Wanamaker Building

The John Wanamaker department store’s approach to the shopping experience shifted the American retail experience. John Wanamaker was a creative businessman and U.S. Postal Service employee who opened a menswear store in Philadelphia in 1861 with his brother-in-law. Within 10 years, Wanamaker and Brown’s Oak Hill was the most well-known menswear store in the country. With a booming business and successful professional career underway, Wanamaker decided to open the United States’ first department store.

The Wanamaker and Brown's Oak Hall store, 1899

Wanamaker was inspired by large European markets like Les Halles in Paris, and purchased the abandoned Pennsylvania Railroad depot building in 1875, four years after construction began on City Hall. After holding a massive revival, Wanamaker demolished the building and built the first John Wanamaker Department Store. The store saw great success and spread to many U.S. cities despite the economic ups and downs of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Les Halles market in Paris, 1870

This current Renaissance Revival building was built on the same site as the original Wanamaker Department Store in 1905 and is one of the largest buildings in Philadelphia. Because this building is on the National Register for Historic Places, most of the original designs and features are still intact, including the world’s largest operating organ and a 9-ft (2.7m) long bronze eagle statue, both acquired by John Wanamaker at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (or World’s Fair) in 1904. The Wanamaker building is now home to Macys, but still welcomes visitors to see the Wanamaker Organ and Eagle statue.

The Wanamaker Grand Depot building, 1857

The Wanamaker Grand Depot building, 1899

Citations

John Wanamaker. Public Broadcasting Station. June 30, 2004. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/wanamaker_lo.html.

Benoist, Félix. Voir des Halles à Paris près de Saint Eustache galerie supérieure. Lithograph.

Bach, Penny Balkin. Public Art in Philadelphia. Temple University Press. Philadelphia, PA. 1992.

John Wanamaker's Grand Depot. The Official Office Building Directory and Architectural Handbook of Philadelphia, The Commercial Publishing and Directory Co., Philadelphia. https://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/im_display.cfm/856620?ProjectId=816911AD-8C72-4E5B-8C37CE882C25AEC7.

Maxin, Halley C. John Wanamaker. Pennsylvania Center for the Book. October 4, 2016. https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/bios/Wanamaker__John.

Original John Wanamaker's store. Photograph. Temple Digital Collections. https://digital.library.temple.edu/digital/collection/p15037coll3/id/3686/rec/3.

Wanamaker & Brown (Oak Hall). The Official Office Building Directory and Architectural Handbook of Philadelphia, The Commercial Publishing and Directory Co., Philadelphia. 1899https://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/im_display.cfm?RecordId=B020B375-1422-7865-6BFFD19B0956F513&ArchitectId=&ProjectId=44606B46-0C20-4264-80FD5CDF99558837&Authorize=&CFID=374406&CFTOKEN=360363525228da81-1326DB73-155D-010A-02C188C68B44F551.