PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread X

[mcgrath618]

I took a deeper delve into Philly's highrise history, and now I'm interested to hear: what do you think of the buildings demolished to make way for the Convention Center, for those who were around? Was it worth it?

What about the 2009 addition? They knocked down two old midrises for that. Were those worth the loss?

[JohnIII]

The buildings that were demolished that made way for the Convention Center; wow.

Well, from what I remember Cherry Street ran all the way through to Broad Street and there was a building at Broad and Cherry that was a good size; a Mid to Low Rise building; the Military Recruiters had there office on the first floor on the corner; Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines; I spent a lot of time in that building in the 1980s. I remember the area back to the early 1970's

From what I remember the area was pretty seedy; a lot of small storefronts and Doc Johnson's was right around 13th so it wasn't really known for any life or livelihood at the time. From what I remember; you had Reading Terminal and the building was really dirty; had that old grey paint; the Regional Rail would travel from the north on the Viaduct right into the train shed until that built the commuter tunnel. North of Reading terminal was a lot; a gravel lot where anyone could park for a price and a lot of times people would drive there and park there north of Arch Street and walk into Reading Terminal Market; think 8th and Market Parking Lot but not as nice; but it did for the time; it had a lot of huge duct work and fans related to the train tracks that ran above. I remember you could go into the Reading Terminal Market and hear the trained rolling on the floor above and often I remember looking up at the wood wondering how well that floor was made.

Then you walk up Arch Street between 12th and 13th crossing the trolley tracks where the 23 Trolley ran and you could hear it coming because of how the weight of the trolley pressed the tracks against the cobblestones under it. There wasn't much that stood out about the buildings; the were store fronts; 12th Street running to Market was the same way; buildings that I looked something like the ones in Chinatown; they were 3 to 4 floors with a store front on the 1st floor and 2 to 3 floors above for residential purposes but they were pretty run down at the time; structurally sound but old I guess.

From 13th Street to Broad Street I remember the buildings; maybe 15 to 20 floors but built probably between 1890 and 1910 I guess; thinking back they kind of remind me of the buildings near the Academy of Fine Arts; like the one on the north side of Cherry Street that's west of Broad; they were sold structures but not really standing out.

Now we have the Pennsylvania Convention Center; its more dynamic in appearance and since its a Convention Center if you have a major Convention you have the potential for more life, energy, plus a good area for national and international press if its a major event inside with a good backdrop of City Hall; very good for aesthetics for the city which didn't exist on North Broad in the 1970's of 80's. I do feel bad in a way that the store fronts were torn down because if they were up today they could have been good as commercial space or restaurants much like Sanson Street is now near Rittenhouse Square but its hard to tell; the area had the same feel that North 13th Street has between Filbert and Arch Streets or north of Race Street so that's what it was like at the time.

Well; this isn't really skyscraper news but who knows; if they ever build north of the Convention Center maybe it will be useful.

[700 Level]

Great information JohnIII. Thanks for taking the time to share.

[Jayfar]

More October CDR materials posted today for October 22nd meeting (they've been doing 2 meetings per month temporarily).

Notable is Pearl Properties' 19th Street proposal, which includes properties on Chestnut, 19th, and Sansom. Pearl owns 2 properties on Chestnut which were recently added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places with their blessing; the kicker is that the Sansom St sides of those 2 properties aren't part of the original historic structures and thus excluded from the historic designations.

https://www.phila.gov/documents/civi...ing-materials/

https://www.phila.gov/media/20201009...t-20201022.pdf

[Jawnadelphia]

Whoa! I had no idea Pearl Properties was planning on that height for that corner, 567 feet! Damn, slender tower too.

[TempleGuy1000]

Cool looking proposal:







https://www.phila.gov/media/20201009...t-20201022.pdf

[3rd&Brown]

So good. So so good.

Seems Philadelphia is not slowing down.

[Urbanthusiat]

^^Looks really good. Reminds me of those skinny towers we see in New York.

[Plokoon11]

Loving it!!

[allovertown]

Wow.

This came out of nowhere.

[phishtown]

Pretty cool. It's like the Laurel's smaller sibling.

