Apartment, Flat and Hotel Locations in Philadelphia: 1890-1920

[Assessed Values of Real Estate, 1917] [Phila. Blue Book Directory]
[Harris's "Handy" Directory]

This website contains 3 directories that list the location of apartment buildings, flats and hotels in the Philadelphia area from 1890-1920. It is difficult to search for one type and not include the other; although two of the sources, including Harris's "Handy" Directory and the Assessed Values of Real Estate, distinguish between apartment buildings and hotels, what characteristics or legal distinctions separated tenement houses from apartment buildings and residential hotels? Although the ways in which different groups of people used these spaces divide one type from another, this website starts generally with the location and, in some cases, a description of building dimensions, with the hopes of helping researchers to form their own conclusions about the relationship between these three types and the relationship between class, form, typology and location. All three of the directories and descriptions about each are listed below. Click on the title to view the directory's website. For more information about any of the sources used, please contact the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

---

Philadelphia's Blue Book Directory
The Blue Book published a listing of elite residents and their home addresses every year beginning in 1880. The Philadelphia Blue Book link leads to a page that lists apartments and hotels for the years 1890, 1892-93, 1900, 1909 & 1918.

Harris's "Handy" Directory [Abridged] of Philadelphia and Camden
Harris's "Handy Directory provided a listing of popular destinations in the downtown areas of Philadelphia and Camden including apartment buildings and hotels for the years 1908 and 1916.

Website created by Linda Wisniewski, BMC '04
url=apthotelmain2.htm last updated August 16, 2004 lw

Assessed Values of Real Estate in Philadelphia, 1917
Apartments and Hotels were located in Wards 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 19, 27, 32, 37, 38, 42, 46, 47. For mapping purposes these wards have been combined into neighborhoods that have been identified below and linked to the map: