The Blue Horizon is a historic 1,346-seater boxing venue in Philadelphia, and was named the greatest boxing venue in the world by The Ring magazine. Originally constructed in 1865 as a row of three four-storey townhouses, in 1914 they were sold to the fraternal society the 'Loyal Order of Moose'. The conversion to a fraternal lodge added a ballroom, a bar and an auditorium to the building. In 1961 boxing promotor Jimmy Topper Snr. bought the building and renamed it The Blue Horizon, taken from the song Beyond the Blue Horizon from the 1930 film Monte Carlo. Over the years a whole host of big names in the boxing world made appearances at the venue and it hosted regional, state and international title fights as well as it's first world title fight in 1997. It closed in 2010, reportedly due to tax problems.
The venue was used in the filming of Rocky V as well as for the boxing scenes in the movie Annapolis.
In 2011 it was sold to developers who wanted to demolish the auditorium part of the building and construct a large hotel using the frontage, but this was repeatedly knocked back. The most recent planning application has called for the total demolition of the building with it replaced by a parking garage.
I didn't have very long in here at all, it was an extremely sketchy little explore and I was on my own too which is something I almost never do - especially not in a bad part of Philadelphia when it's getting dark as happened here. The resulting photos aren't all that great but I felt so honoured to be in such an incredible space.
Thanks for looking
