Perhaps you've noticed, North Broad Street has experienced tremendous improvement in the last decade or so. Several old buildings have been repurposed for residential uses closer to City Hall. Temple has grown by leaps and bounds, building new structures and renovating older ones. And now it seems like the Divine Lorraine will finally come back to life. But even with all this growth, it's unlikely that North Broad will ever return to what it was over a century ago, when it was home to many members of a young and wealthy class of Philadelphians. The Divine Lorraine is a monument to those years, as is the former Mikveh Israel Synagogue building at Broad & York.
The roots of the congregation date back to the 1760s, according to the Mikveh Israel History website. The building pictured above, constructed in 1909 and designed by Pilcher and Tachau, housed Mikveh Israel until 1976. In the intervening years, we think it housed a church as well as social services offices. Most recently, the building was purchased for $700K just last year. And now it's on the market again.
The property is listed for $989K. The listing touts the grand facade, the corner location, and the proximity to Temple. In all honesty, that last aspect is probably the property's best selling point. We're still not sure that anybody is jumping at the chance to purchase a hundred plus year old building at this location at this price, but if you can think of a profitable use we're all ears. Maybe an interior apartment conversion, like the Cloisters in West Philly? Or better yet, maybe some laser tag?
Just spitballin' here, trying to come up with a use that will maintain this attractive building's existence.