Editing Divine Lorraine Hotel (section)

== Original Hotel ==

Willis Hale designed the Lorraine Hotel as a luxury apartment hotel serving Philadelphia's upper class, creating a building whose ornate facades expressed the extravagance of Gilded Age taste. The Renaissance Revival design features elaborate terra cotta ornament, projecting bays, and a distinctive roofline that creates memorable presence on Broad Street. The building's location, near the cultural institutions along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway corridor, positioned it to serve visitors to Philadelphia's museums and cultural events. The interior matched the exterior's opulence, with public rooms of considerable grandeur.<ref name="weigley">{{cite book |last=Weigley |first=Russell |title=Philadelphia: A 300-Year History |year=1982 |publisher=W.W. Norton |location=New York}}</ref>

The hotel's early decades coincided with North Broad Street's status as one of Philadelphia's premier addresses. Elegant townhouses, cultural institutions, and commercial establishments lined the thoroughfare, creating an environment appropriate to a luxury hotel. The Lorraine's elaborate architecture fit naturally into this context, contributing to the street's character while serving the prosperous clientele who frequented the neighborhood. This context would change dramatically as the twentieth century progressed.<ref name="gallery"/>