manu/mldr-zoomed-100char-total-queries-documents

chunk_id stringlengths 3 9	chunk stringlengths 1 100
82_106	use as a ballroom. Personal effects of Mr. Wanamaker from his until-then preserved office on the
82_107	eighth floor, and the store archives, were donated to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
82_108	Beloved huge Easter paintings of the trial and Passion of the Christ by Mihály Munkácsy that had
82_109	been personal favorites of Mr. Wanamaker and were displayed every year in the Grand Court during
82_110	Lent were unceremoniously sold at auction.
82_111	Woodward & Lothrop collapsed in bankruptcy, filing for Chapter 11 on January 17, 1994, and with it
82_112	the Wanamaker stores, which were sold to May Department Stores Company on June 21, 1995.
82_113	Wanamaker's Inc. was formally dissolved, and operations were consolidated with May's Hecht's
82_114	division in Arlington, Virginia. After 133 consecutive years, the Wanamaker's name was removed from
82_115	all stores and replaced with Hecht's. In 1997, May acquired Wanamaker's historic rival Strawbridge
82_116	& Clothier and re-branded all Philadelphia-area Hecht's locations with the Strawbridge's name. The
82_117	Center City Hecht's (temporarily named Strawbridge's) was closed for a lengthy renovation and
82_118	refurbishment that saw the former Wanamaker retail space reduced in size again to three floors, and
82_119	the former selling floors on the upper floors further subdivided into commercial office space. This
82_120	was to prepare the way, in 1997, for New York-based Lord & Taylor, another division of May
82_121	Department Stores, to open in the former Wanamaker's flagship in Center City Philadelphia. In
82_122	August 2006 the store was converted to Macy's, operated by the Macy's East Division of Federated
82_123	Department Stores Inc., (now Macy's Inc.), which acquired May in late 2005. The New York
82_124	Wanamaker's store on Broadway was replaced by Kmart by 1996.
82_125	The store was not immune to the major change in retailing away from regional chains to national
82_126	chains. The uniformity of brand offerings and the cost savings available to national chains all
82_127	worked against the viability of the store as an independent personality, although customers
82_128	generally had a major say in determining store offerings and the magnificence of its commercial
82_129	space did tend to cause it to be stocked with better offerings. Other retailers had also learned to
82_130	offer goods with much smaller staff rosters. The ability of retailers to "go national" in
82_131	opposition to regional tastes is still an experiment-in-progress with mixed results.
82_132	The Wanamaker's flagship store, with its famous organ and eagle from the St. Louis World's Fair,
82_133	was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978. Retailers continue to reap significant
82_134	monetary returns from the elegance of this unparalleled retail space. In 1992, a nonprofit group,
82_135	the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ, was founded to promote the preservation, restoration and
82_136	presentation of the famous pipe organ.
82_137	As a retail site, the Philadelphia flagship store has proved quite profitable for later tenants
82_138	Lord & Taylor and now Macy's. With a long tradition of parades and fireworks displays, Macy's has
82_139	taken a prominent civic role in fostering historic Wanamaker traditions, especially the Wanamaker
82_140	Organ and the Holiday Pageant of Lights Christmas Show. In 2008, Macy's celebrated its 150th
82_141	birthday in the Philadelphia flagship store with a concert featuring the Wanamaker Organ and the
82_142	Philadelphia Orchestra that attracted a capacity audience.
82_143	Christmas Light Show
82_144	In 1956, the Philadelphia Wanamaker's premiered a Christmas Light Show, a large musical and
82_145	blinking light display several stories high, viewable from several levels of the building, but with
82_146	the best viewing on the central ground floor. Its popularity with Philadelphia parents and
82_147	children, as well as tourists, ensured a continuous run, even after the building was sold to
82_148	different business interests.
82_149	For decades until 1994, the melodic baritone "voice", or narrator, of the show was John Facenda,
