In a few months, all that will remain of the old Hillel building, a dilapidated brick structure in the center of campus, are photographs, a plaque on the wall of Steinhardt Hall and the memories of alumni and former staff - bad and good.
Its walls are faded, the carpet worn; the rooms bare and low-tech, and the Jewish center it once housed has moved on to greener pastures. The building is slated for demolition over winter break. Shortly after, construction will begin on the Annenberg Public Policy Center's building, scheduled to open in 2008.
But old Hillel's unassuming appearance today is uncharacteristic of its more storied past.
Over the course of 55 years, the building - at 36th and Walnut streets - received bomb and anthrax threats, hosted notable political speakers and was a home for thousands of Jewish students looking to eat, mingle and pray.
By spring semester, this will all be just a memory.
Hillel Director Jeremy Brochin - who has worked with Hillel since 1986 - said the building was the target of several anti-Semitic acts.
A few years ago, before the anthrax scares following Sept. 11, Brochin said he opened an envelope filled with white powder and a note saying he had just been contaminated with anthrax.
The substance was not anthrax, and no one was harmed. Brochin also said there was at least one bomb threat during his time with Hillel.
Despite some negative experiences and the gradual deterioration of the building, Brochin said the space is special to many alumni.
"It wasn't in the greatest shape, but it had a certain warmth to it," Brochin said.
Uri Cohen - who graduated in 2001 and now works for the international Hillel office - said that "the building was home."
Cohen often stopped by the building to nap or hang out between classes, and he ate many of his meals in the building's kosher dining area.
"We always ate in the lounge," Cohen said. "I had my spot on the windowsill; others had their spots on the couches."
Ethan Isenberg, who graduated in 1999, said the building's central location made it especially welcoming.
"You could come in from any direction," Isenberg said. "People who had classes on both sides of campus could all go and stop in during the day."
During its time on 36th Street, Hillel also hosted a number of speakers, including former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Ben and Jerry's, Brochin said.
According to information provided by the University Archives, the space was originally built as a facility for the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity.
202 S. 36th St. was purchased for Hillel in 1948. The move came four years after the Penn Jewish community officially affiliated itself with the national B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation.
To accommodate the growing number of Jewish students, the space was expanded in 1985 to its current size.
By the late 1990s, Isenberg said most students who came regularly to Hillel could tell that the needs of the Jewish community were outgrowing the space.
In 2003, Steinhardt Hall - at 39th and Locust streets - was dedicated as the new home for Penn Hillel and other Jewish organizations in Philadelphia.
Few remnants of the building's spiritual past remain; any religious artifacts were removed during the move to the new Hillel location at Steinhardt Hall, said Tony Sorrentino, Penn's spokesman for campus facilities.
