but when the fire marshal found the residence not to be fireproof, in June 1933 the 275 works were "temporarily" transferred to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The City demolished the Broad Street house to build a medical clinic in the late-1950s.