Social Service Building

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

The Social Service Building is a ten-story brick building at 311 S. Juniper St. in Philadelphia, built in 1923-1924 in the Federal Revival style, and listed in the National Register in 2002. Horace Trumbauer and Mellor, Meigs and Howe are named as its architects, and George A. Fuller Company was the builder.

Why it's listed

It was listed under criteria A and C, with local-level significance in social history and architecture. Its period of significance runs from about 1923 to 1951, reflecting its 1923-1924 construction and the 1951 Home Rule Charter's expansion of the city's welfare mission.

Physical character

Its steel frame is faced in brick on a concrete foundation, under an asbestos gambrel roof. The main entrance has an oversized door and fanlight in a limestone surround, and the lobby floors and lower walls are pink-gray Tennessee marble.

Historical context

A joint committee formed in 1922 and bought the property; construction began in 1923 and finished the following spring, and Mayor Kendrick laid the cornerstone in 1924. The building was purpose-built to house private welfare agencies, and by 1929 it was home to more than thirty of them. It was sold by its owning agencies in 1998, and at the time of listing it was vacant.