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Originally Posted by PEORIA
 " CONGRATULATIONS, PHILLY! " I salute Philadelphia developers for their, tasteful, variety of new towers that reflect an array of retro and contemporary styles. I've said before and I'll say it again, IMO, there's a tiresome proliferation of blue-glass highrises dominating most big North American cities. That was a nice change from post-modernism, for a while. But, too many developers and planners have overdone it.
In some large cities, whose names I won't mention to avoid starting a war of words, blue-glass towers go on for blocks and bear no relation to their civic locales. Most of those new towers are too close in proximity to each other and bear little distinction from other neighboring ones. But, a classic-inspired tower like 1601 Vine is a nice distinct reminder that some architects and developers still value a ' sense of place ' . |
Well said! Glad to see Philly getting its props. In my opinion, Philly's always had a good collection of eclectic styles, even throughout the less appreciated 70s and 80s. Maybe it's because we've never had a boom like other cities (at least not since the 19-teens) and we've never had time to get over-saturated with one style until another one takes hold.
But even today, beyond the classical interpretations like 1601 and 10 Rittenhouse, we've got plenty that buck the trend of glass curtains. Erdy-McHenry builds some wild stuff. It's stuff that will probably be hated in ten years but that's usually a sign that it's at least unique enough to be re-appreciated someday.
I think a lot of it boils down to the people itself and how vested they are in the development surrounding them. NIMBYs can be a nuisance, but the fact that they're so numbered and so influential is a sign that most Philadelphians set high personal standards (for better or worse).
I can't tell you how many times I've been in another city (I'll resist your same urge to name them) and asked, "what is that building?" about something going up, only to be met with, "I don't know, they're always building something." You don't get that from even the most disinterested Philadelphian. We all know what's being built, where, and what it replaced. It's pretty awesome IMO.
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