112 Acres of Change in the Heart of West Philadelphia, Part 2 of Chapter Three: Subdivision and Re-Use, 1919 to 1959, West Philadelphia Community History Center

1923 to 1928: The Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia Builds its Corporate Headquarters in West Philadelphia

First Dr. Copp persuaded the Board to sell the "vacant property" on the West Philadelphia campus. The Board defined the "unused Hospital land" as all the property between 46th Street and the line of the future 48th Street, from Market Street on the south all the way north to Haverford Avenue, a total of approximately twenty-four acres.¹⁴⁹ In July of 1923 he reported to the Board that a "For Sale" sign had been placed at the northwest corner of 46th and Market Streets and that the availability of the site had been publicized by the Philadelphia newspapers.¹⁵⁰ He also reported that there was great interest in developing the site. Eight months later, in February 1924, the Board authorized "the Development Committee for West Philadelphia" to negotiate with a potential buyer "the sale of the western half of the vacant property."¹⁵¹ In April, after two votes, accompanied by three abstentions, the Board approved the sale of approximately 12.5 acres to the Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia.¹⁵²

Provident Mutual was a major Philadelphia business firm.¹⁵³ The company traced its origins to 1865, when a group of Philadelphia Quakers incorporated the Provident Life and Trust Company of Philadelphia. The company soon grew very profitable and hired the famous Philadelphia architect, Frank Furness, to design a corporate headquarters at 409 Chestnut Street, on a block known as "Bankers Row." This new building was occupied in 1879. Less than ten years later the company hired Furness again to design a ten-story, office-building addition directly on the corner of 4th and Chestnut Streets. This second building was occupied in 1890. These two structures were often counted among the leading architectural landmarks of the city (but both were demolished in the mid 20th century).

In the early 1920s, however, a change in Pennsylvania banking law brought about the separation of the insurance business from the banking company.¹⁵⁴ The Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia was independently incorporated in December 1922. Almost immediately the officers of Provident Mutual began thinking about a corporate headquarters. Led by its President, Asa S. Wing, the company developed an innovative plan, which Wing articulated in May 1924, when the purchase was made from the Pennsylvania Hospital,¹⁵⁵

Provident Buys Tract for New Office Plan

To Combine Recreation Place for Employees
With Proposed Headquarters

The real estate market is reflecting a new era in the business life of large institutions employing numbers of men and women workers. For several years such institutions as banks, publishing houses and insurance companies, as well as industrial plants, have provided athletic fields and clubhouses outside the city for their employees. But such suburban recreation centres cannot, because of their location, supply a ready opportunity for daily relaxation in the open, and the plan of building business plants just outside the business centre of the city has been hit upon.

Part of the site of "Kirkbride’s," at Forty-eighth and Market Streets, has been purchased by the Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company. The site bought includes 12 acres, and Asa S. Wing, president of the company, announced last week that the land was acquired with the idea of providing recreation grounds for the employees in connection with an office building.

In speaking of the purchase, which includes the lot lying east of Forty-eighth Street, 400 feet on Market Street, and running back 1,200 feet to Haverford Avenue, Mr. Wing said:

"We have considered the possibility of a lot of land somewhat removed from the business centre of the city, large enough to provide for an office building ample for many years, with room to enlarge the building indefinitely, and also to have land adjacent to our building available for outdoor recreation for our employees, including our agents."

It is not clear why the Provident Mutual chose to purchase only half the available land in 1924¹⁵⁶ and waited another year to buy the other half,¹⁵⁷ but that was the sequence of events. In any case, the first step in Dr. Copp’s plan for the West Philadelphia campus was realized.¹⁵⁸ Provident Mutual wasted no time in designing and constructing a new corporate headquarters, which was finished and occupied in April 1928,¹⁵⁹

Provident Mutual Moves to 46th and Market Sts.

Insurance Company Uses Three Days to Shift to New Building

The Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company, 4th and Chestnut streets, is taking advantage of the three Easter holidays to move its office equipment and records into its new building, just completed on property purchased from the Pennsylvania Hospital, at 46th and Market streets.

The transfer started yesterday, at 4 p.m. Monday morning the entire office force of the insurance department will start work in the new building.

Insurance Company Uses Three Days to Shift to New Building

The new edifice cost approximately $3,000,000 and work was started almost two years ago, on ground purchased at almost $31,000 an acre. It was designed by Cran & Ferguson, of Boston, and built by the Turner Construction Company. The main building is 340 feet long and 60 feet deep. It is flanked by a power plant and a recreation building.