Edward Gondolff
Proprietor, Temple Bar & Hotel
407–409 Market Street, Camden, New Jersey
The Temple Saloon stood at 407–409 Market Street in Camden, and drew its name from the adjacent Temple Theater Building. The Temple Theater opened in September of 1892, and many of America’s greatest stage performers trod the boards there. The Temple Building later housed offices and was the home of the Camden Commercial College.
The bar at 409 Market was open prior to the opening of the Temple Theater. Camden City Directories for the years 1887 to 1891 show a Thomas O’Hara operating a saloon at the address.
Around the turn of the century Edward Gondolff acquired the bar at 409 Market Street. Ed Gondolff was born in Alsace-Lorraine about 1870. He came to Camden from Philadelphia around 1898. He soon went into business, and within a few years had purchased the property at 407 Market Street. He had built a three story building on that site, the Temple Bar and Hotel. Edward Gondolff was active in fraternal affairs as a member of Camden Lodge No. 293, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks; Improved Order of Red Men; Mozart Lodge No. 121, Free and Associated Masons, and several other fraternal organizations and clubs.
Edward Gondolff passed away on April 3, 1918 from pneumonia, leaving a wife and two children. Prohibition was enacted a year later. Jennie Gondolff continued residence at 407 Market Street through at least 1924, and held title to the property until 1930. Robert L. Krager operated a new business at 401 Market Street which traded as the Temple Hotel in the mid 1920s.
In November of 1931 a contract was awarded to raze all of the buildings from 401 to 415 Market Street including the Temple Theater and other buildings on the 400 block of Market Street, to make room for a new post office and Federal building.
Edward Gondolff’s brother Peter Gondolf (the family, except for Edward, all dropped the second “f”) worked as a detective for the Camden Police Department, and in his later years became the proprietor of the Fairview Gardens at 3007 Fenwick Road in the Fairview section of Camden. When Prohibition was repealed in 1933 he obtained a liquor license, one of only three liquor licenses to be issued in that part of Camden. Peter Gondolf passed away in 1940. His wife Marion and his son Richard Gondolf ran the bar after his death.
Another brother of Edward Gondolff was Frank Gondolf. He served briefly as a member of the Camden Fire Department in the 1910s, and for many years was an employee and in time superintendent of Camden’s sewers and sewage treatment facilities.
Edward Gondolff’s son, Augustus “Gus” Gondolf Sr., was the superintendent of the New Jersey motor vehicle inspection station in Camden for many years. Grandson, Gus Gondolf Jr., was the proprietor of Mickey’s Grille in Magnolia NJ in the 1960s and 1970s. Another grandson, Edward R. Gondolf, was killed in action near Lemberg, France in December of 1944.
Jennie Gondolff was active in fraternal affairs as a member of Crescent Chapter No. 55, Order of the Eastern Star and other groups as late as 1950. She passed away in Washington D.C. at the age of 86 in 1954.
The “Old” Bar at 409 Market Street
Thomas O’Hara’s Saloon — The Temple Bar, 409 Market Street
The Temple Bar & Hotel, circa 1912
Temple Bar & Hotel, circa 1912 — 407 & 409 Market Street. Edward Gondolff (far left) standing in front of his bar.
The Temple Bar and Temple Theatre
The Temple Bar and the Temple Theatre
The Temple Theater, 1892–1920s
The Temple Theater as it appeared from 1892 through the 1920s. 409 Market Street, the old bar, is visible in the lower left hand corner of the pictures.
400 Block of Market Street, 1890s
400 Block of Market Street, 1890s photograph. The Temple Bar & Hotel can be seen just beyond the Temple Theater.
The Gondolff Family at the Temple Saloon
Left: Grandson Gus Gondolf Jr., sitting on the bar of the Temple Saloon. Right: Jennie Gondolf at a second floor window. The bar’s sign is at right.
Edward Gondolf Dies
Camden Courier-Post —
Edward Gondolf, proprietor of the Temple cafe and hotel at 407 Market street, died early this morning at Cooper Hospital from pneumonia after an illness of ten days.
Mr. Gondolf, who was 48 years old, came to this city about twenty years ago from Philadelphia and began business at 409 Market street. After remaining there a few years he purchased the lot adjoining and built the present place of business. He was a member of Mozart Lodge of Masons, Siloam Chapter, R. A. M.; Camden Forest, No 5, Tall Cedars of Lebanon, and Camden Lodge of Elks. No arrangements have been made for the funeral. He is survived by a widow and two children.
Edward Gondolf Dies
Philadelphia Inquirer —
After an illness of ten days with pneumonia, Edward Gondolf, proprietor of the Temple Hotel, at 407 Market street, Camden, died yesterday at Cooper Hospital. He was 48 years old and came to Camden from Philadelphia twenty years ago. He was a member of Camden Lodge of Elks and several Masonic bodies. His wife and two children survive.
407–409 Market Street, 1930
407–409 Market Street, 1930
Ten Buildings Ordered Down for Post Office
Camden Morning Post —
Contract Awarded by U. S. for Clearing Site at Fourth and Market
Ends Lengthy Delay on Camden Structure
Old Temple Theatre to Be Razed by Winning Bidder From Phila.
Camden’s new $1,100,000 postoffice and Federal building came nearer to realization yesterday with announcement of award of the contract to clear 10 buildings from the site at the northeast corner of Fourth and Market streets.
The successful bidder was the Fidelity Builders, Inc., of Philadelphia, the lowest of 13 bidders, who submitted a figure of $2583, according to the supervising architect of the Treasury Department at Washington.
Under the terms of the contract the buildings on the site must be razed within 90 days after the firm is given notice to proceed with the work. This notice is expected within a few days. A fence is to be built around the site while the buildings are being removed.
Meanwhile Treasury Department architects are proceeding with plans and specifications for the structure itself. As soon as the site is cleared and the plans prepared, bids for erection of the building will be sought by advertisement.
The site extends northward from Market street to Markley place and eastward from Fourth street to include the old Temple building.
Ten buildings to be razed, and their owners are, 401 and 403 Market street, John Stoer; 405 Market street, Louis Katz; 407 Market street, Bennie Gondolf; 409 Market street, City Commissioner T. Yorke Smith and John Rand; the Temple building, 411–413 Market street, owned by John H. Heaton Piano Company; 110 and 112 Fourth street, John Dick; 114 Fourth street, Alice M. Wesley, and 116 Fourth street, Louis Berkowitz.
The new building will have a space of 32,204 square feet and will be three or four stories high.