Then and now. The old Messiah Universalist Home, a Philadelphia retirement home, dedicated in 1902, today houses a Chinese grocery.
But no wistful tears. If memory of the successor institutions serves, it survives today — and probably more practically — as UUH Outreach.
I actually think that UUH Outreach is a creative way to reframe an elder-care institution. To support elders living in their homes through social services and emergency assistance.
UU House, or its earlier incarnation “Joseph Priestley House” was envisioned as a kind of home for retired Unitarians. And it sat in a neighborhood that included a Home for Retired Baptists next to a Home for Retired Music Teachers. There’s something perennially hopeful about about old folks’ homes.