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December 1941. "New York, New York. Entrance to one of Father Divine's 'Heavens' on the East Side." Medium format acetate negative by Edwin Rosskam. View full size.
It's a delivery bay. Once those doors opened I'm sure a pulley and chain system would be deployed to bring needed items up to the second floor a la getting hay in the barn loft.
Or back in the day there was a delivery company which specialized in second story deliveries. The used delivery wagons with really really tall wheels and just backed up to deliver their goods.
Lots of interesting links about the history of this group and their various "Heavens" -- many in NY and PA:
http://www.libertynet.org/fdipmm/pmmdirtv/churches.html
I could not find any building in the pictures in the New York sections of the website above with a matching address or appearance in this photo. Maybe someone else would have more luck. Fascinating history though.
Surviving members of the group can be seen here: https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/29/philadelphia-city-of-father-di...
that upper boarded up window looking area have been for? Was it a window?
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