PHILADELPHIA | Mellon Bank Center | 792 FT / 241 M | 54 FLOORS | 1990

volguus zildrohar · #1 Posted **Sep 16, 2008, 5:35 AM**

Some love it, some hate it, some don't get the neo-Art Deco base. But it's the brightest night time star in the Philadelphia skyline and a dramatic stroke in the urban signature with a magnificent lobby. What say you?

Not Mine

Patrick · #2 Posted **Sep 16, 2008, 1:22 PM**

I love it, theres just nothing else like it.

jmonkey · #3 Posted **Sep 17, 2008, 5:27 AM**

great building, awesome pics!

Don098 · #4 Posted **Sep 17, 2008, 7:33 PM**

People hate this building????

bryson662001 · #5 Posted **Sep 17, 2008, 9:37 PM**

AKA the "Wheeler" building......where Tom Hanks' law firm resided before they fired him for having aids and got sued and lost. So now its the Mellon building, after the Pittsburg bank. Yea I know it was just a movie.

theWatusi · #6 Posted **Sep 17, 2008, 11:18 PM**

I like the base

DamienK · #7 Posted **Sep 19, 2008, 10:06 AM**

I remember it from that film too. Not too bad. . . I prefer straight and simple edged obelisk skyscrapers like 1 Canada Square.

plinko · #8 Posted **Sep 19, 2008, 7:47 PM**

As much as I wanted to dislike this building, it just 'fits'. The taper, the overzsized cornice, the odd-sized pyramid cap, all things I typically am bothered by. Then I saw it in person.

It's a really good example of contextual architecture that works. Proof that you can be opposed to the fundamentals of something, and yet appreciate it for the fact that it isn't intrusive or bad.

slow-v6 · #9 Posted **Sep 20, 2008, 4:41 PM**

Very nice

ltsmotorsport · #10 Posted **Sep 27, 2008, 9:29 PM**

Love this building. As plinko said, it just fits.

desolate · #11 Posted **Oct 16, 2008, 11:40 AM**

It's the easiest to describe to someone not familiar with the actual names.

"The one with the pyramid"

I still like it.

skyscraper · #12 Posted **Oct 16, 2008, 12:38 PM**

I love this building, always have.
Recently, GlobeSt.com had an article (posted below) where at the end they make a huge blunder:

PHILADELPHIA-Aberdeen Asset Management has signed a 60,000-sf 10-year lease totaling 60,000 sf in the Mellon Bank Center here, at 1735 Market St. The move is a consolidation of the Aberdeen, Scotland-based firm, which currently has one floor in Mellon Bank and one in Five Tower Bridge, in West Conshohocken.
Aberdeen is taking up two and a half floors in Mellon Bank Center that will house its 200-plus associates. Management expects the firm to move into the building in July.

Leasing rates for the deal were not immediately available. Grubb & Ellis’ most recent report has class A office space in West Market submarket going for $31.33 per sf, Cushman & Wakefield has it at $28.56, while Studley calculates the average at $27.66 per sf.

Jones Lang LaSalle represented Aberdeen in the deal, while Grubb & Ellis represented owner Newton, MA-based HRPT Properties Trust. HRPT’s 19 properties in the Philadelphia Metro area are 87.3% leased, according to a Q2 financial filing.
The 55-story 1.3-million-sf Mellon Bank Center is one of the most recognizable buildings on the Philadelphia skyline. Built in 1960, it underwent a major renovation in 1997.

Obviously, the building was not built in 1960, nor did it undergo a major renovation in 1997. So which building are they confusing it with?

UglymanCometh · #13 Posted **Oct 16, 2008, 5:32 PM**

Honestly... my favourite skyscraper. Period.

Don098 · #14 Posted **Oct 16, 2008, 7:10 PM**

Good catch Skyscraper. That is an egregious mistake...

If only Kohn could have incorporated even half of this building's external ornamentation to break up the mundane glass curtain of his new baby, the ACC... :-( This is one of my favorite skyscrapers in the world. I only wish they lit the pyramid up in gold more often rather than white...

hammersklavier · #15 Posted **Jan 26, 2009, 8:40 PM**

This is my favoritest recent Philadelphia skyscraper. Its detailing gives it a retro appearance, which, given its site (surrounded by Art Deco and modernist buildings) is entirely proper and appropriate: a structure that respects its context. It is also a focal point of view from the Comcast plaza. I honestly don't know why anyone would hate it.

pj3000 · #16 Posted **Jan 27, 2009, 2:49 AM**

My favorite Philly skyscraper... and one of my favorites anywhere. A modern classic.

KevinFromTexas · #17 Posted **Jan 31, 2009, 3:29 AM**

I love it too. Top to bottom it's a cool building. I want one.

Tex17 · #18 Posted **Apr 23, 2010, 10:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don098

People hate this building????

That was my response too. How could anyone hate it? Weird.

Buckeye Native 001 · #19 Posted **Apr 24, 2010, 1:22 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by volguus zildrohar

What say you?

I say yay

TheCity · #20 Posted **May 11, 2010, 1:22 AM**

I don't love this building, but don't hate it either. The architecture just doesn't do it for me, which is strange considering Philadelphia is one of my favorite cities in the states.

I like the inside more than the outside. Everyone knows it's famous for the movie "Philadelphia" with Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington.