15 August 08: Youth Study Center Study



Last Thursday, Bruce Schimmel and Inga Saffron wrote two very different stories on the Youth Study Center. His brings a first person view to what goes on behind its very large walls; hers tells of the walls themselves. They're both excellent and worth a read. Also worth a read is Chris Dougherty's "Sleeping in the Tents of Our Fathers", his May 2007 examination of why the YSC is a failed Modernist project.

The classes at the YSC -- a teenage prison on the Parkway -- will next semester begin in East Falls as a new permanent facility is prepared in West Philly. The building itself will be demolished probably next year, after the Williams-Tsien design for the Barnes Foundation is at last unveiled and a new round of lawsuits appears to try keeping the Barnes in its cramped Merion digs.

Inga mentioned that the two powerful sculptures by Waldemar Raemisch, the Great Mother and the Great Doctor, are being moved to the School of the Future in Parkside. I've photographed the two sculptures probably no more than any other artwork on the Parkway, but it's the shadow of the Great Doctor that makes one of the best photos I've ever taken.

With photography, I don't set out to intentionally record something 'meaningful' or 'allegorical' or some such; thing is, if you take a lot of photos -- if you don't leave the house without a camera bag slung over your shoulder -- a scene that compels you is bound to show itself. The YSC's back side -- front side? -- has always been one of the more noticeable homeless encampments in the city. They were definitely set up there the day before New Year's Eve last year, when the sun was low somewhere over near Cira Centre. Most of them were over by the Mother . . . this man here, though, was off by himself by the Doctor.



* * *

Tom Gralish won a Pulitzer for a series on the homeless he made for the Inquirer in 1985. Incredibly, it's been archived online, found HERE.

The Youth Study Center, meanwhile, will stand unoccupied until the permits have been filed and the Barnes is given the final go to move to the Parkway. Where we'll lose one of the finer examples of homegrown modernism, we'll more thankfully be ridding our little Champs-Élysée of a jail. (Ain't no jails on the real Champs-Élysée.)

Anny Su did her thesis at Penn on the YSC -- it's incredible, and it's archived online HERE.

–B Love


14 August 08: B Love is a dang Muran, or,
and then there were two



Well sheeeeeeeeeit. Nobody done told me that all those people walking across the Murano's drive-in weren't just sneaking a peak at the day-to-day on the way to Trader Joe's, but that people had actually moved into the new 42 story tower at 21st & Market.

While taking a stroll around the Murano yesterday, I finally showed myself to that same pathway for a closer look at the entrance . . . which is now complete and open??? Turns out it's true -- several younger (30s) people came in and out of the lobby in various states of dress. The doorman said that people started moving in in mid-June. Well, I never!

Maybe I missed that somewhere along the way whilst calling the Murano's parking garage a goiter on the face of a supermodel. What can ya do. Here we are, in August 2008, and the Murano is occupied on the spot of what was not long ago a Budget rent-a-car.

There is not yet a tenant on the Market Street ground floor, but give it some time. The garage does still stand out like a goiter on the otherwise handsome tower. Graffiti tags last month signaled an artistic interpretation to the otherwise ugly, white monster that doesn't even meet up with JFK Boulevard, but it's probably been removed. Some other observations at the Murano yesterday . . .

– Landscaping, including newly planted trees, has begun along Market Street.
– A standalone building sign, similar to those at Commerce Square and Mellon Bank Center, has been installed but is not yet complete.
– Red flood/fog/FAA lights have been mounted to the roof of the building.

And well, that's about it for now. Is this the last update? Well, until yr Philly Skyline learns of a grand opening, ribbon cutting ceremony, or retail lease signing, I guess so. Murano, it's been a great run, and we all wish you well in your new home at 21st & Market.

UPDATE: Duh, forgot to finish that first thought. (Blame/credit Glenfiddich 15 year single malt, on sale right now at your local Wine & Spirits Shoppe! I love you, valley of the deer . . . one day I shall come home.) So, with the retiring of the Murano construction section and the June retiring of Comcast Center, that leaves us with the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, which should wrap up around November or so, and 10 Rittenhouse. Projects like 1706 Rittenhouse, Waterfront Square and the Convention Center will continue to be covered in the occasional general update, but larger projects like Cira South, and hopefully one day American Commerce Center, will have their own sections like the above once they really get going.

UPDATE 2: Sirius lee Bee love, you don't live in Scotland . . . the brown stuff is not for breakfast, OK? Meant to toss in ye ol' Philly Skyline Philly Skyline with the Murano post. As seen from a recent outing at the Ballpark of Apathy and Frontrunners, the Philly Skyline now has itself a completed Murano, Comcast Center and Symphony House, a near complete Ritz-Carlton, and a 10 Rittenhouse about to pop out.



UPDATE 3: I don't generally comment on what Google sends through the ad channel, but I have to point out here how amazing it is that there has been a promo for a Lifetime movie the last couple days. That beats TGI Fridays and Nascar . . . it's true, a mother's intuition is never wrong. Tune in to Lifetime this Sunday for an AMAZING TRUE STORY in Little Girl Lost. Only on Lifetime.



