No. I am not. And no. I do not.

I admit the SOB can be tough to love. I used to dislike the building myself very much. I appreciate it for what it isn't and that is a Philadelphia building. Everything about it is incorrect here - massive scale for its area, in the middle of a concrete island, slightly but jarringly asymmetrical due to the utility structure on the roof, funky windows. It's so un-Philadelphia but then one looks closer. The walls aren't blank white at all - they're a very light slate gray with marbling. The windows seem like dull inserts but then you see that the frames are not flush with the facade and, in cumulative, give some depth to the face of the building.



The massing is funky. Wide and overbearing from north or south, slender from east of west and so minimal at ground level - composed of only a partial lobby - as to be almost unobstrusive at ground level. The worst part of the plot is the western end where Blatstein is putting the second building.

We've all got our tastes and sensibilities. There are plenty of buildings in this city that are just plain effin' ugly. I don't consider the SOB to be one of them.

i must say Volgus you are a dedicated man and a great camera lens shot too. But to look at that building from across the street in the parking lot and it adds nothing to the street scape. It adds less than the JSQ train station PATH building in Jersey City. Although they were talking about adding two 50 story towers there in J.C. and a shopping mall that would have looked damn good at the SOB site.

Here is the original rendering... doubt they are still going ahead with the same plan. I think this looks pretty good though, I'm not complaining

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...OfficeBldg.jpg

We never appreciate the work of our father's generation. I don't know how you can call the building dull or dreary. As you can see by VZ's pic There is rhythm in the windows as they undulate in and out and the exterior material is a white marble. The building is stunning. It's the addition that I am worried about. I feel the addition may ruin the purity of the existing monolithic composition.

I can understand both sides of the argument for this one. I agree that the building is impressive as an example of what it is, and I'm sure that it looked a lot more impressive when it was first completed given the effects that the city must've had on the original white marble of the facade.

On the other hand, what Skyscraper.Phanatic is saying makes sense from the standpoint of modernization and development. At the end of the day, isn't that what we all want, especially in such a major part of the city?


Personally, I feel that the rendering that summersm343 posted gives you the best of both worlds and hope that they do indeed follow that plan. It transforms the block while not drawing too much attention away from the original building and blends in fairly well.

Some thoughts...
 

This may be a bit off topic but I think it pertains to Philadelphia Development.

As I said in another post, I just joined recently so I hadn't gone through the various sub-forums until this week, and the Philadelphia Architecture 1700-1940 thread in particular jumped out at me. Going through that thread, a few thoughts came to me:

It's great to preserve older, important buildings (especially cultural buildings) but it's important to remember the spirit of those buildings and remember them in the context of when they were built. I highly doubt that the people who built those old estates or other non-cultural buildings thought that they would be historical landmarks today. They built them to live in them or to work in them or to be places to go for entertainment, dining, shopping or other kinds of leisure. It wasn't the buildings that were important but what happened in them and what they offered people who lived, worked, or were entertained in them. Think about how vibrant the various old houses and other buildings must've been in those times, and how vibrant the area they were in must've been as well.

Another thing to remember is just how grand and impressive those buildings really were in the context of when they were built. The old high school that stood where first the Wilkie Buick and now the 600 lofts/ballroom/restaurant is, the Broad Street Station, Wannamaker's, the Divine Lorraine, The Drake, Shibe, all of these buildings must've been unbelievably grand in their times, and they were certainly lavish. They are a symbol of what Philadelphia once was, is slowly becoming again, and hopefully will again fully be one day. That Philadelphia and the people who shaped and built it should be honored by not settling when it comes to developing this city, and by building grand, impressive buildings that rival the ones that Philadelphia produced. That Philadelphia was a rich, bustling, and vibrant city that was at one point a center of not just the United States but the world. Probably one of the best examples of the differences between then and now from that thread is the picture of the former Aldine theater which is now a CVS. It seems that a lot of what made Philadelphia what it was has died or stagnated since then. We all know the history: how the wealthy moved out of various parts of Philly and places went into disrepair, neighborhoods declined, all of it. It seems that most people (outside of the appreciators of Old Philadelphia) have forgotten or maybe never even knew what the most important part of that history was, and that is what Philadelphia was before all of it happened. That Philadelphia didn't have New York or DC or LA or anybody else thumbing their noses at it. That Philadelphia either was the standard or was damn close. That Philadelphia was the original "Next Great City". It had everything New York or any other city could ever hope to have and it still was its own city. Of course I understand that this is a multi-faceted problem and the decline of the standard of a lot of aspects of society has a part to play as well. Still, it should've never happened to so great a city.

