Center City

Girard Trust Building from City Hall. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Taking a Look at The Girard Trust Building at 28-32 South Broad Street in Center City

At the end of the 1920s, right before the Great Depression, builders in Philadelphia had proposed several high-rise banks, which were constructed rapidly in the coming years. One of such towers was the Girard Trust Building at 28-32 South Broad Street, which stands just to the south of City Hall in Center City to the east of the site where One Meridian Plaza would later stand. Designed by Furness, Evans & Co. and McKim, Mead & White, which McKim, Mead & White, the latter being the architect for the old Penn Station in New York City, the skyscraper rises 394 feet and 30 stories tall. The structure was completed in 1931, the same year as the Empire State Building.

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Terrace on 18th Street. Image by Gabe Lui Architectural Renderings

Conversion Work Underway at The Terrace On 18th Street in Logan Square, Center City

Renovation work continues at the the 27-story hotel-to-residential conversion at Terrace on 18th Street at 1776 Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Logan Square, Center City. Designed by Oskar Stonorov of Korman Co., the tower was completed in 1963 as an apartment building. In the mid=1980s it was converted into the Embassy Suites by Hilton Philadelphia Center City, around the same time as the Embassy Suites at Philadelphia International Airport also opened with a similar design. The tower is now owned by Pearl Properties, which is also responsible for The Harper and 113-121 South 19th Street. The conversion was designed by DAS Architecture, and exterior renderings are provided by Gabe Lui Architectural Renderings.

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Philadelphia 1965 and 2020 south elevation. Model and image by Thomas Koloski

Philadelphia YIMBY Compares Massing Renderings of the 1965 and the 2020 Skyline

In the 1960s, the Philadelphia skyline was on the verge of transformation as several massive towers were proposed at the end of the decade. In the mid-1960s, City Hall, topped by the William Penn Statue, ranking as the tallest building, with most other tall towers clustering in the vicinity. Over the next few decades, the Center City skyline has extended greatly to the east and west, with many dominant modern office towers surpassing City Hall. Today Philly YIMBY looks back and compares the skyline from 1965 skyline to its current form.

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Medical Tower with Center City Towers. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Looking At The Medical Tower At 255 South 17th Street in Center City

Philadelphia YIMBY takes a look at a wildly slender high-rise for its time, the Medical Tower built in 1931 at 255 South 17th Street in Rittenhouse Square, Center City. The tower stands just over a block away from Rittenhouse Square Park and several blocks to the south of the Liberty Place complex. Designed by McIlvain and Roberts, a firm that had also designed the American Patriots Building and 3557 Walnut Street, the building rises 364 feet and 33 stories tall. The tower is clad in brick and limestone and makes a distinctive presence on the skyline, oarticularly when viewed from the south.

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Rendering of 2300-24 Market Street via Tantillo Architecture.

A Review of the Future Site of 2300-24 Market Street in Center City West

Two months ago, Philadelphia YIMBY had reported on a new and exciting development that will rise in Center City West. Located at 2300-24 Market Street, an overbuild is planned to rise on top of several structures that has been standing for over 50 years. Designed by Tantillo Architecture and developed by Lubert-Alder, the new building will stand 202 feet and 14 stories tall.

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