Old-Ass Building, Empty Lot, Dead-Ass Proposal(s), Fill This Front, and Lost Building: 2000 Arch Street

2000-2024 Arch Street

Photo by Michael Bixler

           Almost every kind of Philaphilia category represented by one little address!?!?! That's right motherfucker! Read all about it at the Hidden City Daily!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- October 22

O Havana Philadelphia Hotel

Somewhere by the riverfront in Fishtown

                   This is the most fun kind of Dead-Ass Proposal. Shit that's so silly and outlandish that the motherfucker is dead on arrival. Like the Philadelphia Wax Museum, this piece of shit proposal has little evidence of being serious and/or real.  There isn't even an exact location for where it was planned.
                  Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!
                

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- October 8th

University City Science Center 2004 Master Plan

3400 to 3800 blocks of Market Street

                      The University City Science Center loves to generate Dead-Ass Proposals like its their hobby, but this one is definitely their most large-scale attempt. Had this happened, the construction would be done by now and the 3400-3800 blocks of Market would make the average passerby shit their pants with astonishment. The University City Science Center began developing on this part of Market Street in 1965 (they were in the Widener Building before that) and has had about 5 gorillion different master plans and building proposals since. Even though lots of new construction and development is taking place there now, it pales in comparison to this master plan.
                  Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- September 24th

Philadelphia Wax Museum

1499 South Columbus Boulevard

Reversed South Street Bridge skyline view in the background, but the most current rendering, as far as I know.

               Alright, so this proposal isn't technically dead, but it might well be Dead on Arrival. This concept for a Philadelphia Wax Museum has been floating around for at least 5 years and might have even existed since 1997. Its hard to tell if the proposal is serious or even REAL. Though the idea of a wax museum honoring great Philadelphians is not too bad, the implied execution of it seems near impossible.
              Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- September 10th

Penn's Landing Tower

735 South Columbus Boulevard

            It seems that all Ensemble Real Estate can do for Philadelphia is an ensemble of Dead-Ass Proposals. Though they did finally get something done recently (Courtyard by Marriott in the Navy Yard), these motherfuckers seem to be full of broken promises. This, the Penn's Landing Tower, is just one of many.
            Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- August 28th

Center City West a.k.a Universe Square


30th and Market



Design by Harari Yahya and Wan Zawber. Photo: University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign

                        This right here stretches the definition of "Dead-Ass Proposal", being that this was never seriously proposed for construction. This is a series of designs made by architecture grad students in 1992 showing possible ideas for the extension of Center City across the Schuylkill. While a completely pie-in-the-sky idea back then, the leaping of highrise architecture into the West has become a reality in the here and now.
                       Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- August 13th

New Philadelphia Housing Authority Headquarters

2012 Chestnut Street

                Though a bunch of folks hated it, I always thought this proposal for a new PHA headquarters wasn't such a bad idea. It removes a blighted building, fills the empty lot next door, and brightens up a pretty bleak Center City block. Nonetheless, the powers of hardcore preservationists and good ol' classic Philadelphia government agency sketchiness brought it down.
                 Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- July 16th

The Horizon and The Tides

901 North Penn Street

Old 2003 rendering.

                Waterfront Square, the luxury condo gated community on North Penn Street on the Delaware Riverfront, was proposed in 2003 by its original developer, a partnership of Isle of Capri Associates and a Tel Aviv-based developer, as a 5-tower, 968 unit juggernaut on nearly 10 acres. However, only three of the towers got built. The last two, called the Horizon and the Tides, have fallen into the Dead Proposal black hole... or have they?
                 Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- July 2nd

1200 Bank

1200 Chestnut Street

                   It only takes one NIMBY to fuck up a multi million dollar, fully-approved project that would have saved an historic building and created tons and tons of tax revenue. 1200 Bank would have been a kick-ass establishment to have at a corner that sorely needs it, a proud symbol of Philadelphia's continuing renaissance. Nonetheless, the grand Philadelphia tradition of NIMBYism helped take it down.
                Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- June 18th

Walnut Street Theatre Tower, World's Tallest Old Folk's Home

825 Walnut Street

                 This is the kind of Dead-Ass Proposal that really pisses me the fuck off. A highrise in a location that sorely needs it, a project that would have had huge success for multiple reasons, a replacement for a decades-old surface parking lot. This would have been a major landmark for the city and world record-breaker. What a disappointment.
              Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- June 4th

Joint Library and Conservatory

Southeast Corner of 6th and Walnut



Holy Crap! Image from the Athenaeum of Philadelphia

           This would still be a landmark today if it was ever built. A massive Egyptian Revival library that would have become a National Treasure. Though it never saw a lick of construction, remnants of its near-existence can still be found today, 180 years later.
           Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- May 21st

Tun Tavern Reconstruction

109 Spruce Street

        

Old conjectural drawing of Tun Tavern superimposed (badly) onto the site of the proposed project.

