PHILADELPHIA | Comcast Technology Center | 1,121 FT | 60 FLOORS - Page 48

apetrella802 · #**941** Posted **Jul 21, 2014, 7:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Castle

Thanks for sharing your photos with us! One thing I got from your photos that I was unaware of: The first Commerce Square tower appears close to completion (at least structurally) in one of those 1986 photos, while Liberty 1 appears to be about 500' or so, which would mean that it was Commerce Square that was the first to break the gentleman's agreement concerning building height in Philly. I always thought that Liberty 1 was the first to break above Billy Penn's hat, but it would appear that Commerce Square was actually the first to break the barrier (by 17 feet). I had no idea.

I think most people, certainly the people who certify the official height of buildings, are looking at the height at completion of construction but it is an interesting point.

I give an architectural walking tour as a volunteer for the AIA Center for Architecture, i.e. "The Emergence of a Modern Metropolis" and I used to say that as City Hall rose above 430 feet it was the first man made structure to exceed the height of the great pyramid of Giza which was completed around 2750 BC. That means it was the first man made structure to exceed the great pyramid in almost 5,000 years! The Eiffel Tower and the Washington Monument soon followed.But low and behold I came across an article that said that the estimate for the height of the Light House of Alexandria(around 300 BC) was between 500 and 600 feet. Of course this is an estimate and we know with certainty the height of the great pyramid.

apetrella802 · #**942** Posted **Jul 21, 2014, 8:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Castle

Thanks for sharing your photos with us! One thing I got from your photos that I was unaware of: The first Commerce Square tower appears close to completion (at least structurally) in one of those 1986 photos, while Liberty 1 appears to be about 500' or so, which would mean that it was Commerce Square that was the first to break the gentleman's agreement concerning building height in Philly. I always thought that Liberty 1 was the first to break above Billy Penn's hat, but it would appear that Commerce Square was actually the first to break the barrier (by 17 feet). I had no idea.

I see you are right about 1CS being the 1st taller than city hall. Maybe 1LP was the first building planned to be taller and took longer to build.

ichigo · #**943** Posted **Jul 21, 2014, 8:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by apetrella802

I think most people, certainly the people who certify the official height of buildings, are looking at the height at completion of construction but it is an interesting point.

I give an architectural walking tour as a volunteer for the AIA Center for Architecture, i.e. "The Emergence of a Modern Metropolis" and I used to say that as City Hall rose above 430 feet it was the first man made structure to exceed the height of the great pyramid of Giza which was completed around 2750 BC. That means it was the first man made structure to exceed the great pyramid in almost 5,000 years! The Eiffel Tower and the Washington Monument soon followed.But low and behold I came across an article that said that the estimate for the height of the Light House of Alexandria(around 300 BC) was between 500 and 600 feet. Of course this is an estimate and we know with certainty the height of the great pyramid.

Wasn't Lincoln Cathedral in England (build in 1311) 525 feet tall, which is taller than pyramids. It was also followed by many other buildings taller than the pyramids. City Hall only held the record of tallest from 1901-08.

Philly Fan · #**944** Posted **Jul 21, 2014, 8:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ichigo

City Hall only held the record of tallest from 1901-08.

But those sure were seven great years for Philly.

apetrella802 · #**945** Posted **Jul 22, 2014, 3:11 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ichigo

Wasn't Lincoln Cathedral in England (build in 1311) 525 feet tall, which is taller than pyramids. It was also followed by many other buildings taller than the pyramids. City Hall only held the record of tallest from 1901-08.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Cathedral

Even though the spires proved unstable and collapsed there were for some time taller than the giza pyramid so you're right.

turnofthetide · #**946** Posted **Jul 22, 2014, 1:03 PM**

Um....

Numerous cathedrals in Europe built between the 1300-1900 that were taller than the Great Pyramid (that is actually 455ft currently). I'm all for promoting Philly's greatness but saying City Hall was the first structure taller than Khufu?!

