BNY Mellon Center

BNY Mellon Center future lobby. Image via Silverstein Properties

Lobby Renovations Underway at BNY Mellon Center at 1735 Market Street in Center City

7:30 am on April 21, 2022 By Thomas Koloski

At the time when the Liberty Place project was proposed in Center City, other developers scrambled to join Philadelphia’s skyline race to top the Statue of William Penn atop City Hall. At 1735 Market Street, the skyscraper formerly dubbed Mellon Bank Center, now known as BNY Mellon Center, has long been a major fixture of the Philadelphia skyline. The project, which started to rise in 1987, rises to a height of 824 feet, with a 792-foot-high roof, and 54 stories. The tower was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and developed by CommonWealth REIT. Silverstein Properties, the owners of the World Trade Center in New York City, purchased the property in 2019 for $451.6 million; renovations were later announced for the tower.

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Arthaus and Center City towers from the I-95. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Toward the Blue Yonder: Comparing Views from the Tallest Skyscrapers on the Philadelphia Skyline

8:00 am on January 6, 2022 By Vitali Ogorodnikov

High-rise development offer numerous advantages, including efficient use of valuable urban real estate, environmental benefits through resource use economies of scale and conservation of land, and dense, transit-friendly and pedestrian-favorable environments that create thriving cities. Then, of course, there are the lofty views that are available to dwellers of sky-high aeries. Using the formula of D = 1.22459 x Sqrt (H + 5.58), where D equals distance and H stands for the height of the building’s highest floor and 5.58 represents 5′-7″, the height of the average US adult in feet, we can calculate the longest unobstructed view distances on a clear day from any building level. Today YIMBY offers a comparison of views and view distances from the highest floors of some of the tallest buildings on the Philadelphia skyline.

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Mellon Bank Center crown. Photo by Thomas Koloski

A Look at the BNY Mellon Center at 1735 Market Street in Center City

7:00 am on June 7, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

The Center City skyline had drastically changed in the late 1980s with the construction of newly approved skyscrapers standing over the former, informal 548-foot height limit established by City Hall. In late 1990, Mellon Bank Center, located at 1735 Market Street in Center City, joined the skyline with its bright materials alongside the other new, amazingly designed skyscrapers. The tower stands 54 stories above the ground with a total height of 824 feet to the tip of the crown and a roof height of 792 feet. The skyscraper was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, which is currently constructing Arthaus a few blocks to the south of City Hall. The tower is owned by Silverstein Properties, which also owns the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. The building received a name change for a branding initiative, and is now called the BNY Mellon Center.

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Mellon Bank Center. Photo via Elizabeth Day Art & Architectural Illustration

A Look at the Former, Taller Iteration of Mellon Bank Center, Center City

8:00 am on February 12, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

The 824-foot Mellon Bank Center at 1735 Market Street was completed in 1990. Originally, the tower had a similar design yet with a taller shape and several other  differences. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and developed by CommonWealth REIT, the tower would have stood 880 feet tall and would have featured projecting floor space at the corners up to an estimated height of 400 feet. The crown would have also appeared more skeletal than it looks today. Stone patterns all around the base are different.

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