Then and Now: Southeast corner of 8th and Sansom Streets, Philadelphia

1917-2010

The Jewelry Trades Building was built c. 1930 on the site of four lots on the western end of the block of Sansom Street now known as Jewelers' Row. The architect, Ralph Bowden Bencker, was one of Philadelphia's more prolific early Modernist architects in the 1920s and 30s, best known for designing the Rittenhouse Plaza apartments and the Ayer on Washington Square. The Jewelry Trades Building is fairly representative of Bencker's architectural style, which can generally be characterized as a minimalist, monochrome Art Deco.

Mills, Charles P. "Department of City Transit-3822-0." 1917. Philadelphia City Archives. PhillyHistory.org. Philadelphia Department of Records. 5 Apr. 2010. http://phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/MediaStream.ashx?mediaId=44373.