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Philly Scenes
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| View of the Skyline from the Hopkinson House 7th St. at Washington Sq., Nikon 6006 3/1/00 5:30pm < Same pic- only BIGGER > Historical Tidbits: |
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< City Hall > < The Drake > < Liberty Place > < Mellon Bank Center > < Medical Tower > < PSFS Building > < Atlantic Building > < Bell Atlantic Tower > < Edison Building > < Related Images > |
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City Hall, 1871-1901 Broad and Market Sts. John McArthur, Jr., with Thomas U. Walter; Alexander Milne Calder, sculptor Penn set aside Center Square as a site for public buildings, but it was not used as such until the city expanded westward, Justifying the relocation of the city hall from Independence Square. City Hall is the largest municipal building in the country and the finest example of the Second Empire style. It contains 141/2 acres of floor space, occupied by city and county offices, courtrooms and several ornately detailed public spaces. The building is organized around a central public courtyard, which is reached through monumental arched portals on all four sides. Second Empire motifs are combined with an abundance of sculpture to give the exterior a rich yet intimately scaled appearance. Among the most prominent features are the projecting corner pavilions; the towered pavilions over the entrance portals; the mansard roof with dormers, connected to one another by curved frames; and the large-scale paired columns, which help to make the building's eight stories look like three. Solid granite, 22 feet thick in some portions, forms the first floor and supports a brick structure faced with white marble. Calder created all the sculpture on the building. There are groups of figures representing the seasons, continents, arts and science, as well as allegorical figures, heads and masks. Calder also designed the 27-ton cast-iron statue of Penn atop the tower, which is the largest single piece of sculpture on any building in the world. The 548-foot tower is the world's tallest masonry structure without a steel frame. It is granite up to the clock, then cast iron painted to look like stone. Public spaces within the building are among the most lavish in the city. The City Council chamber is larger than the House of Lords in London; it is ornately detailed and uses such expensive materials as alabaster on the walls. The Mayor's Reception Room is extremely handsome; it has a blue and gold ceiling, beautiful woodwork and red Egyptian marble columns. Conversation Hall, restored to its original elegance by Day and Zimmermann Associates in 1982, is dominated by a magnificent chandelier. John Ord, chief architect from 1890-94, is thought to have been responsible for much of the interior detailing. Other notable features are the octagonal cut-stone staircases in each of the four corners and the Supreme Court Room, which was designed by George Herzog. The tower is open to the public and affords a wonderful view of the city.* < Back to the top > The Drake Hotel 1929 15th and Spruce The Drake Hotel was one of many tall buildings constructed west of Broad Street in the late 1920s. The overall form was influenced by the emergence of zoning laws in the 1920s, which required setbacks on the upper floors of tall buildings. Even today, the tapered silhouette of the Drake is a striking feature on the city's skyline.* < Back to the top > Liberty Place 1987-90 When new office buildings were developed west of City Hall in the 1950s, an informal "gentleman's agreement" limited new buildings to a height no greater than the 491 foot City Hall tower, thereby enabling the statue of William Penn atop the tower to preside symbolically over the city. Willard G. Rouse's propossal to build a higher office building sparked controversy and extensive public debate before receiving City Council approval. Initially intending only to build a single building, Rouse commissioned Wallace, Roberts and Todd to develope an approach to the entire block. Their master plan envisioned two tall buildings, retail shops, a hotel and underground parking all of which were completed by 1990.* One Liberty Place has 61 floors at a height of 960 feet to the top of it's spire.* < Back to the top > Mellon Bank Center 1990 City Council approval of One Liberty Place paved the way for other office buildings exceeding the hight of City Hall tower. However, dense development west of City hall made finding suitable sites difficult. The site for Mellon Center was created by relocating a bus terminal and demolishing a parking garage built in the 1950s for Penn center. The large site allows the 53-story office tower to take the form of a gigantic, free standing obelisk on axis with the City Hall tower.* Medical Tower 17th and Latimer (see < Related Images >) PSFS Building 1930-32 12 S. 12th St. When PFSF decided to to build a new headquarters, the directors chose a site near the Reading Terminal and Wannamaker's dept. Store, where they already had a successful branch bank. George Howe was retained as Architect. Howe had a national reputation for his pastoral suburban houses but recently had become an advocate of the international style emerging in Europe PFSF marked Howe's break with his past. He left Mellor and Meigs and entered into a partnership with William Lescaze, a Swiss architect. Together they designed the first International style skyscraper in the country. < Back to the top > Atlantic Building Broad and Spruce Sts. Bell Atlantic Tower 1991 17th and Arch Sts. The Bell Atlantic Tower,the last of the four very tall office buildings to be designed, is a contrast to its predecessors in almost every way. The form and location of the building were influanced by spacial design controls along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway which limit the height of buildings within 200 feet of the Parkway. To avoid the line of controls, the office tower was located on the southern edge of the site and designed with stepped back corners. This left th northern portion of the site for a large landscaped park and fountain. The 53 story building is eaisily distinguishable by its rectangular shape, flat roof and warm red color. Edison Building (Thomas Jefferson University) 130 S. 9th St. |
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< Back to the top > Related Images: (Use your browsers back button to return here) < Liberty Place & the Drake > < Medical Tower > < View from City Hall Tower > < Masonic Temple and City Hall > < Skyline from Belmont Plateau > * from Philadelphia Architecture: A guide to the city ©1994 by the Foundation for Architecture |
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