History of 12th and 14th West Fourth Street

The commercial building that is today Eskandalo hair salon and HomeBase clothing shop on 12^th and 14^th West Fourth Street has not always been two businesses.  Originally the building was a Lehigh University fraternity house that belonged to now defunct Phi Gamma Delta.  The university’s student newspaper, the Brown & White, used to report the addresses of all executive members of clubs on campus so that people could contact them.  For example, the 1895 and 1896 editors of The Epitome Yearbook lived at 12^th West Fourth Street.  The house became vacant for a short period between 1896 and 1901, when the Brown & White wrote an article about the new fraternity Psi Alpha Kappa that would be moving into the location of the “old” Phi Gamma Delta house. 

Psi Alpha Kappa is a long defunct fraternity, and evidence points to the W. Fourth Street building having been converted at some point in the early twentieth century to the Lehigh Stationary Co., Inc.  This store remained open until at least 1958, when the last advertisement for their business appeared in the Brown & White.  The current business at this location, Eskandalo Hair Salon opened in 2007, and according to the owner, Alison Leigh, the building had been boarded up for a long time prior to that time.

Present day photo of 12^th and 14^th west fourth street, 2017.  Photo of maps data used by permission of google, 2017.

1896 article from Brown and White Vol. 4 no. 16: NOTICES. showcasing the home address of the editor of the Lehigh Epitome yearbook. 

1901 Article from the Brown and White Vol. 8 no. 5: New Fraternity signaling the beginning of the location being used for a new Lehigh fraternity as their primary residence, 1901. 

1932 ad from the Brown and White Vol. 40 no. 5: Adv. 7 Page 18. 

Article from the Brown and White that made the addresses of all Lehigh club executives publicly known.  The Editor-in-Chief of the Lehigh Epitome yearbook can be seen in this image, 1985.  Brown and White Vol. 2 no. 2: COLLEGE DIRECTORY.

1925 ad from the Brown and White Vol. 44 no. 47: Adv. 20 Page 7.

1958 ad from the Brown and White Vol. 70 no. 1: Adv. 15 Page 5.