–B Love





14 August 08: Wop bop . . . ooooh, wop bop, or,
Philly's greatest public space in three part harmony



I've never been one who's good at guessing crowd numbers, but I know for a fact that I've never seen as many people in Rittenhouse Square as there were last night for Dr Dog, the first of the Weekly's Concerts in the Park series. If I did have to guess, I'd say 2,000 . . . but I have no idea how accurate it is. Maybe there were more, maybe there weren't. However many, the tally was large.

The Dog reeled through a good bit of Fate while lots of young people packed the front (I heard several "West Chester represent!"s), young families and people with personal transport (bikes, skateboards) kept toward the back, and the Weekly's "VIP Tent" (ha ha), ever vigilantly secured, ate up a quarter of the Square's center area (next to the Duck Girl fountain). And a good time was had by all.

A few Philly Skyline Dr Dog Skylines to start your morning and see the Square as something more than a place with benches, lap dogs and the homeless.







Concerts in the Park continues next week with perennial Skyline favorites The Capitol Years and Gildon Works.

* * *

Speaking of Rittenhouse Square, here's a fun thing. Parc Rittenhouse, the Allan Domb/Lubert Adler conversion of the former Penn Athletic Club (designed by Zantzinger, Borie & Medary, 1925), most recently the Rittenhouse Sheraton, has been abuzz lately thanks to the opening of Stephen Starr's French mega-bistro Parc. The condo building's web site has a Flash illustration with tidbits about the Square and the artwork contained within it HERE.

–B Love


13 August 08: Deflated



After only a few hours of sleep, I got up this morning mad at myself for choosing the Phillies over the Perseids meteor shower, though I did step out onto the deck a couple times to see if I could spot any. Even in spite of the clearest of clear, cool, summer nights, I saw none, thanks in large part to the bright (security?) lights of the school near my house. There definitely weren't any shooting stars for the Phillies last night, unless you count Cole Hamels' however'th consecutive attempt in a row at his 10th victory.

Has there ever been a more disappointing first place team than the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday, August the 13th, 2008?

Longtime Skyline readers have probably noticed the lack of Phillies content lately (to the relief of some, at that). Well . . . there hasn't really been much good to say, and between Bill Conlin (who has been on an absolute tear with material in the past month or two), PA Baseball, and especially best sports writer Jason Weitzel at Beerleaguer, they've got all the Phillies' holes covered. Just today at Beerleaguer:
The tone. The traffic. The mood: All signs point toward waning expectations. My own interest in writing the same copy has also faded. . . .

It's getting hard to justify five hours of sleep to stay up and watch the same problems manifest into six hits, three runs and another Cole Hamels loss. How many times can one identify the holes?
If your name is Charlie Manuel, Pat Gillick or Ruben Amaro, my guess is none. Last night's loss is ALL Charlie's. People have been screaming to Chuck to STOP PULLING PAT BURRELL, yet he keeps doing it. "For defensive purposes." Right. TJ Bohn and So Taguchi have each made costly errors in Pat's stead this season, and last night, it was So, not Pat -- the National League leader in outfield assists -- with the responsibility of throwing out a catcher trying to score from second base on a single. He didn't, and the Phillies lost. Sorry, Charlie!

Pat Gillick and Ruben Amaro . . . do we even need to go here? While the Milwaukee Brewers were out getting CC Sabathia and the Cubs were answering that with Rich Harden, the Phillies' general managers were comparing Joe freaking Blanton to Kyle Lohse -- the very guy they refused to sign in the offseason, the very guy who's done nothing for St Louis this season but go 13-5, including two wins over the Phillies.

As an investor (partial season ticket holder), I could not be less happy with my return. The Phils are in first place, but my confidence in them is on par with that of a middling third place team at best. The term "smoke and mirrors" has been tossed around this team an awful lot this year, focused on the likes of JC Romero's ERA, Kyle Kendrick's record and Ryan Howard's RBI total (one where I don't necessarily agree), but that smoke and those mirrors just might win the Phillies the division.

Big deal.

We got our taste of the postseason last year . . . and what a sour, Colorado flavor it was. Those of us who truly care and root hard for the Phillies wanted to see more commitment from the ballclub. But nope. Brad Lidge, himself the participant behind at least a few smokes and mirrors, was a fantastic acquisition, it's true. But nothing else Gillick, whose eyes are focused on a retirement paradise, and Amaro, whose eyes are focused on a promotion he most certainly does not deserve, have done has improved this team. They'd be the first to tell you that the Phillies have a better record now than they did a year ago this time, that they're still in first place, that they lead the National League in homeruns and are second in runs scored. But who buys it? It's the same old smoke and mirrors.

Is there anyone who actually thinks the Phillies can win the National League? If so, is there anyone who thinks the Phillies could beat the Angels (who swept us in June), Red Sox (who took 2 of 3) or Rays (who Phillies management has probably never even heard of)?

Is there anyone who thinks that Amaro has it in him to re-sign Pat Burrell, who's rekindled his fan base here? Is there anyone who thinks that Ryan Howard will not be a Yankee by 2012?

