About: Alfred E. Burk House

The Alfred E. Burk House, colloquially known as the Burk Mansion, is a Gilded Age late Victorian Italian Renaissance style house located at 1500 North Broad Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania now owned by Temple University. Designed by architects Edward P. Simon & David B. Basset and constructed between 1907 and 1909, the building was later altered and enlarged by Louis A. Manfredi first in 1949 and later in 1953. The house was initially commissioned and inhabited by industrialist and leather manufacturer Alfred E. Burk from 1909 until his death in 1921. From 1945-1970, the house served as the headquarters for the Upholsterers International Union of North America, an AFL-affiliated labor union of upholsters and textile workers, among others. In 1971, it was acquired by Temple University’