Inside The Beury Building (AKA The ‘Boner Forever’ building) with LightFoot

(Photos by LightFoot)

Awesome little tour of Philly’s iconic ‘Boner Forever’ building by photographer LightFoot!

Some background by LightFoot…

“The Beury Building, or as it may be better known, the Boner Forever building, was designed by esteemed Art Deco theater architect William Harold Lee. Erected over the course of one year in 1927, it was originally built to house the National Bank of North Philadelphia. The building only became known as the Beury several years later in recognition of the bank’s first president – Charles Beury – who also served as president of Temple University.

At an imposing 14 floors, this building is actually the only Art Deco style building in Philadelphia outside of the downtown area. Despite this, and even after earning its place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, the building has sat abandoned for over twenty years. Much like the Divine Lorraine just several blocks South on Broad St., the Beury is just a shell of its former self. The insides are mostly gutted, and there are only glimmers of the financial prowess that was once housed inside.

Oh, and that Boner Forever tag? Most people that see it assume that some wise guy wanted to be funny and cheaply offensive. The fact is, however, that Boner and Forever are actually two different graffiti artists. As rumor has it, there was a feud going on between the two artists and to show that it was all settled, they rolled their names next to each other on both sides of the Beury.”

UPDATE: According to LOLadelphia on Twitter, it’s much less of a feud between ‘Boner’ and ‘Forever,’ and much more of a collaboration… Either way, impressive work.

More photos below…

Find more explorations into Abandoned Philadelphia HERE!