Is there anyone who thinks that Cole Hamels likes it here, especially this year? The man is 24 years old, left-handed, armed, dangerous, handsome, from Southern California, and poised for a long career . . . does anyone think he wants to spend it in South Philly with a team who wouldn't even give him more than a half a million dollars when it pays Adam Eaton 16 times that to suck in the Minor Leagues?

It pains me to say it, but perhaps it's become evident over the past six months: Philadelphian doubt, distrust and disillusion is seeping into my skull. It's not a good feeling . . . but when you throw so much money at one thing and the only things you get out of it are a full bladder and a long walk back to a subway station on the other side of a parking lot you protested . . . well, reality starts to suggest you focus on something more pleasant, more productive.

If the Phillies don't go on some miraculous tear (à la the Rockies last year) -- with an awoken Geoff Jenkins, a rested Chase Utley, a rejuvenated Jimmy Rollins, a well-supported Cole Hamels and a healthy Brad Lidge -- down the stretch, then well . . . I'm going to need an opera tutor next spring.

Come on Phils, we need you. Do this thing. Do it in spite of those clowns who sign your paychecks, who you know know nothing about baseball. Let's go Phils.

–B Love




13 August 08: It's been hell back here in Philadelphia



(Video for "Alaska", from We All Belong, directed by Albert Birney.)

Dr Dog is playing its only hometown show on the current tour this evening, FOR FREE, in Rittenhouse Square at 7 o'clock. Call the old bitties in the highrises surrounding the Square, there's gonna be some rock & roll cranked to 10 this evening!

See also: The Philly Skyline Record Review: Dr Dog's Fate.

–B Love


12 August 08: Nica-life



by Nathaniel Popkin
Philly Skyline Central American Correspondent

One of the pleasures of traveling to a place like Nicaragua is simply the immediacy of things.

In this country without street addresses -- directions are given as "the green painted building two blocks up from the central park" or "cross the bridge, there's a tree, the bus will pick you up there" -- and where vendors come door-to-door selling everything from mangoes, milk, and pitaya (a fruit that looks like an artichoke, the color of a beet and tastier than a kiwi) to hardware equipment to chicken and pork on a portable grill, life goes on without much mediation. It's all there in front of your face. This comes as a relief even to South Philadelphia eyes.

This is never more the case than in the market. Here in Granada (which lies on Lago de Nicaragua, the larger of the two giant lakes in this largest of Central American countries), and in the neighboring city of Masaya, the municipal market rewards.

It's hot, with low tin roofs claustrophobic, and there is the marvelous, contagious fragrance of waste. It isn't only food -- but hot damn! the food, mountains of papaya and watermelon and eggs, tamales sweet and silken -- rather every accommodation for life (jewelry repair, pirated CDs, money-changers, sling-shots, machetes, a block-long display of bras). And there is marimba and cries and horse carts and somnolence and sleepy eyes and sweat, and then perhaps, a passing shower.

It's winter in Centroamerica.

–Nathaniel Popkin
nathaniel.popkin@gmail.com

All photos in this post by Nathaniel Popkin, who is in the midst of a three week family vacation in Nicaragua. For his archives, please see HERE, or visit his web site HERE.









12 August 08: Head . . . until you get enough



You might have noticed on Philly.com this morning that an up-and-coming British band called the "Radiohead" is playing at the Sony Blockbuster Music Entertainment Tweeter Susquehanna Bank Center (or as my friend Jillian calls it, "Whatever The Hell It's Called Now") this evening, marking "their first [North American] appearance since 2003's 'Hail to the Thief' was issued." If this was not wrong, it would be right. In 2004, they took top billing at the Coachella festival that also featured the reunion of the Pixies (whose first concert on that tour was opened by our own Capitol Years) as well as Kraftwerk and Coachella's local boy done good Beck. And in 2006, Radiohead played 19 North American dates including two nights at the Tower Theater. (See also: 4 June 06: NoLibs washout / The thing about Radiohead.)

Anyway. They're back in Philly Camden tonight, across the Delaware at the amphitheater on the hill.



Come to think of it, Radiohead has not played in Philadelphia since they toured OK Computer in 1997 with a date at the Electric Factory. There's a scene from it in the hard-to-watch film Meeting People Is Easy in which the crowd sings all the words to "Creep" while Thom Yorke stands priggishly on stage with the mic held outward; right after this, it shows the band riding in their limo on the Vine Street Expressway while Jonny Greenwood looks out the window at the neon atop One Liberty Place. (If they'd shot the film this year, the camera would never pick up the LEDs that have replaced the neon and would probably focus instead on the crown of Comcast Center.)

I've always liked the Whatever The Hell It's Called Now. It's Philly's standard Big Show venue, serving all your Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam and Allman Brothers needs. For as big as it is (25,000 capacity), the sound is fantastic (it better have been when it was operated by the now-defunct audio specialist Tweeter), and the views are even better. I can remember admiring the Philly Skyline from the lawn before I even knew what a Philly Skyline was. I remember thinking how amazing the Ben Franklin Bridge looked after dark the first time I was there (Furthur Festival, summer '98, the closest I ever came to seeing the Dead), and in hindsight I'm surprised I took enough notice of the Hyatt's construction that I have a photo of it nearly finished with the crane sticking out buried in a shoebox somewhere.

