Full disclosure: My name is Sharon and if you’ve ever read anything here on Your Mileage May Vary that was on the quirky side, chances are excellent that I wrote it. I live for that stuff in real life, so writing about it is just icing on the cake.
Another thing you should know about me – I am a middle-aged woman and I have the sense of humor of a preteen. I mean, fart joke? Dude, I am SO there! So when I found out that a building with graffiti on it that says BONER 4EVER has been confirmed to be turned into a Marriott…quirky AND the word “boner?”…yeah, you bet I’m going to write about it!
The “BONER 4EVER” building wasn’t always called that, of course. According to Billy Penn, a Philadelphia-based news team that’s part of WHYY, the region’s NPR and PBS public media affiliate, the 14-story building on the corner of Broad and Erie Avenue originally opened in 1926 as the National Bank of Philadelphia. It was later renamed after Charles Beury, the bank’s first president and a former president of Temple University. The Art Deco building has been abandoned for over 40 years, even though it’s been on the National Historic Register since 1985.
Around 2008 or so, the BONER 4EVER graffiti showed up. Written by 2 well-known Philadelphia-based graffiti artists – one known as Boner, one known as Forever (but sometimes spelled 4ever or 4eva) – the dual tags (or combined wishful thinking, take your pick) are actually written on two separate sides of the tower – one as BONER 4EVER, and the other as FOREVER BONER.
PC: Google Maps
Shift Capital bought the building in 2012 and first announced “something” would be done with it, in the form of using it as a mixed-use property, as early as 2015. They announced further plans in 2017. But between delays and then COVID, so far BONER 4EVER has remained safe for over 6 years, with no construction having started.
PC: Google Maps
But the good times couldn’t last (boner) forever. According to Philly Voice, Shift Capital’s first phase of the hotel project has now begun, and the BONER 4EVER Beury Building is on its way to be transformed into a Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, with a planned 138 guest rooms, ground-level restaurants and a café, a rooftop bar and restaurant, a fitness center and meeting spaces.
The first phase of the hotel’s renovation is scheduled to be completed by this coming summer. Phase 2 will begin shortly after that.
The latter stage of the project will feature the construction of The Residences at the Beury, which will be a neighboring building with 113 residences on five stories, with a 13,750 square foot footprint. Here’s what Shift Capital says it’ll look like when it’s all done:
Unfortunately, the BONER 4EVER graffiti is not destined to survive the renovation. Pity. But if you’re especially attached to the moniker, a website continues to sell pins, keychains, magnets and stickers that commemorate the graffiti (there’s a T-shirt commemorating it, as well).
In their hearts, I’m sure Philadelphians knew that keeping their beloved Boner Forever was unrealistic. From Philly Voice: “Saying goodbye to “Boner 4ever” will be hard for Philadelphia — very hard, indeed. But it will mark a new chapter for a community and building that deserve a brighter future.”
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