Divine Lorraine Hotel, Philadelphia, Guide du visiteur et quoi faire à proximité

The Divine Lorraine Hotel is a grand 1890s building on North Broad Street in Philadelphia, designed by architect Willis G. Hale. It is best known for its years as a hotel run by Father Divine's International Peace Mission movement, which welcomed guests of every race, and for the long decades it stood empty before being restored.

The story behind it

The building went up in the 1890s as a luxury apartment house called the Lorraine. In 1948 it was bought by Father Divine, leader of the International Peace Mission movement, and renamed the Divine Lorraine. It operated as a hotel open to anyone, regardless of race, which was unusual for the time, as long as guests followed the movement's rules. Many people saw the movement as a cult, and Divine's followers regarded him as God.

Divine's story is full of odd turns. In 1932 he was jailed on a public nuisance charge on Long Island, and the judge who sentenced him died of a heart attack only days later. Divine is reported to have said, "I hated to do it." Jim Jones, later infamous for Jonestown, was an admirer of Divine and claimed to be his reincarnation after Divine died in 1965. After the hotel closed, the building sat vacant for years and became one of the city's best-known ruins, before it was redeveloped into apartments.

What to look for

• Study the ornate masonry facade, a showpiece of Willis G. Hale's late Victorian style, and note how much decoration fills the upper floors.
• Look high up on the building for the lettering carrying its name, which has been a Broad Street landmark for decades.
• Stand across the street to take in the full height and bulk of the building, which towers over its neighbors.
• Notice the contrast between the restored exterior and the stories of abandonment, and picture the years when the building stood dark and empty.

Tips for your visit

• Ten to fifteen minutes is enough for the exterior. The building is now residential, so plan to admire it from the sidewalk rather than go inside.
• Morning and late afternoon light shows the facade's detail best, and the sidewalk is easier to enjoy when traffic is lighter.
• The Metropolitan Opera House, another grand Broad Street building, is a few blocks north, so the two pair well on a walk.
• If you want to visit any ground-floor business, check current opening hours first.

See it on a quest

The Divine Lorraine is one stop on Exorcist of Callowhill: Ghosts of Philadelphia, a ghost-themed walk through the Callowhill area. You reach the hotel on foot as part of a longer route, the app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle on the spot, so the building's strange past is part of the game rather than a plaque you pass. One ticket covers the whole group, and you can start whenever you like, with no guide and no schedule.