What are the 10 most essential buildings in Philadelphia?

[Outlaw Star]

Number 7, because you don't find gothic just anywhere in this city:

While there are a lot of Gothic churches in the city, it's true that there are none like this, flying buttresses and all. There are ones I like more, but you can certainly make a strong case for Advocate.

And I second whoever included Reading Terminal. That train shed is the only one of its kind in the world, I believe. (It's been a while since my local history class ).

[OldMama]

I do miss the statue of Gabriel that used to be on the Church of the Advocate (above). It's been brought inside so it still exists. And speaking of inside, it's just depressing. There is simply no money to do a restoration.

[Juntonian]

This was hard. Choices listed in no particular order.

1. Atwater Kent Radio Plant



2. Arch Street Meeting



3. Water Works at Fairmount



4. Elfreth's Alley



5. Eastern State Penitentiary



6. Wyck



7. Boelsen cottage



8. PSFS Building



9. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts



10. Merchant's Exchange

[Titus]

That's a pretty good list except the Atwater Kent plant is gone.

[Matthias]

The old 1630s Swedish log cabin is just outside Philly's borders but should not be neglected.

[MarketStEl]

That's a pretty good list except the Atwater Kent plant is gone.

Um, no.

The Atwater Kent radio plant is very much still standing on Wissahickon Avenue, near the Roosevelt Expressway.

If I'm not mistaken, the funky domestic-goods store Material Culture is one of the building's tenants.

[Titus]

Really? I thought that section of the superstructure on the boulevard was all that remained. Interesting.

[annie]

Thanks everyone who posted pictures.

[MarketStEl]

Respectfully, I have to disagree: I think taste can be argued. For example, I'm pretty adamant about putting Society Hill Towers (hereafter, S.Hi.T.) on the top-10 list, but Thoth or ShoshTrvls or someone else could disabuse me of my admiration. I included it in part because even decent "MCM" design, let alone an outstanding example of it, is conspicuously hard to find in this city. But hey, maybe that's a lousy justification: there are better examples of concrete pilotis elsewhere, and maybe Philadelphia is just not an MCM town. And that parking lot next to the fountain sucks.

I think you're right about Philly being something of a Mid-Century Modernist desert. And that would be more reason, not less, for including S.Hi.T. on the list.

We'll get to the urbanist critique in a minute.

Really? So many fine examples of brutalism on Temple's campus and you went with those?

If I were to pick one building on the Temple campus as "essential," it would be the university's birthplace, the Baptist Temple itself. And I'm sure a lot of you know how close we came to losing that.

But I would agree with you that Temple's 1970s Brutalist buildings are probably more worth saving than Conwell (1922) and Carnell (1928) Halls. Jeez, there's even better Academic Gothic on the campus in the form of Mitten Hall and the former Stillman (do I have that name right?) Library (both 1930).

Shame on you. It falls in the same category as IH.

Yeah, but we didn't get One Liberty as a freebie, so I had to put it on the list.

Far be it from me to derail this thread with S.Hi.T talk, but...I'm going to do it anyway:

My problem is less with the aesthetics (although as Shosh indicated, there is room for critique there) and more with the way the buildings integrate with the rest of the city. Or more accurately, how they don't integrate.

They blew up iconic Dock Street and its associated commercial street life to build three towers for young rich people on a ****ing artificial hill. And rerouted 2nd Street in the process! It helped legitimize the nascent idea that cities could continue to be relevant by adopting suburban elements, like the separation of people, classes and building uses.

They're obviously not wholly negative, but when I start thinking about what could have been...It's like Independence Mall. The damage to street life and surrounding neighborhoods is too much for me to ever look fondly upon those buildings, even if they are a notable part of the skyline.

Well, as I'm sure you know, it wasn't just the Dock Street demolition but the entire Society Hill urban renewal project that drew Jane Jacobs' ire in her famous 1961 book - and it was on the grounds you mention here.

Shoot, even I realize that was a mistake. The buildings themselves, however, I consider elegant masterpieces.

Really? I thought that section of the superstructure on the boulevard was all that remained. Interesting.

If what you're referring to is what I think it is - that framework on top of the hill overlooking the Wayne Avenue/Henry Avenue exit (on the left as you head north) - that's a much newer structure, erected as part of a park.

A quick Google search confirms that Material Culture is indeed located in the former original Atwater Kent plant - address: 4700 Wissahickon Avenue. A larger plant erected by Atwater Kent in 1928 next door at 5000 Wissahickon Avenue may or may not still stand - I think "may not". (The plant at 4700 Wissahickon dates to 1924.)

[Titus]

If what you're referring to is what I think it is - that framework on top of the hill overlooking the Wayne Avenue/Henry Avenue exit (on the left as you head north) - that's a much newer structure, erected as part of a park.

A quick Google search confirms that Material Culture is indeed located in the former original Atwater Kent plant - address: 4700 Wissahickon Avenue. A larger plant erected by Atwater Kent in 1928 next door at 5000 Wissahickon Avenue may or may not still stand - I think "may not". (The plant at 4700 Wissahickon dates to 1924.)

Yes that's what I was referring to - it was my (probably mistaken) understanding that the Atwater Kent building which had such an impact on architecture, or rather engineering, had been demolished and that a portion was re-rected as a tribute as that piece shows the engineering marvel of the broad span of steel trusses. I do not recall those trusses existing in the Material Culture building which I have been to many times.

[MarketStEl]

Yes that's what I was referring to - it was my (probably mistaken) understanding that the Atwater Kent building which had such an impact on architecture, or rather engineering, had been demolished and that a portion was re-rected as a tribute as that piece shows the engineering marvel of the broad span of steel trusses. I do not recall those trusses existing in the Material Culture building which I have been to many times.

I drove past the sites yesterday, and it turns out we're both right.

The building that houses Material Culture, as I noted before, is the original Atwater Kent plant, built in 1924.

That truss is indeed from the second Atwater Kent plant, built next door to the first four years later and now demolished. Its site is now a parking lot, and that truss is mounted on the site.

[Titus]

There you go - great minds - lol.