82_150	known to Philadelphians for decades reporting the news on radio and television, as well as
82_151	nationally known as the voice of NFL Films. NFL Films' Ed Sabol referred to Facenda as "The Voice
82_152	of God" (Facenda is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio). His wordsmithing and
82_153	dramatic baritone delivery were highlights of the shows and did much to boost Facenda's stock and
82_154	mystique. Various announcers narrated the show between 1995 and 2005. Beginning in 2006, under
82_155	Macy's, Julie Andrews became the show's narrator. Also in 2006, the Santa Express Train at the top
82_156	of the Grand Court returned.
82_157	In 2007, the entire Christmas Light Show was completely modernized and rebuilt by Macy's Parade
82_158	Studio on new trusses with lighter materials and LED lighting. In 2008, a new and bigger Magic
82_159	Christmas Tree with LED lights debuted. However, due to safety concerns and logistical issues, the
82_160	dancing water fountains were retired and will not return.
82_161	Floor setup
82_162	Ground floor: 2,500-pound "Durana" bronze eagle statue in the Grand Court, made by German sculptor
82_163	August Gaul for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exhibition and purchased by John Wanamaker; for many
82_164	decades, Philadelphians would agree to "meet me at the eagle" (at Wanamaker's).
82_165	3rd floor: Egyptian Hall auditorium behind the executive offices, also a Greek Hall auditorium.
82_166	The architecture of Egyptian Hall is presently (2008) obscured by the Executive Offices and Dickens
82_167	Christmas Village.
82_168	8th floor: Toy department had a Rocket Express monorail (from 1946 to 1984) for the kids that
82_169	traveled around the entire department, camera dept, piano and organ dept. The monorail car is a
82_170	feature at Philadelphia's Please Touch Museum.
82_171	9th floor: Crystal Tea Room 10th floor: In-house physician and nurses
82_172	12th floor: Wanamaker Organ Shop, where the Wanamaker Organ was enlarged by an in-house expert
82_173	staff
82_174	Sub-floors: The Downstairs Store, post office, lost and found, shoe repair, the Dairy Bar
82_175	restaurant. This area became a parking garage.
82_176	Radio broadcasting station Model house on the furniture floor
82_177	Home of the world's largest playable pipe organ
82_178	Crystal Tea Room
82_179	Wanamaker's also was home to the Crystal Tea Room restaurant on the 9th floor, which closed to the
82_180	public in 1995; it was restored as a private banquet hall, accommodating sit-down receptions of up
82_181	to 1,000 people. A Wanamaker's guidebook from the 1920s states that the Crystal Tea Room was the
82_182	largest dining room in Philadelphia, and one of the largest in the world. It once could serve 1,400
82_183	people at a time. It served breakfast in the morning, luncheon, and afternoon tea. The kitchen's
82_184	big ovens could roast 75 turkeys at a time and the facility was equipped with lockers and baths for
82_185	the employees. In acknowledgment of John Wanamaker's promotion of temperance causes, alcohol was
82_186	not served in the Tea Room until after the family trust sold the store. There was informal modeling
82_187	in the Tea Room.
82_188	There was also a balcony cafe, the Terrace on the Court, on the third floor facing the Grand Court,
82_189	where shoppers could hear the Wanamaker Organ as they dined. Macy's closed this restaurant in 2008.
82_190	In popular culture Scenes in the 1981 film Blow Out were filmed outside Wanamaker's.
82_191	Much of the 1987 movie Mannequin was filmed at Wanamaker's, as was the 1991 sequel, Mannequin Two:
82_192	On the Move.
82_193	See also
82_194	Wanamaker Mile Millrose Games Wanamaker Trophy for golf's PGA Champion
82_195	Please Touch Museum (Wanamaker's Rocket Express Monorail)
82_196	List of National Historic Landmarks in Philadelphia
82_197	National Register of Historic Places listings in Center City, Philadelphia
82_198	References
82_199	Further reading
82_200	Arceneaux, Noah. "Wanamaker's Department Store and the Origins of Electronic Media, 1910–1922."
82_201	Technology and culture''' 51.4 (2010): 809-828 online.
82_202	Arrigale, Lawrence M., and Thomas H. Keels. Philadelphia's Golden Age of Retail (Arcadia
82_203	Publishing, 2012).
82_204	Ershkowitz, Herbert. John Wanamaker: Philadelphia Merchant (Signpost Biographies-Da Capo Press,
82_205	1999)

