Center City

Park Tower. Image via Skidmore Owings and Merrill

A Look Back At The Unbuilt Park Tower In Center City

During its boom years in the 1980s and the 1990s, the Philadelphia skyline saw multiple tower proposals, many of which ended up not being built. Among these was Park Tower, located at 1501 Arch Street in Center City. Designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill, the two-towered development would include a 32-story, 480-foot-tall building on Cherry Street and the shorter high-rise standing 230 feet and 18 stories tall. The buildings would feature facades clad in red brick and white stone cladding. Today Philadelphia YIMBY looks back at the development and how it would fit into the skyline.

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Fourth scheme of the PSFS Building. Image via George Howe and William Edmond Lescaze

YIMBY Presents Massing Renderings of the Fourth Design for the PSFS Building

In the past month, YIMBY has posted multiple publications on the PSFS Building and its history. The building stands at 1200 Market Street in Market East, Center City, with a height of 491 feet that dominates the local skyline even now, and did even more so when it was recently built. The tower was designed by George Howe and William Lescaze, who drew up several designs of the building prior to construction. In this feature, Philadelphia YIMBY shares the fourth iteration of the PSFS Building, which also had a physical model built.

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Second scheme of the PSFS Building. Image via George Howe and William Edmond Lescaze

YIMBY Presents Massing Renderings of the Second Design for the PSFS Building

In recent weeks, Philadelphia YIMBY has shared a series of publications on the historic PSFS Building at 1200 Market Street in Market East, Center City. Yesterday we looked in detail at the first iteration of the building designed by architects George Howe and William Lescaze, who partnered in 1929. In this feature, we present massing renderings of the second design. The roof height of the current building stands 491 feet above the ground, which is likely as high as the iterations analyzed here would have also risen.

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Rendering of One Dock Street. Credit: BLT Architects.

Construction Equipment Arrives at One Dock Street in Society Hill, Center City

Construction equipment has arrived at the site of One Dock Street, a 374-foot-tall, 31-story high-rise proposed in Society HillCenter City. Designed by BLT Architects, the tower will contain 272 residential units and will be connected to the existing four-story Marriot Hotel. Amenities will include a roof deck and a roof-top pool. In total, the tower will hold 288,997 square feet of space.

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First scheme of the PSFS Building. Image via George Howe

YIMBY Presents Massing Renderings of the First PSFS Building Design

In the 1920s, banks were looking for space in cities around the country as the economy boomed. In Philadelphia, multiple high-rises were under construction and in proposal stages as Center City was rapidly transforming. One of these financial institutions, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, was scouting the city for space for a new office building and eventually selected the site at 1200 Market Street, where the William Penn Charter School once stood. Architects George Howe and William Lescaze designed the PSFS Building, which stood as one of the most massive buildings in the skyline for decades. In this feature, Philadelphia YIMBY presents massing renderings of an early iteration of the that was drawn up in 1928.

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