Over the years there, I've caught The Who, Jimmy Page & the Black Crowes, Beck, Phish, Neil Young, the former Grateful Dead, Roger Waters, and five years ago this month, Radiohead. They've almost all been great shows -- at least when you're there. The catch to Camden's riverfront amphitheater has always been getting there.

The Center (née Centre), which opened in 1995, is notorious for its parking problems, a funny irony considering how much surface parking there is in downtown Camden. The Riverline stops right there at the Center, but it only serves the Jersey riverfront communities between Camden and Trenton, i.e. it does nothing for the millions of us across the river. The PATCO Speedline is somewhat convenient, but it only runs hourly at night and it's a minor hike to the Walter Rand Transportation Center. You can ride your bike across the Ben Franklin Bridge, but since DRPA closes the walkways at sundown, you're not gonna ride it back when the show's over at midnight. That leaves us with the Riverlink Ferry.



In theory, the Riverlink Ferry is wonderful; it's the most direct connection from the Philly side to the Jersey side of the river they share, with stops at the foot of Walnut Street here and in front of the popular Aquarium there. But its frequency is maddening. From Monday to Thursday, it runs on the half hour from 9am to 6pm, and on the weekends they extend service a whole hour to 7pm. I have in fact been stuck in Camden after Riversharks games, holding a return Ferry ticket I could not use until the following day.

They do, though, have the so-called express service:
Express Service starts from Penn's Landing up to two hours before show time (after the last regular ferry run at 6:00 p.m. out of Philadelphia) and concludes approximately one-half hour after the end of the concert or until all riders have reached their destination.
Say you have a lawn seat. After the band's last note and "good night, Philly!" you have to descend the hill with thousands of others, slowly funneling out of the two exits. Add the walk around the marina and Wiggins Park, and you're already looking at a half hour just to get in line at the ferry. If it's a band that's popular with the city kids -- like Radiohead -- that's gonna be one long line. The service just can't accommodate the amount of people, though in fairness the Riverlink operators do try. The ride itself is lovely; the waiting is the hardest part.

I've said it before: the DRPA money that's earmarked for the tram (which I've heard through various grapevines DRPA doesn't really want to build, but just gives lip service because its chair, PA Governor Ed Rendell, wants it) ought to be used for better ferry service. Same goes for the planned bridge toll increases. While the motivation for DRPA's doing so is certainly up for debate, especially for Jersey commuters, I don't begrudge them for taking the necessary evil step to keep up with a crappy economy. More so if it means moving closer to a transit line down Delaware Avenue. $5 isn't going to kill anyone, and it's still cheaper than the Port Authority of NY&NJ's tolls.

Until these things happen, though, the Riverlink Ferry is, like so many things Philadelphian on the verge of beautiful, simply frustrating. Thanks to the Ferry, I missed Radiohead's opening act in 2003, Stephen Malkmus. Fortunately, I'd caught his first solo tour at the TLA a couple years before that.

This evening, if you've got a ticket to the sold out Radiohead show and are taking the ferry in hopes of watching Grizzly Bear set the stage at 7:30, I'd advise getting to the ferry box office (the only place you can purchase tickets) way early, like 6 o'clock early. And wear comfortable shoes, because the ride home is going to be a while.

–B Love


11 August 08: Pi reconsidered



When the Summer of the Delaware officially kicked off in June (the morning after Penn Praxis presented its 10 year, 10 point plan to the public and the mayor), one of my first suggestions was to tear down the Penn's Landing Pi, the giant concrete reminder of how dumb an idea building a tram across the Delaware is. A tram certainly doesn't factor into the academic longview of this central most of the central Delaware, which may one day be re-envisioned as a Great Lawn. Leaving the icon representing so many failures hovering 60 feet over an awful surface parking lot gets in the way of momentum. Just get it out of the way now, I say.

Not so fast, said Jason from South Street. Why waste what's already there, he asked -- why not try a little adaptive reuse? A good point, I thought, so I asked Philly Skyline readers for their input. Following are some of the best suggestions . . .

* * *

  • JOE FROM OLD CITY: Perhaps following up on the Paul Levy bike trail SOTD item, Joe Naujokas had very simply to say, "bike rack!"



    And while that's perfectly pleasing in the aesthetic, it doesn't carry the magic his other suggestion does: "A David Copperfield event!"

  • JIM FROM NARBERTH: They should make a giant water balloon sling shot out of it and charge people to shoot water balloons at passing duck boats and people visiting the Battleship NJ.

    Ed. note: while I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Duck Boats idea -- "you may fire when ready, Gridley" -- I think slinging water balloons at the USS NJ may not be the best idea. Their artillery's a little fiercer and more precise than a few latex grenades, I reckon.

    * * *

  • ERIC FROM NARBERTH: Make Pi into a giant swing set. Multiple slides that could get pulled up very high swung while looking at the skyline or the river.

