City Hall Gates

Philadelphia's City Hall is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. And just a few meters shy of the Washington Monument, it's tall.

So then why, after its years long cleaning and a new Dilworth Park, is its courtyard still closed at night by four pairs of ugly chain link gates better used to secure a junkyard?

Well, if you've asked that question, fret not, it's finally happening, and it's sexy.

Now if they can get rid of the pimples, er, I mean the hundreds of air conditioning units in nearly every window. 

The City Hall Parking Lot

The west portal to City Hall, Dilworth Plaza, has been reinvented as Dilworth Park. Despite critical opinion, the public has spoken: new is better, especially when there's something to do. Now that the fountain has been transformed into an ice skating rink, one flanked by architecture as diverse as this city (take that, Rockefeller Center), it's found itself full of hundreds of tourists and locals enjoying the outdoors, even when it's brutally cold.

But prior to Dilworth's rebirth, you probably avoided its cracked sidewalks and impractical sunken plaza, the one with that piss smell. So you probably also didn't notice all the city employees who've been treating City Hall's north plaza like a suburban Walmart parking lot.

Well, someone took note. And then someone else. And then someone even started a Tumblr page about it.

Of all the quips about the absurdity of draping the city's most monumental feat of engineering with a make-shift parking lot, the best came in the comments section of PhillyMag.com of all places: "We have the walkability of Paris and the car-centric mentality of Dallas." We sure do, IR, we sure do.

It may seem petty. The city is growing as we speak. We're better accommodating bicyclists, we're keeping subway lines open later, we're even offering the unheard of notion of credit cards at transit stations. Market East is finally recognizing its potential, and will soon be rising. The same can be said for East Chestnut. 

So yeah, crying about a few (twenty) cars dwarfed by City Hall seems a bit silly. But while many Center City residents have long understood that parking is a privilege, not a right, the city that North Broad faces is largely another story. 

You don't even have to go to Vine to find ample parking on North Broad, and its side streets are flanked with additional parking. And when you finally do reach Vine, still a short walk from City Hall, you'll find Center City's dirty little secret (well, not so little, it's derelict parking lots cover acres of developable land.)

Meanwhile the cretins parking on the sidewalk around City Hall as if it's the Oregon Avenue median are pointing their middle finger at anyone who thinks they should be paying for the privilege of walking two blocks. 

Why, why, oh why, does City Hall require the overwhelming majority of new development offer parking spaces for the supposed sake of traffic and parking if City Hall doesn't require their employees to use them?

By the logic that parks City Hall employees on its sidewalks, we should have torn down the Logan Square neighborhood to accommodate employees in the upcoming CITC.

Again, it may seem petty, but it's representative of a bureaucracy that governs some of the greatest walkability in the nation but refuses to encourage it, or even accept it themselves.  

From the Skyline to the Streetline

While the corporate trainwreck that redefined city skylines across the world grinds into second gear (kind of like the theme from Friends for urban development), public projects have become too numerous to keeptrack. From Race Street to University City to Manayunk, one could easily question, "Where is all this money coming from?" We left the definition of the city up to private developers in the 90s and early twenty-first century, but now, inexplicably, the city seems to be doing the work itself.

UCD's 30th Street Station Plaza will officially open on November 2nd, just before Dilworth Plaza's renovations are expected to begin. Overnight we seemed to welcome more miles of bike lanes than Seattle and Portland combined, and the Reading Terminal Viaduct Park almost seems like it might be more than the idealistic dream of the hipsters that can't afford to live there.

30th Street Station Plaza

The Parkway is being redefined as America's Champs-Élysées with enough artwork to make those dining on its Parisian counterpart choke on their baguettes in jealousy, the Schuylkill River Trail is being expended into territory that hasn't been explored since South Philadelphia was home to natives, and perhaps more shocking than anything, Philadelphians are actually exploring the Delaware River...recreationally!

Greening JFK

As national news syndicates continue to run headlines about our grim economy, without the cranes and scaffolding of progress, Philadelphia appears to steaming forward without hesitation. Perhaps we owe our lowered expectations, those fostered by the shadows of New York City, more credit than they often receive. There is no doubt that these public projects are taking place around the country, often funded with federal stimulus money, but in a city accustomed to leaning on private corporations to pick up the tab for civic inefficiencies, it is almost heartwarming to see our money at work.

