The Universe of Discourse

Tue, 02 Jul 2019

More information about the mysterious slaughterhouse hotel has come to light, thanks to Chas. Owens, Pete Krawczyk, and this useful blog post by D.S. Rosenstein.

Most important, the perplexing “hotel” is not intended for humans. “Hotel” is apparently stockyard jargon for a place where livestock are quartered temporarily just prior to slaughter. I am so glad to have this cleared up.

Also, M. Rosenstein has a photograph of the fancy abattoir with the spires:

An isometric drawing of
the abbatoir, which is a handsome and
ornate building, featuring four blue spires at each corner.

A grayscale photograph of
the abattoir depicted at left. The Schuylkill river is in the
foreground. The spires are clearly visible. To left and right are
low storage buildings. The abattoir has one very high lower story of
dark brick, surmounted by a lighter-colored cupola with tall windows
and an arched roof with a skylight.

They don't make industrial buildings like they used to. Check out the ornamental pattern in the bricks on the lower floor and the baluster along the riverside façade.

More details here.

[ Addendum: Josh Bevan of Hidden City Philadelphia on When Cattle Men Reigned In The West (of Philadelphia). ]

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