Center City Philadelphia

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RJ White, Manager of Media Relations & Interactive Marketing
rwhite@centercityphila.org
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A Brief History of the Illuminated Buildings Along the Avenue of the Arts

By Fatima Adamu, Project Coordinator, Center City District

The Avenue of the Arts possesses buildings rich in architectural detail and history. The Center City District’s lighting initiative illuminates much of the architectural details that delight the eye and reinforce the vertical movement of the buildings created by the proportional systems of classical architecture. Many of the buildings were the skyscrapers of their day, built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although diverse in style, most were designed around the three elements of a classic Greek column: a base, shaft and capital. In spite of alterations to and simplifications of the architects’ designs to accommodate modern building systems such as cooling, heating and elevators, the buildings retain much of their original dignity and splendor.

100 South Broad (The Land Title Building and Annex) was built for the oldest title insurance company in the world, and is the finest example of early skyscraper design in Philadelphia. It was designed by Chicago-based architect Daniel Burnham who was an early pioneer in the development of tall buildings. The earlier of the building’s two towers was erected in 1897 and demonstrates Burnham’s ability to combine classical elements – such as the traditional vertical floor arrangement delineated as a base, shaft and with cornices as the capital. It is a simple expression of steel-frame construction, best expressed at the middle twelve floors that are unified vertically by alternating strips of projecting and flat window bays typical of the Chicago Commercial style. The southern tower was added in 1902, also designed by Burnham in collaboration with Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer.

The Union League (140 South Broad) was established during the Civil War to raise funds and recruits for the Union cause; the League continues to actively use the building for private and public functions. The brick and brownstone building, erected 1864-65, is one of the city’s finest early examples of the Second Empire architectural style (of which City Hall is a later and more exuberant example). This style’s most prominent features are the Mansard roof, a projecting central pavilion, and tall windows topped with pediments styled differently at each floor level. Also notable is the curved double stairway at the building’s exterior. A recent restoration project included the reconstruction of the original side tower and rooftop iron trim work, both of which had previously been removed in the 1920s.

1401 Walnut, originally 150 South Broad Street, was designed by architects Simon & Bassett and completed in 1914. It was known as the Manufacturer’s Club and its steel frame and limestone tower features multiple cornices, has a two story base with Corinthian columns and an entablature with three bays. Eight stories rise above the base interrupted by balconies on the front and sides. A cornice marks the beginning of the building’s “capital,” another two-story colonnade supporting a cornice. The original design featured an oversized dentil cornice above the second floor. Although the cornice and arched masonry spandrels have been lost, the building remains striking and retains its colonnade and stone base. Unfortunately, harsh cleaning of the limestone has removed all signs of its original grain pattern and the entrances have been modernized to accommodate retail, office and residential uses. It occupies a full block from Moravian to Walnut Streets and is yet another structure that marks the move of the nouveau riche and major businesses to South Broad Street.

200 South Broad (Park Hyatt Hotel), originally built as the Bellevue Stratford Hotel, opened in 1904 and quickly became Philadelphia’s leading hotel. It was designed by Philadelphia architects G.W. and W.D. Hewitt. Although constructed of steel framework in the most modern method of its day, the building’s exterior harkens back to the French Renaissance style, perhaps best expressed at the picturesque roofline consisting of large Mansard roofs at the corners and enlivened with oversized dormers, pediments and chimneys. The major interior spaces combine elements of the Colonial, Italian and Greek styles. The building underwent major renovations in 1980 and 1989 and today is a successful mix consisting of the Park Hyatt hotel, high-end specialty shops, offices, restaurants, banquet facilities, and a busy food court.

The North American Building was designed by Philadelphia architect and Girard College graduate James H. Windrim (1840-1919). He also submitted a winning Gothic Revival design for the Masonic Temple, just north of City Hall. The office building was the fourth and last headquarters of the Philadelphia newspaper The North American, a paper founded in 1839 as a “high-toned, independent, semi-religious” paper and published until 1925. Throughout its 85 year history, the paper claimed on its masthead that it was the “Oldest Newspaper in America.” The North American was so influential that two of its editors, one of whom also founded the Union League, served as mayors of the Philadelphia in the 1880s. The building was commissioned by Thomas B. Wanamaker, the paper’s publisher and built in 1900. The move from Seventh and Chestnut Streets to Broad was in keeping with the westward growth of the city that began with the selection of Center Square as the site for the new City Hall. At the time of its construction, the selection of brownstone for the building’s façade was seen as quite conservative, since light-toned limestone and marble were more popular. Its façade is austere compared to other buildings along South Broad Street, as Windrim chose to emphasize proportion and subtle moldings in place of the exuberant Victorian ornamentation embraced by his peers. In 1928, limestone pilasters and modernized capitals were substituted for its brownstone base.

