A Look Back At The Land Title Building

Today Philadelphia YIMBY looks at the Land Title Building, located at 1400 Chestnut Street in Center City. At the time of its completion in 1898, the building, together with its annex (completed in 1902), was one of the first largest structures along Broad Street other than City Hall. The taller tower rises 331 feet tall, and the buildings have a floor count of 22 and 15 stories. The building was designed by Daniel H. Burnham of Daniel H. Burnham and Company, in collaboration with Horace Trumbauer, in a Classical Revival style.

Land Title Building. Image via shorpy.com

The chief architect of the project, David H. Burnham, was well known for designing some of the first skyscrapers in the world, such as the Flatiron Building in New York City. The north building had started construction in 1896, just two year after the statue of William Penn topped out on top of City Hall to the north. The structure was completed two years later in 1898, and the annex had started construction shortly after. The annex is located to the south and has more floor space and mass compared to the other building. The annex had completed construction just a year after City Hall.

Land Title Building aerial. Image via Old Images of Philadelphia on Facebook

When the tower was first completed, the mass of the building was overwhelming on the skyline as it stood together with City Hall’s clock tower. The stone cladding rises just as high as the stonework on City Hall under its four massive clocks. In the early days of the building’s existence, the public was unaware of the future man-made canyon that would soon go up Broad Street. Over the course of the next 20 years, the two structures would be joined by more buildings that would rise in the area.

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