82_106

use as a ballroom. Personal effects of Mr. Wanamaker from his until-then preserved office on the

82_107

eighth floor, and the store archives, were donated to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

82_108

Beloved huge Easter paintings of the trial and Passion of the Christ by Mihály Munkácsy that had

82_109

been personal favorites of Mr. Wanamaker and were displayed every year in the Grand Court during

82_110

Lent were unceremoniously sold at auction.

82_111

Woodward & Lothrop collapsed in bankruptcy, filing for Chapter 11 on January 17, 1994, and with it

82_112

the Wanamaker stores, which were sold to May Department Stores Company on June 21, 1995.

82_113

Wanamaker's Inc. was formally dissolved, and operations were consolidated with May's Hecht's

82_114

division in Arlington, Virginia. After 133 consecutive years, the Wanamaker's name was removed from

82_115

all stores and replaced with Hecht's. In 1997, May acquired Wanamaker's historic rival Strawbridge

82_116

& Clothier and re-branded all Philadelphia-area Hecht's locations with the Strawbridge's name. The

82_117

Center City Hecht's (temporarily named Strawbridge's) was closed for a lengthy renovation and

82_118

refurbishment that saw the former Wanamaker retail space reduced in size again to three floors, and

82_119

the former selling floors on the upper floors further subdivided into commercial office space. This

82_120

was to prepare the way, in 1997, for New York-based Lord & Taylor, another division of May

82_121

Department Stores, to open in the former Wanamaker's flagship in Center City Philadelphia. In

82_122

August 2006 the store was converted to Macy's, operated by the Macy's East Division of Federated

82_123

Department Stores Inc., (now Macy's Inc.), which acquired May in late 2005. The New York

82_124

Wanamaker's store on Broadway was replaced by Kmart by 1996.

82_125

The store was not immune to the major change in retailing away from regional chains to national

82_126

chains. The uniformity of brand offerings and the cost savings available to national chains all

82_127

worked against the viability of the store as an independent personality, although customers

82_128

generally had a major say in determining store offerings and the magnificence of its commercial

82_129

space did tend to cause it to be stocked with better offerings. Other retailers had also learned to

82_130

offer goods with much smaller staff rosters. The ability of retailers to "go national" in

82_131

opposition to regional tastes is still an experiment-in-progress with mixed results.

82_132

The Wanamaker's flagship store, with its famous organ and eagle from the St. Louis World's Fair,

82_133

was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978. Retailers continue to reap significant

82_134

monetary returns from the elegance of this unparalleled retail space. In 1992, a nonprofit group,

82_135

the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ, was founded to promote the preservation, restoration and

82_136

presentation of the famous pipe organ.

82_137

As a retail site, the Philadelphia flagship store has proved quite profitable for later tenants

82_138

Lord & Taylor and now Macy's. With a long tradition of parades and fireworks displays, Macy's has

82_139

taken a prominent civic role in fostering historic Wanamaker traditions, especially the Wanamaker

82_140

Organ and the Holiday Pageant of Lights Christmas Show. In 2008, Macy's celebrated its 150th

82_141

birthday in the Philadelphia flagship store with a concert featuring the Wanamaker Organ and the

82_142

Philadelphia Orchestra that attracted a capacity audience.

