1441 Chestnut Street

W/Element Hotel from Chestnut Street. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Element Hotel Opens at W/Element Hotel at 1441 Chestnut Street in Center City

8:00 am on May 14, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

The Element Hotel at the W/Element Hotel has opened for business at 1441 Chestnut Street in Center City, with the W Hotel scheduled to open in July. The 52-story skyscraper stands at a height of 617 feet, where the Element Hotel will have 460 rooms and the W Hotel will have 295 rooms, bringing the total to 755 units. Designed by Philadelphia-based Cope-Liner Architects and developed by Chestlen Development, the tower featuring a jagged top and scattered lighting. The latter was crafted by The Lighting Practice, which has lit up structures such as the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, 2400 Market Street, the PECO Building, and the Empire State Building in New York City. Tutor Perini Corporation is the contractor for the skyscraper.

One Liberty Place and the W/Element Hotel lit up from New Jersey. Photo by Thomas Koloski

New Lighting Schemes Decorate Philadelphia Skyline at Night

8:00 am on April 29, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

Since the late 1980s, Philadelphia’s Center City skyscrapers featured appealing decorative lighting schemes. The first tower to be lit up was One Liberty Place at 1650 Market Street, completed in 1987, with lights accentuating the angled crown and the sharp spire. Over the years more high-rises towers were constructed that also displayed standout nighttime lighting, with one of the biggest recent additions being the Comcast Technology Center with its massive lantern at the top. Even more recent was the W/Element Hotel at 1441 Chestnut Street, where intensive testing of its the decorative lighting started just a few months ago.

Waldorf Astoria looking northwest. Image via Cope-Linder Architects

Looking at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel & Residences Once Proposed at 1441 Chestnut Street in Center City

8:00 am on March 3, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

Today’s entry in Philly YIMBY’s ongoing “unbuilt” series is the Waldorf Astoria Hotel & Residences Philadelphia, proposed at 1441 Chestnut Street in Center City, where the W/Element Hotel is now nearing completion. The 567-foot-tall, 59-story tower would have occupied the south side of the site of the former One Meridian Plaza, a 492-foot-tall office skyscraper damaged by a lethal fire in 1991 and demolished in 1999 (yesterday YIMBY covered a supertall structure proposed earlier at the site). Like the W/Element Hotel, the Waldorf Astoria iteration was also designed by Cope-Linder Architects, though the developers at the time were Mariner Commercial Properties, Inc. and Gatehouse Capital Corporation. The tower would have featured 181 hotel rooms and 126 residences.

W/Element Hotel with decorative lighting. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Decorative Lighting Tested Atop W/Element Hotel at 1441 Chestnut Street in Center City

8:00 am on February 22, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

In recent days, decorative lighting was undergoing testing atop the W/Element Hotel at 1441 Chestnut Street in Center City, as the dual-branded hotel readies for its grand opening in the coming months (Element Hotel in April and the W Hotel in May). Designed by Cope-Linder Architects and developed by Chestlen Development, the tower’s nighttime illumination will be particularly effective due to the tower’s prominent height of 617 feet and 52 stories, further enhanced by the dramatic design inspired by the ripples on the Schuylkill River. During Superbowl LII, the Lighting Practice, the building’s illumination designer, was inspired by multiple skyscrapers that were illuminated in green in honor of the Philadelphia Eagles and decided to switch from an all-white design to a multi-colored LED system.

Finishing Touches Going Up on W/Element Hotel at 1441 Chestnut Street in Center City

8:00 am on December 30, 2020 By Thomas Koloski

The second-tallest building on Philly YIMBY’s December 2020 Development Countdown is the W/Element Hotel, which is finishing construction at 1441 Chestnut Street in Center City, a block south of City Hall. Designed by Cope-Linder Architects and developed by Chestlen Development, the 52-story skyscraper stands 617 feet tall and features a distinctive design with jagged blue glass and gray metal cladding that was inspired by the Schuylkill River and the cliffs that run along it. The building has made a significant impact on the Center City skyline, as it joins the group of 500-foot-plus towers in the Center City core.

Checking In On Philadelphia’s 2020 Skyline

8:00 am on August 8, 2020 By Thomas Koloski

The city of Philadelphia has been booming recently with skyscrapers and buildings of all shapes and sizes. While most of the new buildings have been proposed and built in Center City, the skyline is extending in all directions. The skyline made its first significant leap across the Schuylkill River back in 2005 with the 437-foot, 29-story Cira Centre; now, the area boasts three towers over 400 feet all within a few blocks of one another. The district may soon add a new supertall at the site of Schuylkill Yards, as seen on SHOP Architects renderings from 2016 (though the tower has been excluded from recent renderings).

Work To Soon Wrap Up On The Dual Branded W/Element Hotel, Center City

8:00 am on August 6, 2020 By Thomas Koloski

Completion approaches at the dual-branded W/Element Hotel, a 582-foot tower at 1441 Chestnut Street designed by Cope-Linder Architects. The 773,500 square foot property was first scheduled to be opened back in spring 2018, but the opening date was significantly pushed back. The structure had started rising in August 2016 after setbacks with the foundation, but the tower had made a steady rise, popping into the skyline by the second quarter of 2018. With the concrete structure topped in August 2018 and steel topped with the W logo at the end of October, the jagged-faced tower is now largely finished.

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