Washington. Credit: Google.

Permits Issued for 24-Unit Conversion at 943-49 Washington Avenue in Bella Vista, South Philadelphia

7:30 am on April 21, 2021 By Colin LeStourgeon

Permits have been issued for a multi-family conversion of 943-49 Washington Avenue in Bella Vista, South Philadelphia. An extension will be added to the structure, which will stand a total of five stories tall upon completion and contain 24 residential units. Permit lists TBC LLC as the contractor, with Lonny Rossman as the design professional. The building will hold 29,535 square feet of space and cost an estimated $4.2 million to build.

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The Centennial Tower. Image from Clarke, Reeves and Company

Remembering the Unbuilt Centennial Tower in Fairmount Park, West Philadelphia

8:00 am on April 20, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

During the planning for the Centennial Exposition of 1876, expo organizers put forth a bold proposal for an incredibly tall structure called the Centennial Tower in Fairmount Park, where two buildings still remain from the expo. The tower was planned at 1,000 feet tall, well before any skyscrapers were built in the city. The tower would have risen as large cross-braced tube that slims down at the top, capped with a short cone top and lightning rod, and would have featured four observation levels. The metal structure was designed by Clarke, Reeves and Company, which had also designed an older bridge that stood at then site of the current Girard Avenue Bridge.

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Credit: Seven Tower Bridge.

Completion Nears at Seven Tower Bridge Office Complex in Conshohocken

7:30 am on April 20, 2021 By Colin LeStourgeon

Completion of construction is approaching rapidly at Seven Tower Bridge, a large office development situated by the Schuylkill River in Conshohocken, northwest of Philadelphia. The main tower stands 14 stories tall, holds 250,000 square feet of office space, and sits atop an 820-car parking garage podium which allows the building to reach a greater height than it would have otherwise. Amenities will include a two-story marble lobby, a gym, and a riverside café.

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1436 Parrish Street. Looking southwest. Credit: Google

Permits Issued for Four-Unit Building at 1436 Parrish Street in Francisville, North Philadelphia

7:00 am on April 20, 2021 By Vitali Ogorodnikov

The construction boom in Francisville continues unabated with the issue of permits for a three-story, four-unit residential building at 1436 Parrish Street in the rapidly growing lower North Philadelphia neighborhood. The site is owned by Rubin Realty LLC, which also owns several nearby properties where similarly-scaled new developments were recently announced at 1424 Parrish Street, 1434 Parrish Street, and 830 Burns Street. As with the above-mentioned projects, the developer has secured Alexander Fiskman as the architect and Modern Solution LLC as the contractor. Construction is expected to cost $180,000.

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Philadelphia skyline 1975 south elevation. Image and models by Thomas Koloski

Philadelphia YIMBY Presents Massing Renderings of the 1975 Skyline

8:00 am on April 19, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

In the 1970s the Philadelphia skyline was on the rise, with bulky new office towers being constructed throughout Center City. At this time, the “Gentlemen’s Agreement” was untouched, as every structure stood below the height of the statue of William Penn at the top of City Hall. New high-rises were adding substantial amounts of office space and dominated the previous structures that stood out in the skyline, and featured various designs with stone, metal, and glass cladding. Philadelphia YIMBY presents massing renderings of the skyline as it stood in 1975, when Brutalist architecture dominated much of the financial district, including the area around City Hall.

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