[mcgrath618]

115 S 19th Street

[Aaamazarite]

Wow! When the Keane portfolio went up for sale and quickly went under contract, everyone was like "how the hell is anyone going to make this work"? I guess we've got our answer!

[summersm343]

Amazing! Build it! Thanks for the thread McGrath.

[volguus zildrohar]

Originally Posted by mcgrath618

I took a deeper delve into Philly's highrise history, and now I'm interested to hear: what do you think of the buildings demolished to make way for the Convention Center, for those who were around? Was it worth it?

What about the 2009 addition? They knocked down two old midrises for that. Were those worth the loss?

In 2007 I composed a photo essay of the soon-to-be-demolished buildings in the area.

Check it out here.

There were some quality buildings demolished, chief among them the attractive old firehouse but losing that surface lot on Broad Street was a big win by itself.

[Jawnadelphia]

Originally Posted by volguus zildrohar

In 2007 I composed a photo essay of the soon-to-be-demolished buildings in the area.

Check it out here.

There were some quality buildings demolished, chief among them the attractive old firehouse but losing that surface lot on Broad Street was a big win by itself.

Thanks VZ for the old Phillyskyline.com reminder. I loved that website. For the youngins, before instagram, and everyone and every cause/issue/interest being on fb or other social media, man -- to try to get updates on Philly projects, our little niche world, Phillyskyline.com was THE PLACE. I was in law school when the Comcast Center was announced, and was too busy to make it into Center City to check it out very often. The Comcast Center monthly updates/tons of pics on Phillyskyline, along with all the other construction updates and other content was phenomenal. It was really the only place to go. I'd literally get excited when each new update was posted.

Now I feel old, but thanks again VZ for your efforts on that website.

[eixample]

Yeah, I was a big fan of Philly Skyline too, particularly because I was living away from the city during the first decade of this century. I didn't realize it's creator was in our midst

[pwp]

Originally Posted by eixample

Yeah, I was a big fan of Philly Skyline too, particularly because I was living away from the city during the first decade of this century. I didn't realize it's creator was in our midst

I believe Bradley Maule started the site. He pops up every now and then on different blogs.

[Nanyika]

I agree with the praise for the old Philly Skyline site. I was still living in San Francisco until mid-2009, and used to rely on the site for Philadelphia architectural news. I know there was an attempt to revive it some seven years ago when Brad moved back to Philadelphia, but I guess it didn't work. Philadelphia Hidden City, with many contributors, has taken its place to some extent.

As for the Convention Center, there were some positive things gained by locating it in the heart of the city, rather than at the old location on the west bank of the Schuylkill. Unfortunately, in addition to destroying some great architecture, the new monster building created a Chinese Wall on the north side of Center City. The Race Street side, in particular, is little more than a long loading dock, making three blocks of the street into a virtual dead zone.

As I remember, as controversy raged about tearing down some of the buildings, the architects and authorities were never very clear about the projected lay-out and function of the Center in those areas. Why, for example, did they need to have such a wide lobby on Broad Street (today hardly used as often as the entrances on the Arch St. side)? The bank building facade on Broad Street was not even incorporated into the structure itself; it could have been saved. And why they could not build around the firehouse, or at least leave the facade, was never clarified. The compromise, as I recall, was that the sculptures on the firehouse were to be saved and re-installed somewhere. Where are they now?

[PhilliesPhan]

Wow, I had no idea that website existed! I was born in 1995 and spent my childhood growing up in West Philly. I wasn't as intensely interested in skyscrapers and general development as I am today, so I wouldn't have even thought of seeking out such a website--plus, I was too occupied with playing online Flash Player games back then!

The Neighborhoods section is an interesting read. Being that I grew up in West, I never had much of a reason to travel to Fishtown, Brewerytown, and other neighborhoods back in the 2000s. It's hard for me to remember that Fishtown was a rougher neighborhood, but those pictures from 2006 showed me an angle that I'm not too familiar with. The Piazza wasn't built yet, so the northern portion of Northern Liberties must have still been rough, and South Kensington must've still been generally untouched by development. Brewerytown started to intensely revitalize right around the time I became interested in development, so I'm less surprised by that album.

The Haddington album was also great, especially the pictures of the El before reconstruction! I miss the sounds it used to make when running over that old red viaduct when my family would catch it at 52nd Street.