82_143

Christmas Light Show

82_144

In 1956, the Philadelphia Wanamaker's premiered a Christmas Light Show, a large musical and

82_145

blinking light display several stories high, viewable from several levels of the building, but with

82_146

the best viewing on the central ground floor. Its popularity with Philadelphia parents and

82_147

children, as well as tourists, ensured a continuous run, even after the building was sold to

82_148

different business interests.

82_149

For decades until 1994, the melodic baritone "voice", or narrator, of the show was John Facenda,

82_150

known to Philadelphians for decades reporting the news on radio and television, as well as

82_151

nationally known as the voice of NFL Films. NFL Films' Ed Sabol referred to Facenda as "The Voice

82_152

of God" (Facenda is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio). His wordsmithing and

82_153

dramatic baritone delivery were highlights of the shows and did much to boost Facenda's stock and

82_154

mystique. Various announcers narrated the show between 1995 and 2005. Beginning in 2006, under

82_155

Macy's, Julie Andrews became the show's narrator. Also in 2006, the Santa Express Train at the top

82_156

of the Grand Court returned.

82_157

In 2007, the entire Christmas Light Show was completely modernized and rebuilt by Macy's Parade

82_158

Studio on new trusses with lighter materials and LED lighting. In 2008, a new and bigger Magic

82_159

Christmas Tree with LED lights debuted. However, due to safety concerns and logistical issues, the

82_160

dancing water fountains were retired and will not return.

82_161

Floor setup

82_162

Ground floor: 2,500-pound "Durana" bronze eagle statue in the Grand Court, made by German sculptor

82_163

August Gaul for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exhibition and purchased by John Wanamaker; for many

82_164

decades, Philadelphians would agree to "meet me at the eagle" (at Wanamaker's).

82_165

3rd floor: Egyptian Hall auditorium behind the executive offices, also a Greek Hall auditorium.

82_166

The architecture of Egyptian Hall is presently (2008) obscured by the Executive Offices and Dickens

82_167

Christmas Village.

82_168

8th floor: Toy department had a Rocket Express monorail (from 1946 to 1984) for the kids that

82_169

traveled around the entire department, camera dept, piano and organ dept. The monorail car is a

82_170

feature at Philadelphia's Please Touch Museum.

82_171

9th floor: Crystal Tea Room 10th floor: In-house physician and nurses

82_172

12th floor: Wanamaker Organ Shop, where the Wanamaker Organ was enlarged by an in-house expert

82_173

staff

82_174

Sub-floors: The Downstairs Store, post office, lost and found, shoe repair, the Dairy Bar

82_175

restaurant. This area became a parking garage.

82_176

Radio broadcasting station Model house on the furniture floor

82_177

Home of the world's largest playable pipe organ

82_178

Crystal Tea Room

82_179

Wanamaker's also was home to the Crystal Tea Room restaurant on the 9th floor, which closed to the

82_180

public in 1995; it was restored as a private banquet hall, accommodating sit-down receptions of up

82_181

to 1,000 people. A Wanamaker's guidebook from the 1920s states that the Crystal Tea Room was the

82_182

largest dining room in Philadelphia, and one of the largest in the world. It once could serve 1,400

82_183

people at a time. It served breakfast in the morning, luncheon, and afternoon tea. The kitchen's

82_184

big ovens could roast 75 turkeys at a time and the facility was equipped with lockers and baths for

82_185

the employees. In acknowledgment of John Wanamaker's promotion of temperance causes, alcohol was

82_186

not served in the Tea Room until after the family trust sold the store. There was informal modeling

82_187

in the Tea Room.

82_188

There was also a balcony cafe, the Terrace on the Court, on the third floor facing the Grand Court,

82_189

where shoppers could hear the Wanamaker Organ as they dined. Macy's closed this restaurant in 2008.

82_190

In popular culture Scenes in the 1981 film Blow Out were filmed outside Wanamaker's.

82_191

Much of the 1987 movie Mannequin was filmed at Wanamaker's, as was the 1991 sequel, Mannequin Two:

82_192

On the Move.

82_193