Occupy Dilworth Plaza

I am all for a crackdown on Wall Street. However Wall Street is 100 miles northeast of our nearly bankrupt City Hall, which is why it's understandable that those protesting corporate greed in Philadelphia quickly realized that their voice at 15th and Broad was nothing less than preaching to the choir.


They came looking for a fight, and all they got was, "I hear ya." Of course zealous protesters rarely have little else to do, so with an absence of discourse they decided to go rogue. 


It's hard to say whether those camping at Dilworth Plaza had any clue that it was about to undergo a makeover starting in November. It was certainly convenient. Once they realized they weren't getting the kind of press they were looking for they decided to target the $55M project.


Joshua Albert told Metro Philadelphia, “The fact that they’re going to spend $55 million to renovate this when there’s so much else to spend the money on, I don’t think we’re leaving...not peacefully.”


What are they protesting? Wall Street or public beautification projects in Philadelphia?


Metro went on to quote Sean Rose, “They want to turn it into an ice skating rink. They didn’t pass a bill to make new libraries, but they passed a bill to make a rink.”


The Dilworth Plaza renovations are made possible by money designated for projects designed to bring tax revenue to cities that can go towards things like...libraries. A large portion of this project was funded by a grant set up for projects specifically like this one. 

If you want to protest social spending, the new site of the Family Court is right across the street. The Parkway is under renovation. We've laid down hundreds of new bike lanes. We opened Race Street Pier. We're expanding the Schuylkill River Trail. 


Why Dilworth Plaza? 


Because they just happened to be there.


Stating that the money allocated for the Dilworth Plaza renovations should be funneled directly into a library fund is like telling me I shouldn't buy a Halloween costume when there are Philadelphians without new shoes. I feed my cat while people are starving in other countries. I own a car yet some people can only afford to take the bus.


Are they protesting an unethical corporate influence on Congress, or the very idea of capitalism?

Are they mad at GM for spending our tax dollars on private retreats, or are they upset that it's being used to clean up our city instead of funding unlimited unemployment for those too proud to apply for a job at Starbucks?


Occupy Wall Street had a message, one that Occupy Philly lost. If your gripe is with Wall Street, I can sympathize. But don't demand fiscal accountability in one breath and ask for a handout in the next. 


I want to see more jobs. 


I want to see responsibility. 


I want to see action. 


Dilworth Plaza's renovation is a weak and easy target, and one that will employ hundreds of people, and potentially bring thousands of tax paying tourists to 15th and Market. 


There are public projects taking place all across the city right now, and none of them have anything to do with the criminal acts that led to our bleak economic climate. In fact, these projects are in an attempt to revive a little of what we lost. 


As a socially minded, publicly funded project, using Occupy Philly to protest Dilworth Plaza's renovations is hypocritical, flying in the face of their overall message of social welfare. 

We Don't Need a New Dilworth

A brisk leisurely stroll through Center City down an eerily quiet West Market Street on a Saturday night past our empty, and often reviled, Dilworth Plaza got me thinking: Is it that bad?

In the summer, Dilworth Plaza offers a sunken oasis from the traffic surrounding City Hall. Its graceful arches and stepped fountains interact with the three dimensionality of the space.

With some federal dollars burning a hole in the city's pocket, critics and architects have swiftly praised a handful of shortsighted designs without closely looking at the resource we already have.

What is wrong with Dilworth Plaza? In a word: Nothing. At least nothing in regard to the design of the space. Which, if we should be replacing it, should be our foremost concern. After all, if the problem with Dilworth Plaza were its element, and not its architecture, shouldn't we be addressing that first?

But Dilworth Plaza is well designed. It compliments its surrounding property in both its form and materials. It's recessed seating area offers a quiet oasis to lunch away from the noisy traffic around City Hall, and offers a three dimensional space that allows for its dramatic fountains and unique views of the skyscrapers bordering the plaza.