R5Ryder · #**947** Posted **Jul 22, 2014, 2:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by apetrella802

here are the photos I took of 1 Liberty place construction from may 1985 to nov 1987 which B Maule published on his old website about 5 years ago. it took just about 8 months to "come out of the ground". It this case it was an all steel core and all steel structural framing system, whereas in Comcast 1 and 2 we have a RC core and and all steel structural framing system.

http://phillyskyline.com/onelibertyplace/index2.htm

Thanks that was great to look at. I was a 10-year old in the suburbs when that was going on so it was cool to see how it rose.

Is there an easy way within the site to navigate to construction photos for other buildings? The building images links seem to go to completed photos as opposed to the link you just posted that went direct to the construction.

apetrella802 · #**948** Posted **Jul 22, 2014, 6:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by R5Ryder

Thanks that was great to look at. I was a 10-year old in the suburbs when that was going on so it was cool to see how it rose.

Is there an easy way within the site to navigate to construction photos for other buildings? The building images links seem to go to completed photos as opposed to the link you just posted that went direct to the construction.

when you click on the link i provided the page you see has a white silhouette of the Philadelphia skyline. If you click on a particular building you will see a series of pictures of that building, I assume, were taken by B. Maule who's website this is.

If he sees this post I was wondering if he is going to chronicle pictorially the construction of CITC?

Londonee · #**949** Posted **Jul 22, 2014, 6:54 PM**

July 22 2014

The older parking structure is still there...

1487 · #**950** Posted **Jul 22, 2014, 7:05 PM**

thats a great vantage point to watch progress.

Plokoon11 · #**951** Posted **Jul 22, 2014, 11:34 PM**

What is that one pile driver doing in the middle, while the other one is nailing I beams into the perimeter?

summersm343 · #**952** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 12:36 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plokoon11

What is that one pile driver doing in the middle, while the other one is nailing I beams into the perimeter?

Test bores.

Swinefeld · #**953** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 12:44 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by summersm343

Test bores.

On the contrary. I find this quite exciting!

Plokoon11 · #**954** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 1:01 AM**

Oooh thats for test bores! Alright gotcha!

summersm343 · #**955** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 1:14 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plokoon11

Oooh thats for test bores! Alright gotcha!

You can see test bore holes on the upper right hand corner of the picture abutting Arch and one at the bottom of the picture abutting 18th

Plokoon11 · #**956** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 1:21 AM**

^ Here I was thinking they were mole holes.

brian.odonnell20 · #**957** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 4:58 PM**

It's really not that hard to see the progress on the site... I was just there yesterday and most of the south side of the site is regular fencing that you can see through. Just sayin

summersm343 · #**958** Posted **Jul 24, 2014, 3:52 PM**

Article from Naked Philly:

http://www.ocfrealty.com/sites/www.o...roundbreak.jpg

Philly Fan · #**959** Posted **Jul 24, 2014, 4:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by summersm343

Article from Naked Philly:

http://www.ocfrealty.com/sites/www.o...roundbreak.jpg

Oh my god! Port-a-potties on site! I think THAT should be the new trigger for moving projects from the "Proposals" to the "Construction" forum.

Philly-Drew · #**960** Posted **Jul 25, 2014, 12:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Castle

Thanks for sharing your photos with us! One thing I got from your photos that I was unaware of: The first Commerce Square tower appears close to completion (at least structurally) in one of those 1986 photos, while Liberty 1 appears to be about 500' or so, which would mean that it was Commerce Square that was the first to break the gentleman's agreement concerning building height in Philly. I always thought that Liberty 1 was the first to break above Billy Penn's hat, but it would appear that Commerce Square was actually the first to break the barrier (by 17 feet). I had no idea.

You're not the only one who thought/thinks that Liberty 1 was the first to break the gentlemen's agreement about being taller than City Hall. I also thought that there was quite the controversy about Liberty 1 breaking it, even back in the day. So, before we actually go in record, we better figure that out.

apetrella, can you comment on this? You were, after all, the photographer of these pics.