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Wed
Dec 14
2011

Demolition on Chestnut St. Will Result in Shiny New Building

The Sidney Hillman Medical Center, a modernist building at 2116 Chestnut St., is in the process of being torn down. According to Plan Philly, the building was designed by Magaziner & Ploss, and is barely sixty years old. Some argued for the preservation of this building, insisting that it represented an important example of modernist architecture in Philadelphia.

Looks like a High School. Image from Philly.com

Considering its location and our distaste for modernism, we’re not too bummed to lose this building, especially considering the project replacing it.

The demolition has been going on for a couple of weeks now.

Backlit

Even more backlit

Backlitiest

Replacing the building will be a new, mixed-use building developed by the John Buck Company, out of Chicago. The new building will feature ground floor retail on Chestnut St., new space for the Hillman Medical Center, and a 34-story tower of 309 residential rentals. Designs for the project come from Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, also based in Chicago.

Rendering of the new building

Van Pelt and Sansom Sts., we think?

Corner of Van Pelt and Chestnut Sts.

The building, as you can see, steps down to a four story brick facade on street level, allowing for better pedestrian interaction and better fitting with the two historic churches and the William Eyre building that surround it. Inquirer architcture critic Inga Saffron doesn’t care for the mixture of bricks and glass, humorously suggesting that the building looks like it got dressed in the dark.

Love or hate the design, you’d have to agree that this project is a tremendous sign for development in Philadelphia. Looking at it in conjunction with the AAA Building apartment conversion just up the street, nearly six-hundred new residential units are on tap for this area in the next couple of years. And considering we haven’t seen a new skyscraper in this town since the Residences at the Ritz Carlton went up over three years ago, 2116 Chestnut St. could be a source of new optimism for hibernating developers.

Here’s hoping…

17
COMMENTS
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Posted in Rittenhouse | Tagged , , , , , , | 17 Comments
  • Cam

    awesome, for so many reasons. and i totally disagree w the street level critique, i think that design works very well.

  • Ben Duffy

    I believe they changed the rendering from what you have and have ‘cheapened’ it slightly by removing the architectural details in the corners. I believe this is the latest rendering in the press: http://articles.philly.com/2011-07-29/news/29829610_1_buck-tower-brick-and-glass-base-chicago-developer#ixzz1TUn28f00

  • locustst

    are you sure that’s the most up-to-date rendering of the new design?  i remember it being considerably dumbed down recently- http://bit.ly/nTU3fQ

  • Anonymous

    Not sure. The difference between our image and the image from the Inquirer are open balconies on the corners. 

    We got the renderings from the architect’s website, and it’s not clear whether our renderings are an evolution from the Inquirer’s images or vice versa.

  • Ben Duffy

    In the third page of the article, it mentions: “But the building has clearly been dumbed down since 2009…
    The shaft originally had balconies notched into its corners, giving the
    glass some relief. They’ve been replaced by shaved edges.”

  • Anonymous

    The rendering for 2009 was different from both images. It had balconies and a curved glass facade. We reached out to the developers to get the answer and will update when we hear back.

  • S.M. Stofka

    BTW the one at bottom with the church to the left is the corner of Chestnut and van Pelt, which means the middle one is at the corner of Sansom and van Pelt.

  • riccardo

    This project not going to be the jewel in Philadelphia’s crown, but more development west of 20th and especially below Market should be great. More momentum heading toward the Schuylkill could help resurrect Mandeville Place, and eventually lead to some much needed changes at 22nd and Market.

  • EricClayWarner

    This is the type of density this city needs. Should really spur some great buzz in the neighborhood. Here is hoping this development attracts attention from other major national developer’s and we can keep the momentum going, especially for high rise rental units!

  • http://www.facebook.com/PhillyChitChat Philly ChitChat

    I vote for the shiny glass building.

  • http://twitter.com/ThisOldCity This Old City

    I do like my smattering of Modernist gems since we have so few in this city, but this one was particularly destructive to the urban fabric.

    The skewed footprint, low density and clean lines may have made for a great blueprint, but in practice completely deadened an already challenged intersection. This was a building made by an architect with no regard to urbanism or urban principles. If modernist gems in abstraction harm our public spaces in practice, either severely reconfigure or start over.

  • http://twitter.com/McJenna McJenna

    That is quite a step up…I’m into it.

  • http://twitter.com/brianbrews Brian Marsh

    Those renderings look great on the street level – and all that glass is such a rare treat in Philly.  Chestnut St is getting what it deserves with this project.

  • http://nakedphilly.com/rittenhouse/more-exciting-development-coming-soon-to-chestnut-st/ More Exciting Development Coming Soon to Chestnut St. | NakedPhilly

    [...] other day, we gave you information about the ongoing demolition and upcoming construction at 2116 Chestnut St., which will ultimately result in g…. Today, we have the scoop on 2017-23 Chestnut St., the blighted former YWCA Annex building just a [...]

  • http://nakedphilly.com/rittenhouse/pure-tacos/ Pure Tacos Are Coming to Chestnut St. | NakedPhilly

    [...] a couple of residential projects in the works. Projects at the former YWCA annex and the former Sidney Hillman site will result in over 400 new apartments within two blocks of this location. That’s a lot of [...]

  • http://www.city-data.com/forum/city-vs-city/1565636-northeast-vs-midwest-vs-south-vs-2.html#post24985130 Northeast vs. Midwest vs. South vs. West Coast Current and Proposed Urban Development Battle – Page 2 – City-Data Forum

    [...] 2116 Chestnut- 34 floors Demolition on Chestnut St. Will Result in Shiny New Building | NakedPhilly PHILADELPHIA | 2116 Chestnut St. | 34 FL – Page 9 – SkyscraperPage Forum Temple University New [...]

  • http://nakedphilly.com/rittenhouse/update-construction-moving-along-at-2116-chestnut-street/ Update: Construction Moving Along at 2116 Chestnut Street | NakedPhilly

    [...] December, we told you about the demolition of the Sidney Hillman Medical Center, a modernist building next to a much smaller but still historic building originally designed by [...]

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