The last thought that popped into my head was how true it was that "They don't make them like they used to." What happened to all of the skilled tradesman who came over to Philadelphia from various places in the world and made such beautiful buildings and such impressive sculptures and other works both in architecture and in other fields? What happened to the actual artisans who learned trades in their home countries and passed them down, just like they had been passed down from their fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers and so on? What happened to the painstaking art that used to be the standard for how things were done? Why is it that these communities all over the Philadelphia region have gotten to the point where they are being gentrified because they aren't strong enough to keep outsiders out? Why should they need to be preserved? They should be stronger than any other part of the city and certainly should be able to fight off gentrification themselves without needing any developer to have a conscience. Considering the amount of talent that existed in these communities of Irish, Italian, Polish, and other immigrants, they should've been able to greatly benefit from the fact that the majority of Old Money people did not have a lot of those skills because they didn't need to. Can you imagine how much money those true artisans who worked on some of the older, more ornate buildings in the city would be making right now? Our heritage is more than just the blood running through our veins. It was never the ethnicities that made this country and this city great but what they brought with them and what they contributed to this country. It's just a shame that it seems not only this city but also this country has lost that.

I hope one day we can not only reach the level this city was once at but surpass it and never look back again. Obviously, everything this city and its residents have been through has given it and us the identity that makes Philly what it is so it wasn't all bad. Now let's all build on that and show everybody what Philadelphia really is. The Comcast Center let the world know Philadelphia is on its way back, and all of the revitalization happening now and in the future is certainly helping. Let's keep building and building on that, while preserving and accentuating our unique skyline and everything else that makes this city great.


As always, that's just my 2 cents.

justanotherrandomguy, good observations.

-When thinking about the differences between buildings of today and buildings of yesteryear its important to remember the significance that buildings had, say, 100 years ago. Carpentry, masonry, sculpture - these were all crafts, serious trades that gave the people who practiced them social significance as well as a livelihood and these were trades being practiced in a time of great and rapid growth. Magnificent structures were the way that people expressed power, modernity and artistic sensibility. It was the one way concrete and longstanding way to leave a mark on the world. As times and technology have changed, the craft of building has lost much of the cultural impact it once had in this country which is how schlocky McMansions came to mar landscapes from sea to shining sea.

-You touch on the subject of gentrification which is a prickly one. There's no sane argument to be made against the idea of cities in the physical and financial shape of Philadelphia welcoming new residents to parts of town that have seen better days. The issue always becomes a balance of the needs to the newcomers versus the needs of the people who called these places home long before (the royal) you got there. It often comes down to money. Whether it's plunging property values or a glut of unoccupied property or a developer launching a large project in a particular area, the economics often drive gentrification and the flow of people can be directly linked to the flow of money into and out of a particular neighborhood. There have to be terabytes of archived pages of this forum discussing and debating this topic and there aren't any easy solutions for the problems it poses if we're taking into account the needs of all parties involved.

-Speaking about the city's fall from prominence, a lot of Philadelphia's problems are Philadelphia's fault. For decades this city managed its budget like a 12 year-old who found a $20 bill. It hewed to outdated concepts on all manner of governance. Its citizens continued to elect empty suits that did little beyond the perfunctory to make this city better for all of its residents. The problems are well documented. Other, more 'successful' cities face a lot of the same issues we do but made survived because of better (or more effective) leadership, a message that is sinking in with everyday Philadelphians. The past 15 years has been a steady parade of tangible examples of good policy, vision (forward looking if not sometimes short-sighted vision) and cooperation. One big challenge that remains, IMO, is the city defining an image for itself. As a whole, the city is still reluctant to shed its industrial heritage. As a whole, we still spend too much time focusing on what other cities are and we're not. It's a struggle to move ahead without a clear vision of where you want to be. Philadelphia is starting to make peace with what it isn't anymore and needs to take that next step to create an identity and become prominent again.

volguus zildrohar and justanotherrandomguy...excellent, sensible commentary. reading both posts really made my day!

I completely agree with what you're saying in your first and third paragraphs (I agree with the second one too but I wanted to touch on it more as I do in my next paragraph). Personally, I think that the biggest problem is the way that the city and the surrounding areas just stopped being a continuous city and started being neighborhoods or boroughs or sections. There are parts of the city that don't even seem like they're within city limits given the "highway" feel it has to it with vacant lots and shuttered buildings like the ones you would drive past on any highway. The way Center City continues to expand seems to address the situation a bit by creating more of an urban core and connecting more and more of the city within that expanding area. Still, you look at streets like Baltimore Ave., Lansdowne, Lancaster, or any of those major avenues that go from the City through Upper Darby and the other surrounding inner-ring suburbs and those are the avenues people moving from the rougher parts of the city to the inner-ring suburbs use. The whole area is urban but yet it's not connected the way an urban area should be except for in the form of transportation and that's why you're seeing so many problems in formerly self-sustaining boroughs and townships. The boundaries don't really exist anymore in a lot of these areas yet the people running things don't even want to look at what's going on or give some real thought to the role those areas are playing and their identity when it comes to the city they border. People don't want to think about Philadelphia as a whole but about their respective sections and while that's good and important when it comes to continuing to have strong communities, it's detrimental to the city as a whole. I think that's played a big part in the way Philly stagnated and stopped striving towards greatness and started settling in a lot of aspects when combined with the way that certain trades and crafts have gone by the wayside (as you mentioned in your first paragraph) and it severely limited and impacted the immigrants who made a living plying those trades and crafts and passed them down for generations. This is why I feel that the key to being a great city again lies within our past and embracing some of those things that have been lost like the lost crafts and trades of yesteryear and all of the various cultural and other aspects that defined us like arts, music, writing and journalism, even things like the ice cream that used to be a defining characteristic of Philadelphia. Actually, I think I can sum this up in one sentence: We as a city need to focus less on being Philly and more on being Philadelphia.

