Former Father Divine mansion in North Philly, auctioned off last summer, is for sale again

A historic North Philadelphia mansion that was auctioned off in August is up for sale again.

Last summer, the property became the second historic North Philly mansion to be sold in just over a year by the International Peace Mission Movement, the religious organization founded by a charismatic civil rights leader who claimed to be God and whose followers called him Father Divine.

The Disston mansion at 1530 N. 16th St. was one of the organization’s last remaining Philadelphia properties. The Peace Mission’s Philadelphia real estate portfolio once spanned North Philadelphia, Graduate Hospital, and West Philadelphia and included such properties as the iconic Divine Lorraine. But the organization has sold off properties as its membership has dwindled.

» READ MORE: Father Divine’s Peace Mission is auctioning off another of its historic North Philly mansions

The Disston mansion is one of the neighborhood’s few surviving mansions built in the late 19th century for a Philadelphia manufacturing tycoon. The winner of the auction in August was a real estate investment group that paid $1.2 million for the property, according to city records.

The owner is now shopping it around for about $3 million for someone else to redevelop, according to Andrea Desy Edrei, operating partner at the local brokerage for New York-based SERHANT.

“It’s an exceptional opportunity for someone that has some vision,” she said. “Whether it’s multifamily, whether it’s adaptive reuse, hospitality, entertainment venue.”

A feasibility study commissioned by the owner found that the main 35,000-square-foot house could fit about 28 residential units, and about 20 new units could be built out back on the property, which includes on-site parking. The property is being marketed to real estate investors, hotel operators, educational institutions, and others, Desy Edrei said.

Now that feasibility and architectural studies have been conducted, “it just needs the right person to come in and see it through to fruition,” she said.

The mansion includes marble floors, 18-foot doors, hand-painted mural ceilings, stained-glass windows, intricate fireplace mantels, banquet rooms, a catering kitchen, and an auditorium.

The mansion is part of the North Broad Street Mansion District on the National Register of Historic Places. And since 1971, it has been listed on Philadelphia’s historic register, a designation that protects the building from demolition. The home’s first owner was Albert Disston of the Philadelphia-based Disston Saw Co.

Roughly 10 registered bidders were represented at the auction on Aug. 28, said Alan B. LeCoff, an associate at the firm Barry S. Slosberg Inc., which auctioned the Disston mansion and four other Peace Mission properties in Philadelphia.

» READ MORE: Broad Street mansion associated with Father Divine is sold at auction (From 2023)

Ahead of the auction, the Peace Mission was concerned about preserving the organization’s memorabilia and preserving the building. Both things happened, so “they were very, very pleased,” LeCoff said last summer.

Now, the organization’s only remaining property in the city is the Circle Mission Church, Home and Training School at Broad and Catharine Streets. The Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia got that complex added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in July 2023.