It’s hard to imagine a more ideal locale for our stately brick building. On its western side, the building’s distinctive two-story screened-in porch faces Saunders Park, while the Presbyterian Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Medical System occupies the block directly across Powelton Avenue to the south. Our building’s upper floors enjoy a view of the nearby Philadelphia Center City Skyline. Inside, gracious, high-ceiling rooms and hallways are standard features of the building’s common areas. Residents occupy their own apartment units–there are 16 in all–complete with full kitchens, and enjoy all the freedoms normally associated with independent
living. The building also houses a day program for seniors and a computer training and networking program, and facilities include cutting edge
technological devices to assist those with limited vision.

Revitalization of the building and its facilities was accomplished by way of a series of grants, the lead component of which was a capital advance from the United Sates Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). That grant was issued under HUD’s Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities Program, sometimes referred to by its legislative name: Section 811. Accompanying the capital advance were grants of Federal funds administered by the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Housing and Community Development and its Redevelopment Authority, a grant from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and a development subsidy from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh. As part of the development process, Rudolphy deeded the building to a new Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation: Rudolphy/Mercy-Douglass Home for the Blind. Membership on the board of directors of the new owner corporation is shared equally by Rudolphy and Mercy-Douglass Human Services Affiliate. Mercy-Douglass Human Services Affiliate manages the building, while Rudolphy provides assisted living services.