-As for the subject of gentrification, I was raised in a rowhome in Upper Darby township so for me to be anything other than anti-gentrification is pretty big. Considering the growing crime and drug problems (and everything else that has happened to South Delco thanks to the fact that these boroughs and townships and CDPs and everything else were built around industry and immigrants and have stagnated and started to decline thanks to their guts being ripped out) though, I've come to realize that gentrifying the formerly wealthy parts of the city where there isn't the kind of cultural heritage that the original immigrant havens like the Italian Market possess is good for everybody if done right. The city's glory years were when it was a big city and not necessarily a gritty one except for in certain parts. With 120+ square miles of land, Philadelphia is much bigger than people from the outside view it as. As long as we preserve places like the Italian Market and other ethnic enclaves and don't erode at the good things that have identified Philly ever since the wealthy people moved out of certain parts of it, then allowing outsiders to come into Philly and eventually turning it into the type of city it once was not only benefits the city in general but it also benefits the declining inner-ring suburbs around it by bringing new life into them for the first time in decades. Lastly, it benefits the people who would be priced out of the areas they were left with when the wealthy people left because they could actually have a chance at a quality education and a better way of life in these areas due to the slightly better schools. The drugs and crime that have been coming over are not something I appreciate but at the same time, more people moving to Chester and Upper Darby and Marcus Hook and other depressed areas is a good thing and I'm sure the people living there now would prefer people from similar economic backgrounds as opposed to gentrifiers. I think it all goes hand in hand really. We need as many of the outsiders who used to populate this city within our city limits as possible and we need the declining former industrial hubs and inner-ring suburbs to be populated again and bustling the way they used to be, though we need to focus on education and giving the citizens of those areas a chance rather than bringing back factories or other former ways of supporting those areas.

I'm optimistic that Philadelphia will do these things and become what it can be someday though.


Edit: Why thank you, giantSwan. Damn I must've been typing this longer than I thought if you posted while I was typing this up.

Two proposals for East Falls... completion expected in spring 2014

Rivage proposals unveiled to East Falls community
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/l...-presentations
November 10, 2011
By Amy Z. Quinn of Plan Philly
Onion Flats
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/u...pe=img&id=8623

FCP

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/u...pe=img&id=8622

Current Site
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/u...pe=img&id=8626

Interesting development in East Falls.

Here's another development in West Philadelphia on the 4800 block of Market from CHOP.

http://nakedphilly.com/wp-content/up...-2-560x295.jpg

FIT Rehash, exciting nonetheless
 

Bart Blatstein of Tower Investments bought the home of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News from Philadelphia Media Network at 400 N Broad Street for $22.65 million. Bart has plans to redevelop the 470,000-square-foot property, yet there is no word on what he intends to do with the site.

-Originally posted on Philly Shark

Huge new for zoning

http://articles.philly.com/2011-11-0...book-remapping

Ernst & Young is growing in Center City.

http://articles.philly.com/2011-11-1...ms-square-feet

More news on the Inquirer Building:
http://www.philly.com/philly/busines...mpid=124488429
It also says in the article that signage bill would allow the PMN to "boost the visibility of the newspapers and their website, philly.com, at the new location." That would be pretty cool and would be a great use of the signage bill.
Also,
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20...th_Street.html
Hopefully this project will be approved, although I doubt that it wouldn't

It's a damn good thing that the third floor was always questionably viable for retail (and Filene's Basement just folded) because if they'd taken the bottom two I'd have blown my stack!

Thankfully PREIT had the slightest bit of sense not to lease the bottom to floors for offices. Since they are "saving" those vacant floors, maybe a decent tenant will come along. One can only hope that PREIT is going to start making progressive decision in terms of the Gallery now. One can only hope:shrug:

Commercial vacancies are stable in Philadelphia. Residential rates are up and vacancies are dropping, as reported by centercityphila.org today. This is good for the city!

Also good for business in the city.

Bill Number 110548-A introduced on September 8 by Councilman James Kenney eliminates, waives, or reduces certain fees and permit charges, with the goal of generating growth in existing businesses, and encouraging the birth of new businesses and the creation of jobs.

The new law takes effect beginning with Tax Year 2012, except for the amendments to Section 19-2602 of the Philadelphia Code, which pertain to licenses. That piece of the legislation, which eliminates the Business Privilege License Fee for all businesses, takes effect January 1, 2014. To read the entire bill, please go to bit.ly/uKbVv2.

Bill Number 110554, also introduced on September 8, by Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sanchez, would change the way the Business Privilege Tax is calculated. It provides more deductions and exempts the first $50,000 in receipts beginning in 2014 and the first $75,000 in 2015. Also, Philadelphia businesses will pay taxes based only on income derived from sales in the city, replacing the former three factor apportionment method, which also counted employees and real estate in the City. This evens the playing field between businesses outside and inside the City that are doing business within Philadelphia.

-Originally posted on centercityphila.org