Dilworth Plaza's problem lies not just in its element, but in the fact that the city has given up on it. And given the condition of the area after its construction, the plaza was never really given a chance to be much more than an entrance to a transit hub. But that doesn't mean it was a bad design. In fact, it's a great design.

An early rendering of the existing Dilworth Plaza. Renderings are marketing tools, showing us the best of any design, good or bad.

Like Rockefeller Plaza, the sunken garden with its graceful arches could be home to so much more.

Renderings are exciting, and most of all they offer us a clean slate. But look at the new design proposed for Dilworth Plaza, and ignore all the people. It's a one dimensional concrete patio. The design leaves no way for sculptural additions, landscaping, or even people to interact with the space.

It's flat, in every sense of the word.

The proposed reconstruction of Dilworth Plaza. Remove the life from the picture and you have a very flat, concrete plaza, a space stripped of architecture. It offers us a chance to start over, but little else.

It offers us nothing more than a very expensive fresh start, and its success lies in the assumption that people will flock to it simply because it's new. In fact, this new space offers nothing that Dilworth can't currently support, and support in a far superior fashion.

While the proposal's ice skating rink offers the plaza as a destination attraction, it provides no architectural space for the resources needed to maintain an ice skating rink. Where are the rental facilities? Where is the cashier?

No provisions have been made to address the plaza's golden egg. Will we have to construct make-shift kiosks in the winter? Why bother? Dilworth Plaza was designed to grow and accommodate multiple uses.

Rockafeller Center's sunken plaza offers a much more architecturally successful attraction than Dilworth's proposed reconstruction. Dilworth Plaza could easily be outfitted to support a similar project.

Its recessed plaza offers architectural elements that could house these facilities with very few alterations and keep the crowds of skaters contained and organized. The recessed plaza even offers space that could potentially be used for concession stands and warming rooms. Space that will become useless if it's put under the concrete divide of bad planning.

Dilworth Plaza's recessed space is already engineered to house an ice skating rink and any facilities required of such a feature. The proposed "upgrades" would require these facilities to either be inconveniently housed underground, or in make-shift, seasonal kiosks.

Illuminating the plaza and its artwork at night, improving its landscaping, and perhaps more than anything, cleaning the space would do wonders for what many would argue is an architecturally significant space. While encouraging the public to use this space is an ultimate bonus, the proposed reconstruction is nothing but a poorly designed assumption.

Polish the gem that people have forgotten about, turn on the lights, and remind them it's there. You'll see crowds lining up to ice skate no matter what it looks like, but take a closer look at what we've got before it's decided to bury it under a thin layer of mediocrity.

One Meridian Plaza

It's difficult to look at the Residences at the Ritz and picture the charred remains of One Meridian Plaza that loomed over Dilworth Plaza for nearly a decade. Designed by Vincent Kling & Associates, the office building was completed in 1972.

One Meridian Plaza

On February 22, 1991, the a Twelve Alarm Fire broke out on the 22nd floor resulting in the deaths of three firemen. The fire was ultimately fought from the outside because of concerns that the building may have collapsed. The blaze didn't begin to die down until the fire reached the 30th floor and finally set off functioning sprinklers. The fire lasted nearly a full day and damaged neighboring buildings, leading to the demolition of buildings that once occupied the neighboring parking lot, including the 20 story Morris Building.

Fire destroyed eight floors of One Meridian Plaza in February of 1991

An unprecedented disaster, One Meridian Plaza was the tallest building in the world to ever be destroyed by a fire at the time. The eyesore sat vacant for eight years while its owners, E/R Partners, and insurers went to war over its fate. Neighboring property values declined, Chestnut Street shops began to close, the Girard Bank tower's water damage caused most of it to sit vacant for years, and lawsuits claiming losses rained on the owners of the remains.

For nearly a decade, the charred remains of the skyscraper loomed over City Hall, depressing properties values, frustrating politicians, and embarrassing the city.

Beginning in 1998, the unique deconstruction was required because of its proximity to other buildings. It was connected to the Girard Bank tower, currently the Ritz Carlton Hotel, and its scar can still be seen on the hotel's west wall. It was completely removed by 1999 where it sat as a surface parking lot until the Residences at the Ritz opened a year ago.