    * * *

  • TIM FROM ROXBOROUGH: The always reliable Tim Garrity -- himself a fellow newlywed (congrats, Tim!) -- took time from his wedding planning schedule to offer the following about Pi:
    Find an artist who can create a sculpture out of the already existing structure; top it off with some surrounding landscaping. Or speak with Jane Golden about painting a mural on it so it becomes a piece of art and not a symbol of failure.
    Tim also elaborated what turned out to be the most popular suggestion, utilizing Pi for movie screenings.
    How about putting a digital screen inside the hollow portion of the Pi (kind of like the one in Millennium Park, Chicago; but with [lots and lots of] concrete around it). It could display digital images at night and could even double as an advertising/PSA screen to raise funds for the construction costs. This idea could also help speed up the Great Lawn concept, by touting it as a spot to host movie screenings for families when it's nice outside.

    * * *

    Finally . . .

  • STEVE FROM DOVATE: 1. Block Camden with a picture of a prettier waterfront. (My photoshop is from a photo of Maine that I took a few years back.)



    2. Drive in!



    Have you heard of the drive-in at 61st and Passyunk that switched to an all-porn format back in the late 70s/early 80s? Now that's classic Philly.

    I heard of this porn drive-in from a guy who grew up down around there. He's in his late 30s, but when he was a kid, he and his adolescent, pre-internet friends would ride their bikes down and watch the porn shows. He said it was at 61st and Passyunk, right around where Passyunk turns into Essington and leads into the auto mall.

    There's not much down there even now, except for vacant lots, junk yards, refiniries and a couple of really shady looking strip joints. I've gone looking for the remants of the drive-in, but couldn't find anything. I think it was torn down completely and replaced with a concrete processing plant.

    I guess all good things come to an end.

    * * *

    Consider it a happy ending, Steve. All these good suggestions on how to slice the Pi will now come to an end, too. A big thanks to all participants.

    –B Love





  • 11 August 08: Yellow skies & rainbows



    After a weekend whose travel itinerary included two hours in 30th Street Station waiting for Amtrak to fix an outage that prevented all northbound (i.e. New York bound) trains from traveling, a three-mile midnight stroll from Liberty State Park to downtown Jersey City (after being packed like sardines and standing still in the same place for over two hours for Radiohead), and shore traffic in the rain on the New Jersey Turnpike home, the last thing I expected to do last night was go climbing ladders and setting up tripods in a rainstorm. But when the sky glows yellow and drenches your neighbors and drenches your being, and fall's sneak preview air breathes through your screen a yellow dust . . . you get up and go again.

    I got up and go'd. I'm glad I did, because it turns out that Fishtown is the pot of gold. (This would explain all the leprechauns here.) The double rainbow above was so large that even at 11mm on an 11-18mm wide angle lens it was impossible to capture both of them.

    Down at 47th & Woodland, Steve Ives (who will offer his thoughts on the Summer of the Delaware in the coming days) marveled at mammatuses forming over a yellow Southwest Philly. He called and demanded that I get outside . . . as though I wasn't already there. The scene down there:



    I texted Matt Johnson to see he was taking in this yellow phenomenon from his signature perch, but his weekend perch was not his 10th floor Philly Skyline view in Cherry Hill, but the Pittsburgh Skyline view at the West End Overlook. (I absolutely loathe the new UMPC sign on the US Steel Tower. LOATHE IT.)

    All righty . . . let's just settle for this Philly Skyline Yellow Skyline from back here in the pot o' gold, then.



    –B Love


    08 08 08: 10 10 10, or,
    Ten Rittenhouse Square is a brick . . . house



    "There's something I'd like to clear up," Hal Wheeler says when I first meet him. "These are precast panels, but they're real brick."

    It's no mistake that the brickwork at 10 Rittenhouse Square is the first topic of conversation when I arrived for a hard hat tour two Fridays ago. It's the first thing a lot of people comment on, now that the tower's growing construction has replaced the old lead topic, Rindelaub's Row. In a city whose red brick rowhomes are one of its defining images, it's hard not to question the authenticity of a precast panel being lifted by a crane over your head.

    Elaborating his thought, the developer leans more toward logistics than cost prohibitiveness. "This isn't the 30s; there was no OSHA then," Wheeler says in response to my comment that the PSFS Building's masonry is brick-and-mortar all the way to the roof. "But more importantly, this is an incredibly tight space. It would just be impossible to lay brick for 33 stories without any interruption," he says of the corner of 18th and Sansom Streets, each of which are still open for business and packed as ever with people. Tria, for example, has outdoor seating with never an empty seat, directly catty-corner from the construction site of what will be the tallest building, 396', on the perimeter of Rittenhouse Square when it's finished.

    Graham Wyatt, a partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) and the lead designer of 10 Rittenhouse, says of the brick: "We're not looking at architectural history in a jokey way. We wanted to take the most scholarly approach to find the most appropriate setting for Rittenhouse Square. Doing that means picking up on the tradition of Philadelphia brick and white stone," in this case limestone trim.

    Particularly in light of Bower Lewis Thrower's apparent celebration of tradition at Symphony House, it may be easy to balk at such a statement. But, to see it explained at 10 Rittenhouse requires seeing the whole picture. Or in this case, the whole project.



