Mayfair, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Mayfair
Neighborhood of Philadelphia
The intersection of Frankford and Cottman Avenues in Mayfair
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Philadelphia County
City	Philadelphia
Area code(s)	Area code 215

Mayfair, centered on the intersection of Cottman and Frankford Avenues. It is bordered by Tacony and Wissinoming to the south and east, Holmesburg to the east, Pennypack Park to the north, and Oxford Circle and Rhawnhurst to the west. Mayfair is home to a large Irish American population.

Before development in the 1920s, Mayfair was essentially farmland and home to The Edwin Forrest Home for Children (near present-day Frankford and Shelmire Avenue) and The Oxford and Lower Dublin Poor House (west of present-day Rowland and Sheffield Aves). First established in 1929, Mayfair came to fruition in the years following World War II as a community that provided fresher and more spacious living in an urban environment. It was constructed over farmland surrounded by the established neighborhoods of Tacony, Holmesburg and Fox Chase. Mayfair featured several groundbreaking concepts for city dwellers: bigger rowhomes with yards in the front and parking garages in the back. The automobile became the primary mode of transportation and shopping retail centers became available close to home, as shopping districts developed along Roosevelt Boulevard and Cottman Avenue. Development also served to connect the surrounding neighborhoods of the Northeast that had previously been isolated. In these regards, Mayfair was a forerunner to American suburbanization, an early part of the population shift from the inner city to its outer regions.

Residents are zoned to the School District of Philadelphia.

The Ethan Allen School and Edwin Forrest School are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Mayfair Elementary School is also in Mayfair.