One Liberty Place

Philadelphia skyline lit up from South Philadelphia. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Observing the New Lighting Schemes in the Philadelphia Skyline

7:30 am on May 20, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

Last month, Philadelphia YIMBY reported on new lighting schemes that are decorating the nighttime skyline. Though it was already known that One Liberty Place at 1650 Market Street and the W/Element Hotel at 1441 Chestnut Street, both located in Center City, are having their lighting tested, both now feature together in the skyline, with new programming visible to the residents of the city. The lights on One Liberty Place, which used to be dimmer and had sections of the lighting noticeably lit a different color, the lights have now been fixed and brightened. The W/Element Hotel used to be a dark skyscraper in the night time skyline with just the aviation warning lights noticeable, but now the skyscraper is lit up nearly as much as the FMC Tower in University City.

One Liberty Place elevation and Helmut Jahn. Photo and image via JAHN

As the World Remembers Helmut Jahn, One Liberty Place Lights Up the Skyline

8:00 am on May 10, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

Philadelphia YIMBY often shares exciting and uplifting news regarding the city and its development. However, on May 8th, in Chicago, world-renowned architect Helmut Jahn was tragically killed in a road incident not far from his eponymous firm. According to the press, Jahn was biking near his home, 40 miles away from Chicago, when he was struck by two vehicles and was pronounced dead the next day at 81 years old. The architect was born on January 4, 1940 in Zindorf, Germany, and has designed an incredible amount of buildings between 1974 and 2017. In his lifetime, Jahn has produced unique and awe-inspiring designs throughout the world, which stood out as ahead of their time, and has left a dramatic imprint on the Philadelphia skyline.

Philadelphia 1987 and 2020 south elevation. Model and image by Thomas Koloski

Philadelphia YIMBY Compares Massing Renderings of the 1987 and the 2020 Skyline

8:00 am on May 9, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

Over the decades, the Philadelphia skyline has seen many transformations with different iconic images, such as when City Hall stood all alone in the early 1900s. One of the key years in the high-rise history of the city is 1987, when One Liberty Place dramatically surpassed City Hall in height and opened later in the same year. Another key year is 2018, when the skyline gained its first supertall tower with the completion of the Comcast Technology Center. Today Philly YIMBY compares the skyline’s appearance in 1987 to its state in 2020.

Bank of the Southwest Tower in the Houston skyline. Image via Jahn/Murphy, Inc

Looking at the Unbuilt Bank of the Southwest Tower, Houston’s Precursor to One Liberty Place

8:00 am on May 6, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

Before One Liberty Place topped the Philadelphia skyline in 1987, a larger skyscraper, also designed by Helmut Jahn, was proposed in the city of Houston, with a design that featured striking similarities to the future Philadelphia tower. Known as the Bank of the Southwest, the supertall was planned to count 82 floors, with an angled crown capped with a sharp spire that would rise 1,404 feet high. The larger office floors were to have angled cuts on each corner. The firm of Jahn/Murphy, Inc. was chosen after a design contest in 1982 and the tower was projected to be completed by 1986. The tower was cancelled by 1983 due to a lack of funding, but elements of the design were later integrated into the Philadelphia 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.

Liberty Place unfinished design with the Philadelphia skyline, south elevation. Models and image by Thomas Koloski

Imagining the Philadelphia Skyline with the 1985 Iteration of Liberty Place

8:00 am on March 28, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

On April 5, 1984, Willard G. Rouse of Rouse and Associates announced the proposal of Liberty Place, a complex in Center City that would rise hundreds of feet above the informal height limit set by the 548-foot Philadelphia City Hall. By the next year, Helmut Jahn of Murphy/Jahn Architects finalized the design on One Liberty Place at 1650 Market Street as the design we see today, though Two Liberty Place, The Shops at Liberty Place, and the hotel all differed from their current versions. Today Philly YIMBY takes a closer look at this early iteration of the complex design.

Philadelphia nighttime skyline from New Jersey. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Decorative Lighting Upgrade Complete Atop One Liberty Place in Center City

7:30 am on February 6, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

One Liberty Place has been a centerpiece of the Philadelphia skyline since 1987, with a nighttime display that highlights the angled crown and spire. Designed by renowned architect Helmut Jahn and developed by Rouse and Associates, the 945-foot-tall, 61-story tower is part of a complex that includes the similarly-sized Two Liberty Place tower as well as a hotel and a shopping mall. Recently, an upgrade has been completed on the building’s decorative lighting, restoring its place on the night skyline.

Philadelphia skyline from South Street Bridge. Photo by The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Illustrated History of Philadelphia’s Skyscraper Boom of 1984-1991

8:00 am on January 28, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

The Philadelphia skyline is anchored by a group of particularly tall buildings, but just 40 years ago, not a single tower rose over 548 feet, the height of the City Hall tower that was completed in 1901. An informal “gentlemen’s agreement” held towers back from rising above the limit, but no developer was successful until One Commerce Square was approved in 1984, which was soon followed by a series of even taller skyscrapers. Philly YIMBY looks at the history behind these Center City buildings, which shaped a major portion of the Philadelphia skyline as we know it today.

One Liberty Place from Cira Green. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Designing One Liberty Place, the Tower that Transformed Philadelphia’s Skyline

8:00 am on January 18, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

One Liberty Place at 1650 Market Street is an intricately designed skyscraper has dominated the skyline of Center City for over three decades. Designed by Murphy/Jahn and developed by Rouse and Associates, the tower is clad in a pattern of stone, metal, and glass that rises up to the angled crown and the thin spire. The tower first rose to its final 61-story height in the beginning of 1987, when the top floor was assembled beneath the future spire. Philly YIMBY looks back at the design process by architect Helmut Jahn via drawings from 1984, which show multiple design iterations.

How One Liberty Place Revolutionized the Philadelphia Skyline

8:00 am on January 5, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

In August 1987, the 945-foot-tall One Liberty Place officially opened at 1650 Market Street as Philadelphia’s tallest skyscraper, soaring above the long-held unofficial height limit of 548 feet, set by the tower of City Hall in 1901. This remarkable skyscraper with a fantastical design ultimately led to the city gaining a new cluster of tall and massive skyscrapers that define the skyline to this day. In this feature, Philadelphia YIMBY explores the building’s progress from concept to reality, as well as its tenure as the city’s tallest skyscraper for 31 years.

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