    Despite the fact 10 Rittenhouse has been discussed since the mid-90s when the Wheeler brothers purchased the site, been fought in court by 'Save Our Square,' who wished to preserve the four three-story buildings previously on the site at 18th Street, and gone through what RAMSA associate Breen Mahony describes with a laugh, "a lot of iterations," I personally never grasped the full scope of the project until I saw its model, pictured above.

    Where the old-new juxtaposition can be exciting -- think the Hearst Tower in New York, Soldier Field's addition in Chicago, or even Cira Centre and 30th Street Station -- it's not always necessary. In the case of 10 Rittenhouse, the tradition of a brick façade with limestone trim make perfect sense, as the project is very much an incorporation of its neighbors. 10 Rittenhouse's 33 story tower rises not behind, but from, the Van Rensselaer, Alison and Rittenhouse Club buildings. It turns out the cantilevering over the Alison Building is temporary; the steel columns supporting the upward construction now will soon be filled in with the tower's massing, creating a seamless -- brick -- transition from the seven story Alison Building to the 33 story 10 Rittenhouse.


    An other brick in the wall: 10 Rittenhouse's precast panels with real brick on the left, the Alison Building's original masonry with even realer bricks on the right.

    ARC Wheeler principal Roger Friedman, a passionate man who conducts a thorough tour, is sure to mention, "these bricks were specific to our choosing," explaining their journey from a European origin to the kiln and assembly line in Canada to their final destination at 18th & Sansom. "They'll also have a custom caulking, and you'd never notice the difference . . . They're just precast."

    Oona Walsh, a longtime friend of Philly Skyline and the marketing director at Manayunk's PZS Architects, the local architect of record on 10 Rittenhouse Square, confirms this journey. "It's a pretty fascinating process," she says, describing the panels' assembly at Artex Precast Limited in Toronto.


    Piles of bricks to panels of bricks. Photo courtesy of Oona Walsh.

    It was PZS, née Polatnick-Zacharjasz Architects, that enlisted RAMSA's design services. Polatnick-Zacharjasz and ARC Wheeler had collaborated on a number of projects since the 90s and were signed on to do the same here, but PZ graciously determined that a project of Rittenhouse Square's caliber needed someone of RAMSA's stature.

    "We got a call from David Polatnick in 2004," Wyatt says. "Knowing Rittenhouse Square's importance to Philadelphia, I had to come down and see the site for myself." By the end of that year, Wyatt, Mahony and RAMSA were putting together schematics as the design architect, with PZ on board as the local architect of record.

    Meanwhile, as the collaborative design momentum was building, so too was the fight against the project. The Save Our Square (SOS) organization formed to oppose the demolition of "Rindelaub's Row," a term given by SOS member David Traub to the four buildings that once housed Rindelaub's Bakery, as well as a hardware store, a bike shop, art gallery and Lombardi's Pizza. While it's understandable that many locals feared the loss of their beloved businesses, three of those five have successfully relocated; the bakery tried new digs across the street and ultimately decided to retire; Lombardi's simply closed. And though the buildings as a four-part whole were another member of the Philadelphia streetscape, they were just that: just another member of the Philadelphia streetscape.

    In this person's view, the four buildings of "Rindelaub's Row" were expendable, considering the trade-off: a brand new development on the square with a replacement of the aged buildings (and their scale), and the relocation of most of the displaced businesses. And in spite of SOS' efforts, which included an editorial platform at the Center City Weekly Press and a short film whose proceeds went directly to SOS' legal fund, both the Commonwealth Court and the city Court of Common Pleas agreed, and demolition moved forward in late 2005.

    * * *

    10 Rittenhouse has been a long time coming -- very long. "You don't even know," Wheeler jokes. Not with his first person point of view, perhaps, but thanks to the internet -- specifically the PBJ's handy dandy archives (1 2 3) and Phillyblog -- it's easy to trace the path 10 Rittenhouse has taken to get here: a supermarket, a 42 story hotel/condo, a 35 story twin-tower condo, all opposed. The 33 story condo tower and amalgamation of existing neighors, now with Robert A.M. Stern's hand, finally overcame the opposition. And ever since, Stern, PZS and ARC Wheeler have worked with Center City Residents Association to create the most sensitive project possible.

    "We understand that people were sentimental to the scale [of 18th Street]," Wyatt says, "so we pushed the tower back." That setback simultaneously rebuilds the three-story scale left vacant by Rindelaub's and creates a terrace for the fortunate person who purchases Unit C on the 4th floor.

    Make no mistake: 10 Rittenhouse is indeed for the fortunate. The top of the top level market is for whom 10 Rittenhouse is being built. Unit D, the tower's southern, park-view units which Friedman describes as "our project's filet mignon," are $1,000/sq ft. At well over 3,000 sq ft, you're looking at park-view units starting at over $3M. (Condo fees for the same units start at $2,860/mo.)

    All things considered . . . why not? There are million dollar condos at Symphony House, the Ritz-Carlton, Murano, Waterfront Square, the Western Union and elsewhere around town, but this is Rittenhouse Square. And while the traditionalist 10 Rittenhouse may not pack the flare of RAMSA's Comcast Center and American Revolution Center in Valley Forge, its reservation seems to work on Rittenhouse Square. The more daring, Kling-designed Castleway project a block west hasn't even cleared zoning hurdles, much less started construction.

