Inga Trashes Old City Apartments

**ArcticSplash** · 08-10-2012, 02:33 PM

"Unimaginative"

Changing Skyline: It's up to Historical Commission to reject unimaginative Columbus Blvd. apartment building

**bluecuracao** · 08-10-2012, 05:09 PM

YES!!!

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**eldondre** · 08-10-2012, 05:13 PM

is that an IHOP?

**supersupper** · 08-10-2012, 08:48 PM

Nostalgia has a funny way way of making a building look pretty cool. I love that IHOP building. I crave one to live in (in the right location of course).

**loveisnoise** · 08-11-2012, 01:18 AM

Errrr.... IHOP?! What bizarro world did you folks come from?! That's Howard Johnson's!

**bluecuracao** · 08-11-2012, 01:21 AM

Howard Johnson's had the orange-roofed restaurants, with orange/blue hotels. There was an episode of Mad Men this past season that featured a fabulous replica.

IHOP would probably blue...they came with hotels, too?

ETA, Thanks LIN!

**loveisnoise** · 08-11-2012, 01:46 AM

This is what happens when neighborhood groups are in charge of designs. I can't believe she hasn't yet pointed out the toll brothers idiocy going on at the Wil Smith hole. The neighbors protested every great idea, so now toll brothers is coming in with a simple 69 condo plan made out of wood and brick like it was 1979. Since they went with absolute crap as recommended by sosh*tty hill giveme ass-ociation, they'll get a quick pass through(already got pre approved), and built something very crappy and be on their merry way without a care in the world.

**loveisnoise** · 08-11-2012, 01:47 AM

Originally Posted by bluecuracao

ETA, Thanks LIN!

I drove by two everyday when I was a kid...hehehehehe

**Jayfar** · 08-11-2012, 02:41 AM

Originally Posted by loveisnoise

Errrr.... IHOP?! What bizarro world did you folks come from?! That's Howard Johnson's!

That's making me hear an old NRBQ song, "Howard Johnson's Got His Hojo Working"

Howard Johnson's Got His Ho-Jo Workin' - NRBQ : Listen, Appearances, Song Review : AllMusic

**MarketStEl** · 08-11-2012, 05:22 AM

Originally Posted by loveisnoise

This is what happens when neighborhood groups are in charge of designs. I can't believe she hasn't yet pointed out the toll brothers idiocy going on at the Wil Smith hole. The neighbors protested every great idea, so now toll brothers is coming in with a simple 69 condo plan made out of wood and brick like it was 1979. Since they went with absolute crap as recommended by sosh*tty hill giveme ass-ociation, they'll get a quick pass through(already got pre approved), and built something very crappy and be on their merry way without a care in the world.

Given all the grief those locals gave the developers who tried to put something truly interesting and creative on the old Newmarket site, I'm not surprised Toll Brothers gave them something super-safe, super-derivative and (there's that word again) unimaginative. Then again, Toll Brothers is not in the business of producing imaginative developments - they're in the business of producing developments that will sell. And to sell them, they have to build them first. You see where this line of argument is going.

What other great ideas besides Stamper Square had been proposed for that site? I don't recall seeing any renderings of Will Smith's proposed W Hotel.

One of our blog contributors shares your opinion of civic association zoning committees to a degree. Google "Greg Meckstroth" and read.

**MarketStEl** · 08-11-2012, 05:28 AM

One more thing on HoJo's vs. IHOP:

IHOP restaurants were standard A-frames, with mock-Tudor trim and blue roofs.

The cruciform A-frame building Gina added to her funny editorial comment is not a HoJo's restaurant. It's a lobby for a mid- to late 1960s HoJo's motor lodge, as the chain called its motels. The restaurants of that same era remained low-slung ranchers with orange roofs and a spire.

**Gladys** · 08-11-2012, 09:44 AM

And they seemed to be near every rest stop... the orange freeze comes to mind.

**John Goodman** · 08-11-2012, 09:56 AM

Inga is queen nimby

Can she please go back to Boston and leave Philly alone?

**bluecuracao** · 08-11-2012, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

One more thing on HoJo's vs. IHOP:

IHOP restaurants were standard A-frames, with mock-Tudor trim and blue roofs.

The cruciform A-frame building Gina added to her funny editorial comment is not a HoJo's restaurant. It's a lobby for a mid- to late 1960s HoJo's motor lodge, as the chain called its motels. The restaurants of that same era remained low-slung ranchers with orange roofs and a spire.

The A-frame part of HoJo's had a restaurant in it, too--look closely at my version of the rendering and you can see booths through the front windows!

There was one up the hill from my high school that we used to go to for cheeseburgers and ice cream...usually during class. :-)

**NYC to Philly** · 08-12-2012, 10:37 PM

Originally Posted by bluecuracao

The A-frame part of HoJo's had a restaurant in it, too--look closely at my version of the rendering and you can see booths through the front windows!

There was one up the hill from my high school that we used to go to for cheeseburgers and ice cream...usually during class. :-)

The Fried clam rolls were one of my favorites!

**MarketStEl** · 08-12-2012, 11:23 PM

Originally Posted by John Goodman

Inga is queen nimby

Can she please go back to Boston and leave Philly alone?

1) She only went to Boston on a Neiman Fellowship at Harvard - she's been the Inquirer's architecture critic for at least a decade, IIRC, replacing the late Thomas Hine;

2) This isn't NIMBYism: neither she nor anyone else is arguing against development on the parcel in question. She is arguing against a bad building on this site, and there are a lot of us out there who agree with her assessment of this structure. I refer you to the altered rendering upthread.

Of which speaking: Yep, I see those booths, bluecuracao.

**y.lama** · 08-13-2012, 12:40 PM

I thought I saw a different design (or at least render) recently; it's shown in this article.
Changing Skyline: Proposed Delaware waterfront apartment complex gets approval - Philly.com

**mixiboi** · 08-13-2012, 12:48 PM

Yeah, that render was the first draft..still the same building..just not as orange and blue:

**bluecuracao** · 08-13-2012, 05:03 PM

Aww, that's no fun. My dreams of a retro HoJo revival are dashed. :,(

Those young professionals who have just finished college would have LOVED that.

**supersupper** · 08-13-2012, 06:35 PM

It's a nicer render, even capturing a hint of the BFB reflected in the windows, nice soft shadows, the colors relate to each other more nicely, the trees look more real, teh people add a human touch.... etc. Surely they'd like you to think it took longer for the computers to render out the image, rather than thinking they "started with the worst image possible so anything afterwards looks great" ploy.

It doesn't really allay concerns regarding choice of materials or the finish, or ground-level interaction (they covered up that issue nicely with the trees).

A step back from the bridge of some sorts would have been a nice gesture. A peaked roof even nicer still.