Dormitory arch, U. of Pa., Philadelphia, Pa.

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The arch in this view is a covered passage through one of the University of Pennsylvania's dormitory buildings in Philadelphia, a feature that gave student housing a collegiate, almost cloistered look. The picture was made on an 8-by-10-inch glass dry plate by the Detroit Publishing Company, which between about 1900 and 1920 produced a large body of views of American cities, campuses and landmarks for sale as postcards and prints. Its date is given only as sometime between 1910 and 1920, so it captures the campus in the decade when Penn was expanding its student residences and the Gothic-revival architecture of its older quadrangle was still new to many visitors.

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