    But honestly, luxury is luxury and new is new. 10 Rittenhouse is both. And brick.



    For a more in-depth look at the construction of -- and views from -- 10 Rittenhouse Square, please click the below images. PLEASE NOTE: for the sake of ease, I've put all of the images for both categories on one, long flowing page, respectively. There are 44 photos of the building under construction (about 6M in size) and 25 photos of the view (about 3.5M in size), so just give them a moment to load.



    * * *

    OTHER LINKS OF INTEREST:

    10 Rittenhouse official site
    RAMSA
    ARC Wheeler
    PZS Architects

    * * *

    And of course, Philly Skyline's 10 Rittenhouse Square construction section (which will get a big update early next week) is HERE.

    –B Love


    7 August 08: Philadelphia, model city



    In a change of recent pace, the Pen in the foreground here is not of the William variety, but rather the Eastern State kind. This model of Center City is brand spankin' new to us, but it's been around since 1999-2000 or so. Ewing Cole architects, the primary designers of Citizens Bank Park, created this model for another ballpark variation, the one at 16th & Callowhill -- in looking at the model, one notices the block with the Inquirer Building is removable. (I have to wonder if the ballpark is on the flip side of that block.)

    The model, which encompasses the northwestern quadrant of Center City -- Chestnut Street to Fairmount Street, 12th Street to the Schuylkill River -- arrived yesterday at the new Center for Architecture, directly behind the recently relocated AIA Bookstore at 1218 Arch Street. The Center's executive director John Claypool chats with Gersil Kay behind the model in the photo above, taken after the Design Advocacy Group meeting this morning.

    The model is an interesting time capsule which Claypool says will eventually be updated with items that did not exist when it was built: Comcast Center, Cira Centre, (American Commerce Center,) the Convention Center's expansion, the olive on Continental Midtown . . . A picky person might also request that they move 11 Penn Center one block to its east, so as to give the Blue Cross Tower its proper empty lot. Really though, it's a great model.

    While the Center for Architecture has been quietly open for a couple months now, they'll be holding a 'grand opening' type of open house in September, which will coincide as the opening for its first major exhibit, a private collection of antique neon signs.

    Visit the CFA's official web site HERE, and stop by the center to see the model in person.



    Meanwhile, two blocks down and just in time for the start of the Beijing Olympics, Chinatown's Friendship Gate has been covered in scaffolding for the restoration of the intricate paint detailing there. Carolyn Davis had the full story in a piece for the Inquirer last week, online HERE.



    –B Love


    6 August 08: Johnson rising

    As this website's owner could attest, special access is without a doubt one of the best perks of being an architectural photographer. A recent assignment for me in 1818 Market Street was no exception.

    The 500-foot (B Love says ugly, but I stop at) plain white box may not be especially impressive sitting within a block of Comcast Center, Mellon Bank Center, and Liberty Place twins, but I knew its roof views would be among the best in the city.

    Right in the heart of Market Street's cluster of skyscrapers, it's tall enough to clear the clutter of lower buildings, but short enough to still be in the middle of it all.

    Here's hoping this set will get you high. If you're already there, well, sit a little closer to your screen and hold on to your chair. We're going up.

    (Click the image graphic to launch the photo essay.)

    - Matthew Johnson
    SkyscraperSunset.com


    5 August 08: Long & longer

    Two new looks from one old favorite. City Hall tower's five dollar, fifteen minute view affords the longview for the Ben Franklin Parkway and North Broad Street.





    I might also add that City Hall tower makes for a fine wedding ceremony venue, especially when it's that of the self-uniting Quaker variety. The Quakerist Quaker in the world stands 37' tall above your head, and since Pennsylvania allows you to do it yourself in the name of the Quaker, why not?



    If you and your loved one are looking to do the deed in the most relaxed, least prom-like setting, I'd recommend it. The self-uniting Quaker license is $90, in City Hall room 413. You sign the papers there and have three weeks to enact the wedding however you wish -- written vows, a JOP, a rabbi, whatever you like -- and the only requirement is two witnesses (and their signatures).

    Whichever way you go, do make sure to have a photographer on hand. And hold out hope that he or she is as good as Matt Johnson, he of SkyscraperSunset.com. Matt has contributed a number of photo essays to Philly Skyline over the years -- find them HERE -- and his latest, some new high-up views from an unexpected place, will be posted this week.

    –B Love




    4 August 08: A photographic interlude



    And what a crazy Summer of the Delaware it is. This whole series came to me in the spur of the moment, something to dress up a post similar to this one -- the first day back (16 June 08, Batten down the hatches) from another weekend away from the city when I'd rather re-acclimate via slumber than banging a keyboard.

    I'm glad Philly Skyline has taken on this Summer of the Delaware, though, because it's as much an education tool for us as it is simply another feature on this web site. Truth be told, by the time the autumn equinox rolls around on Monday September 22nd, I'm not sure we'll have crossed all the bridges, so to speak, that we can. That's how powerful the Delaware River is . . . and while there are thousands of people from Otto Geiger's farm to Cape Henlopen whose very lives revolve around this River, I still feel like the majority of us in Philadelphia (myself included) take it for granted.

