Macy's department store, formerly Wanamaker's, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Image details
Contributor:
B.O'Kane / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
C45PXGFile size:
60.2 MB (2.5 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
3744 x 5616 px | 31.7 x 47.5 cm | 12.5 x 18.7 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
1 June 2011Location:
Juniper and Market Streets, Philadelphia, PA, USAMore information:
Wanamaker's department store was the first department store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the first department stores in the United States. At its zenith in the early 20th century, there were two major Wanamaker department stores, one in Philadelphia and one in New York City at Broadway and Tenth Street. Both employed extremely large staffs. By the end of the 20th century in the shopping-mall era, there were 16 Wanamaker's outlets, but the chain was absorbed into Hecht's (now Macy's) in 1995 after years of change. As of 2011, the occupant of the former Philadelphia Wanamaker's Department Store is Macy's Center City. In 1910, Wanamaker replaced his Grand Depot in stages, and constructed a new, purpose-built structure on the same site in Center City Philadelphia. The new store, built in the Florentine style with granite walls by Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham, had 12 floors (9 for retail), numerous galleries and two lower levels totaling nearly two million square feet. The palatial emporium featured the Wanamaker Organ, the former St. Louis World's Fair pipe organ, at the time one of the world's largest organs. The organ was installed in the store's marble-clad central atrium known as the Grand Court. Another item from the St. Louis Fair in the Grand Court is the large bronze eagle, which quickly became the symbol of the store and a favorite meeting place for shoppers. All one had to say was "Meet You at The Eagle" and everyone knew where to go. The store was dedicated by President William Howard Taft on December 30, 1911. Despite its size, the organ was deemed insufficient to fill the Grand Court with its music. Wanamaker's responded by assembling its own staff of organ builders and expanding the organ several times over a period of years. The organ still stands in place in the store today, and is the largest operational pipe organ in the world, with some 28, 000 pipes.