Adam's Mark

The Adam's Mark was a hotel in Philadelphia that hosted Anthrocon 2001 through Anthrocon 2004. It originally opened as a Holiday Inn in 1965; ironically, the hotel directly next door, which acted as one of the overflow hotels for the con, is the Holiday Inn Philadephia - City Line, and was also home to Furstivus.

In the first year Anthrocon was held at the hotel, the older elevator system in place at the time had a number of breakdowns due to the load placed on it by convention attendees (not just the furry ones). Anthrocon successfully lobbied the hotel to modernize the elevator system and subsequent years saw fewer breakdowns. The elevator-related events of 2001 earned Anthrocon the name Staircon, due to the heavy use of the stairs.

The Adam's Mark was favoured because it was one of the few hotels of a sufficient size to host the convention that did not require union employees (particularly plumbers and electricians) for setup and breakdown, which was felt to be too expensive.

On November 30th 2004, the Adam's Mark suddenly announced to its staff and customers that they would be closing at the end of January 2005 and the building would be sold to the Target Corporation, who later decided to demolish it and build a Target store on the site. Apparently, Uncle Kage was not notified, even though he had a contract with the Adam's Mark, and learned about the closure through second-hand sources.

All of the hotel's convention space had been removed, and most of the main tower has been gutted, leaving only one wall and the elevator column as of July 11, 2006. Standard implosion was impossible because of high levels of asbestos in the building's construction. On July 11, 2006, a portion of one of the remaining walls collapsed unexpectedly and trapped a construction worker helping to tear it down.

The last brick of the Adam's Mark was sold for $200 in the Anthrocon 2006 charity auction. The hotel is now completely gone; a Target store stands on the site.