    That said, let's take a breather and have a look at a sampling of Philly Skyline Summer of the Delaware Skylines, taken at various times from various places over the past two months.


    Mind the Gap: We'll start here with the most recent of the bunch. The meandering Delaware down below is the northwesternmost border of New Jersey, a stretch of the Delaware Water Gap national recreation area with Pennsylvania on the other side. This view is from an overlook on the Appalachian Trail on Kittatinny Mountain in Jersey's Worthington State Forest.


    Four score: Speaking of the Appalachian Trail, the enormous feat of engineering we see here is the AT's footbridge across the Delaware. It's so large because it also happens to carry the second-longest interstate highway in the country, I-80. The AT crosses a lot of rivers and highways in its 2,175 mile journey from Maine to Georgia, but few are as intense as this one -- there is only a three foot concrete barrier separating the pedestrian hiker from trucks and travelers going 70+ on a highway whose own journey from New York to San Francisco is nearly 3,000 miles.


    There's that pi again: While the views from the upper floors at the PSFS Building are unmatched for skyline symmetry and birds eye streetscapes, it's also hard to beat the views of the River from there, being one of the tallest buildings east of Broad Street. (It was the tallest until The St James opened in 2004.) This view of the Camden skyline welcomes the addition of the completed Ferry Terminal Building which does not, in fact, include a ferry terminal.


    Lehigh love: Phillies fans have grown a lot more familiar with the mini-metropolis an hour up the Northeast Extension this summer as the likes of Brett Myers and JA Happ (and soon, Carlos Carrasco) have made the trek between Citizens Bank Park in South Philly and Coca Cola Park in Allentown. The AAA Iron Pigs call the Lehigh Valley their home as a matter of honor to the roughly 800,000 residents in Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton and surrounding region. The 103 mile long Lehigh River, the Delaware's second longest tributary (after the Schuylkill) flows through all three of these towns and empties into the Delaware via this dam in Easton.


    Goose Penn: William Penn's Bucks County estate, Pennsbury Manor, is entirely reconstructed from imagination. There is no record of the original home's design or landscaping, so when it was rebuilt in the New Deal era, they built things based on history and English styles from Penn's time. One thing that is authentic to history is the view of the Delaware. These Canada geese stroll the backyard that Penn did 300-some years ago (for barely two years when he was even there).


    Substation 1: Penn Treaty Park. William Penn was only ever in the colony bearing his name (but named for his father) twice. The earlier trip is clearly the more celebrated of the two, the one in which the Quaker allegedly held his treaty of peace with the Lenni Lenapes. While Philadelphia's 19th century industrial presence ate up nearly all of the Delaware Riverfront, the movement to preserve this land once called Shackamaxon dates back to Penn's living days, even as he was back in England for good. The park's obelisk marking the treaty was donated in 1827, and Penn Treaty Park was officially established in 1893.


    Substation 2: city skyline gritty skyline. Finally, this one was taken last Sunday (7/27) as that magnificent hailstorm approached. Couple the dark skies with New Jersey Transit's tinted windows on the Atlantic City line, and I had to up the ISO to 1600 just to get enough light to use a 1/250th shutter from the train as it moved across the Delair Bridge. This skyline view across Port Richmond takes in the PECO substation and Tioga Terminal.

    * * *

    That's what's up in the Summer of the Delaware at the moment. Should be a fun week on yr Skyline, so don't stray too far . . . the 10 Rittenhouse exposé will be up some time this week, promise.

    –B Love


    1 August 08: Dog Daze Ahead



    They're watching everything you do, both the 37 foot man and the eye in the sky. Be careful out there.

    UPDATE: Please note: the Summer of the Delaware series has now been archived for your convenience, and will be updated upon further updates as the updates are updated. That's five updates in one sentence. 1-2-3-4 . . . 5, ah ah ah. (Click the graphic under Quick Links on the left to access it.)

    –B Love


    31 July 08: Crescent rolls



    Hey, how's it going? Nice to see you.

    Word out of the Schuylkill Banks this morning is that environmental remediation work is going to begin soon at the area known as the DuPont Crescent, the curving swath (er, crescent) of land below the University Ave and Grays Ferry Ave bridges. It's the area with the patch of trees directly below the skyline in the photo above.

    This is fantastic news -- essentially, it's an extension of the Schuylkill River Trail before it's even been extended.

    For clarification, the portion from Locust Street to South Street will happen, but it's waiting on the South Street Bridge's reconstruction before it can even go out to bid. And when it does, it's going to be very expensive, since that portion of the trail will be a cantilevered boardwalk due to the widened railroad tracks assuming most of the existing land on the east bank of the Schuylkill south of Locust.

    The Trail will eventually lead from Locust to the Crescent (and, hopefully someday, Fort Mifflin), but residents of Grays Ferry and the Forgotten Bottom can take pride in their DuPont Crescent Greenway when it opens in the next couple years.

    –B Love










    LINKS | ABOUT | CONTACT | FAQ | PRESS | LEGAL