Manufacturer: Maddock Pottery
Name of user: Arcadia Restaurant – Philadelphia, Penn.
Distributor: John Wanamaker
Date of platter: circa 1915-1924

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Notes: The Arcadia Restaurant – which also went by the name Arcadia Café and Arcadia Café Company – opened on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 1915. It was located in the basement and sub-basement of the new Widener Building on Chestnut Street, near Broad Street in Philadelphia. One entrance was from the sidewalk on Chestnut Streeet, and two more from an arcade that ran through the ground floor.

Fritz Pflug, a director of the Arcadia Café Company, was manager of the Arcade Restaurant operation. The main dining room seated 500. The Grill accommodated 400, and there were eight private dining rooms that held up to 50. There was a bar between the restaurant and the grill.

In 1934, the restaurant was remodeled and reopened as Arcadia, The International Restaurant with a menu of cuisine from all parts of the world. By 1940, the Arcadia was part of the Kugler Restaurant operation.

Maddock produced this Lamberton China service that is decorated with a decal border that features vases overflowing with flowers. These floral vases are similar to the decoration on the opening advertisement in newspapers. "ARCADIA" appears below a garden scene flanked by bust-topped statue columns. There is a dark green line at the rim and also below the decal at the verge.

Sources:
Media Historic Archives Commission – Jan. 12, 1921, Arcadia Café banquet photo
The Library Company of Philadelphia – Widener Building exterior postcard

For more info:
Arcadia Restaurant, by Maddock Pottery

Contributors:
Larry Paul, author
Sherri Harris, platter detail photos
Rod Coslet, ephemera