The Fidelity Trust Building, now known as the Wachovia Building, was one of last Beaux-Arts skyscrapers to be built in America before the country entered the Great Depression of the 1930’s and then went into World War II in 1941. In 1925, Philadelphia brothers and architects Edward P. Simon and Grant M. Simon were engaged to design a building that would house offices for the newly merged Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Company. It features simulated twin towers characteristic of the French Beaux-Arts style and is located on the site that was formerly home to the Forrest Theatre, the city’s most prominent in the early 20th century. It is formal and monumental in appearance with the façade of the building arranged into the three main parts of the classic column: a base, shaft and cornice. Moldings at the fourth and twenty-first stories provide a transition from the base to the column’s shaft (comprised of sixteen identical office floors) and from the shaft to the capital, formed by the top eight stories with their moldings and small set-backs. The six main arches over the entrances to this twenty-nine story building are rich in allegorical sculpture. A male figure over the center represents Industry and a nearby female figure embodies Thrift. In keeping with many other symbolic themes on the building’s limestone façade, there are three bronze doorways beneath each arch that have twenty-four high relief panels that depict the evolution of commerce and civilization.

The Terra Building was originally built in 1911 as the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. It was designed by noted Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer who was also responsible for additions and alterations to the building in 1914 and 1928. In its original appearance, the 17-story brick and masonry structure was described as “in the style of the Adam period.” Although the elaborate Adamesque ornament of the upper floors was subsequently stripped away, the middle “shaft” section – comprised of eight brick floor levels – remains unaltered, and the five-floor base section has been largely restored: several years ago the façades of floors two through five were restored to their original appearance using fiber-reinforced cast stone which replicates the original stone. The Terra Building is now used by the University of Arts as classroom and performance spaces.

215 South Broad Street was originally constructed ca. 1920 as the 10-story Hotel Walter. Like the neighboring property directly to the north – originally the Ritz-Carlton Hotel (now the Terra Building) – 215 South Broad was originally expressed in a Classical manner of three vertical sections (base, shaft and cornice) but the architectural details of 215 are substantially simpler reflecting the Hotel Walter’s lower status compared to the high-end Ritz-Carlton. The middle seven floors “shaft” of 215 are unadorned brick walls with four sets of paired windows at each floor, while the 10th-floor “cornice” section is adorned with terra-cotta trim work including bas-relief medallions. Although altered, the bottom two “base” floors retain the original limestone facing and two tall arched entryways.

The Bellevue Garage now stands on a site that was home to a beautiful Venetian Gothic building known as The Art Club of Philadelphia from 1889 to 1976. It was a striking addition to the streetscape of the city. A stroll down south Broad Street must have been quite a treat for the architectural enthusiast as the architects of the Academy of Music, Union League, Bellevue-Stratford and Girard Bank all selected different styles. In 1976, the building was demolished at a cost of $100,000 in order to make way for a 40-car parking lot. Today the façade of the garage built in its place features a stylized triangular pediment and an entablature, elements found in classical Greek temples instead of the standard rectangular openings seen in other parking structures.

Chambers-Wylie Presbyterian Church is a handsome Gothic-Revival church completed 1901 and named for three noted Presbyterian clergy, John Chambers, Samuel B. Wylie, and Theodore W.J. Wylie. At one time John Wanamaker was among the notables of the congregation. The church building is a refined and balanced example of the Gothic style, designed by the firm of Rankin & Kellogg, which was known for its many institutional designs. Notable features are the two crenellated towers, triple Gothic-arched entries, and the numerous tall lancet windows. In 2005, the building became the center for Broad Street Ministries.

The Kimmel Center, home of eight resident company performing arts organizations, was designed by New York-based architect Rafael Vinoly in 2001. At 450,000 square feet, the building occupies an entire city block. It contains Commonwealth Plaza, a civic gathering space, and two main theaters, the 2,547-seat Verizon Hall with polygonal exterior and the 651-seat Perelman Theater with its curved façade. These two buildings are enclosed by a surrounding glass, steel and brick structure of irregular spaces, top-lit by day through an immense glass and steel barrel vault roof of over 150 feet in height.

337-341 South Broad Street, designed by architect A. Levy and built in 1923, is an Art Deco three-story brick garage with two-story casement windows divided by ornate floral terra cotta panels. It served as an auto service and body shop when it was surveyed for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in January of 1981.

SOURCES

1401 Walnut:
• Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form (PA Historical and Museum Commission)
• Mariana M. Thomas, AIA, Consulting Architect to Philadelphia Historic Preservation Corporation

337-341 South Broad Street:
• Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form (PA Historical and Museum Commission)
• www.philadelphiabuildings.org

Bellevue Garage:
• Fatima Adamu
• Keystone Motorist monthly magazine article: “Famous Old Art Club will house club and KAC Insurance Companies”. March 1946
• Philadelphia Inquirer article: “Biden could use the old Art club”. Wednesday March 5, 1976 by Harold J. Wiegand

Fidelity Trust Building:
• National Register of Historic Places Inventory (Philadelphia Historic Commission)

Kimmel Center:
• www.kimmelcenter.org

North American Building:
• National Register of Historic Places
• Cultural Resource Consulting Group: History and Statement of Significance Commerce Bank, 121 S. Broad Street. November 4th 2003
• www.philadelphiabuildings.org

337-41 South Broad
• Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form (PA Historical and Museum Commission)

The Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia provided information for:
• 100 South Broad (The Land Title Building and Annex)
• 215 South Broad Street
• 200 South Broad (The Bellevue)
• Chambers-Wylie Presbyterian Church
• The Terra Building
• The Union League (140 South Broad)