               In last week's Empty Lot of the Week, I examined a dirty pile of empty land at the corner of Spruce Street and 38th Parallel Place, between Front and Second. At the end, I appealed to the sky for an answer as to why the city has been sitting on this space for the last 40 years without nary a sign of life, besides a brand new sidewalk that was just installed--the first one this lot has ever had! In the comments section of that piece, Philaphile Bob Bruhin brought up the fact that a re-build of the legendary Tun Tavern was once set to happen here but never happened. A Dead-Ass Proposal!
               Read all about it at the Philadelphia Citypaper's Naked City Blog!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- May 7th

African-American Hall of Fame and Sculpture Garden

George's Hill, Fairmount Park

No rendering exists, but here's the bust of W. Wilson Goode that was to be included in the project. Source: Zenos Frudakis

                In the melange of Philadelphia's numerous Dead-Ass Proposals, you'll find cool things that would have been awesome if they happened, shitty things that were better off dead, and boring things that wouldn't have mattered anyway. Then you have one like this--- shit so outlandish that you can't believe how close it came to actually getting executed.
              Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- April 23

101 Sky

101 Spring Garden Street

               Is this fucker even dead? This staid-looking asstower has been promised for the last eight years and still hasn't seen a stick of construction. Read more at the Philadelphia Citypaper's Naked City Blog!

           

              

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- April 9th

Centennial Tower

Fairmount Park

               Now this is crazy as shit. This was Philly's attempt at an Eiffel Tower-style structure well before Eiffel was ever a thought. Had it been executed, this gigantic tower would still be the tallest building in the city.
                Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- March 26th

River's Edge Corporate Center/Campbell's Soup HQ Tower

Camden Waterfront

The only living rendering is this overhead view from an old Camden Waterfront Master Plan. Yes, it would have included that huge parking lot.

            You think Philly's Delaware Riverfront is development-cursed? Check out Camden's. Camden's waterfront has many development-driving advantages over Phiadelphia's. There's no gigantic interstate highway running alongside, the real estate is much more abundant (and much less expensive), and the view of Philadelpia's skyline from Camden is about 10,000 times better than the reverse. Despite all that, Camden's waterfront has been through just as many goofy waterfront proposals as Philly's in the last 30 years. This is the story of one that was pretty certain to happen until it all went to shit.
          Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!!!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- March 12th

Powelton Avenue Bridge

Spanning the Powelton Yards and Schuylkill River at Powelton Avenue



Where it would be if it was ever built. Original aerial from Google.

             Ya know, its one thing to have a Dead-Ass Proposal that was active for 5, 10, or even 20 years. That's shitty in itself. But a Dead-Ass Proposal brought up again and again and AGAIN over the course of nearly 90 years? That rigoddamndiculous!!!! Well that's this one. This bridge proposal was attempted numerous times in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and failed every last time. This is the Powelton Avenue Bridge.
             Read more at the Philadelphia Citypaper's Naked City Blog!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- February 26th

Bridge Hall/Welcome Hall/Convention Hall

Straddling the Schuylkill River between Market and Chestnut Streets



East/West facade. Image from the Athenaeum of Philadelphia.

              This proposal is insane now and was even more insane in 1910. Its hard to believe that the idea of a Convention Hall built over a river would EVER be taken seriously, but here we have one that was designed down to the last stitch in a time period where a project like this would seem nearly impossible.
             Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- February 12th

Philadelphia CityCenter

1301 Market Street

The only picture of it is from this model of an unrelated Dead-Ass Proposal. Its the one with the two goofy rectangles at the top.

                 Ever wonder why there's a big empty hole at 13th and Market? Less than a block away from City Hall? Prime real estate that can't get moving on ANYTHING and has been empty for nearly 20 years? Well, this is it. This is the reason that piece of fuck just sits there parking cars night and day, embarrassing the fuck out of the city. It all started in the late 1980s.
                Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- January 29th

Philadelphia Federal Center

2901 Walnut Street

No surviving rendering, so here's a conjectural one transposed onto an aerial photo from its time. Original image form Google.

                 During the late 1980's/early 1990's building boom in Philadelphia, scores of office building proposals were getting built with little to no effort. West Market grew like a motherfucker and there was no end in sight. Nonetheless, the wall on development had to come down sometime, and, like 1777 JFK and the Corestates Financial Center, some proposals got their asses kicked out of existence. Unlike those two, this one, if built, would have been a massive disappointment and would have probably looked like shit. Not only that. Philadelphians were against this one the day it was proposed.
                Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!