Built in 1929 by the Reading Company, today's North Broad Street Station sits obscured behind large trees planted by the City of Philadelphia. A photo from April allows a view before the foliage obscures this majestic structure.

A little history: Facing competition from the impending completion of its fiercest competitor, the Pennsylvania Railroad and the new Broad Street subway line, the Reading decided to replace its smaller Huntingdon Street station with a larger station - one that would rival the PRR's nearby North Philadelphia Station. Both the Huntingdon Street station and the new North Broad Street Station, incidentally, were located within walking distance to the Baker Bowl, which had opened as the home of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1887. The station, designed by Horace Trumbauer, featured two island platforms which served all of Reading's four tracks, connected by an underground walkway to the station, street, and the Broad Street Line's North Philadelphia station. It's grand design reflected pre-Great Depression optimism and plans for redevelopment of the surrounding neighborhood. the Great Depression took away passengers and prevented planned development and the collapse of local industry after World War II further damaged the neighborhood. Ridership at the station dwindled as passengers opted for private cars or the more frequent subway. The station building was closed and sold for use as a motel in the 1960s; passengers continued to access the platforms through the pedestrian tunnel. In 1981, the station was heavily damaged by fire. On April 5, 1992, SEPTA began their 18-month-long project called RailWorks, which included two multi-month shutdowns of the Reading mainline from Wayne Junction to Market East for emergency bridge repairs. As part of the project, North Broad Street Station was completely rebuilt. Within two weeks of the closure, demolition of the old platforms was under way. The rebuilt station now has two side platforms serving only the outer tracks, which were chosen to straighten the curved tracks around the former island platforms and thus allow higher speeds through the station for express trains that bypassed it. The pedestrian tunnel was closed and filled and access to the platforms is now via ramps from North Broad Street. The station reopened at the end of Railworks on September 5, 1993.

So what's a city like Philadelphia to do with such an historic and majestic station? A museum, maybe? Concert hall? Maybe a library? No - the option Philadelphia chose for this impressive structure was to convert it into 108 private housing units for people transitioning out of homeless shelters. Long gone is the beautiful open air lobby and any trace of the structure's history along with any signs of its previous use. I suppose that is when the trees went up.... The first residents moved into Station House Apartments in August 1997. Oh well - it's still standing.