Christmakwanzaakah Village

After three days of polls and blogsters painted Managing Director Richard Negrin Grinch-green for doing his job, Mayor Nutter has stepped in to save the day (and a slice of fresh baked popularity) decreeing that the word "Christmas" can be returned to the illuminated marker at Dilworth Plaza's yearly Christmas Village.

How many people would have really noticed if the sign had said "Holiday Village" in the first place? Or perhaps "Santa's Village"? As a lapsed Christian who closely abides by the philosophy, "What Would Ellen Do," I can't personally sympathize with the 3% who found the word offensive. Nonetheless, I think we could have made the village more festive and inclusive for everyone, without humbugedly leaving a void where the word "Christmas" once stood.

Hanukkah started last night. Kwanzaa starts on the 26th. A multitude of festivities could be represented at the Christmakwanzaakah Village without letting a politically correct 3% dictate a spiritless season, or believing a struggling politician's sensitivity and salvation is anything more than a vote-grab.

Our Seasonal Four-Letter Word

In its third year, Dilworth Plaza's German style Christmas Village is gracing the west side of City Hall. After receiving several complaints from workers and residents about the word "Christmas," Managing Director Richard Negrin asked that the word "Christmas" be replaced with "Holiday."

It's not surprising. In fact, had the sign originally said "Holiday Village" I doubt many would have noticed. While seasonally adorned retail ads aim at shoppers intending to stuff their Christmas stockings, those same retail stores treat the word "Christmas" like a four letter word. Often the most you can expect is the all encompassing "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings."

In a culture of increasing politically correct absurdities, I choose to indulge in "a Festivus for the Rest of Us."

Today's Philly.com poll shows that while 7% were offended by the word, 93% of readers don't give a Christmas about it.

Rothschild Building

The Rothschild Building at 12-14 South Broad Street once stood at the current site of Dilworth Plaza. It was demolished for the expansion of the Arcade Building, torn down in the 1960's to make room for the plaza. The Rothschild Building was designed by Yarnall and Goforth.

Third National Bank

Once in the middle of Dilworth Plaza, on the corner of West Market Street and a now defunct portion of South Broad Street at 2 South Broad was the site of the Third National Bank. Built in 1892, it was designed by James Windrim & Son. Alterations were designed by Baker & Dallett in 1911 and John Torry Windrim in 1921. The last incarnation of the Third National Bank was demolished with the Arcade Building in the 1960s to make room for Dilworth Plaza, which shifted all southbound Penn Square traffic from South Broad to 15th Street.

A Quick Word on NIMBYs

Maybe the local NIMBYs should be having bake sales to raise the very few thousands of dollars it would cost to update their playground equipment. Dilworth is being updated with grant money and private funds. Local neighborhoods are more than welcome to contribute privately to their own community. Anytime some money gets dumped into, I don't know, an architectural landmark and governmental hub of one of the largest cities in America, every three block "neighborhood" in the surrounding 20 miles starts screaming "I deserve a piece of that." Start baking some brownies.

Dilworth Plaza a Go

I'm glad to see this is actually moving forward, and while I don't think it's the best design or the best use of $50M, I don't think it's all bad. I doubt anyone will be regretting this decision 5 or 10 years from now. However architecture and cleanliness won't be the biggest hurdle, tacking the homeless will. I think Love Park and Dilworth Plaza became the dilapidated Hooverville's that they are because they were surrounded by nothing for years, not because they are simply public spaces.

It may be silly to think that buzz words like "cafe" actually mean anything, but an element of street level commerce will excite people. It won't draw the residents from their fortresses at the Ritz or the Phoenix anymore than Barnes and Noble pulls them out of 10 Rittenhouse Square, but it will grab the commuters who'd rather grab a coffee and a muffin street-side instead of in the SEPTA catacombs.

It's true City Hall itself wasn't designed to be a public space but it doesn't mean the surrounding area can never succeed as one. If that were the case we might as well put the Arcade Building and Broad Street Station back on top of Dilworth Plaza because any other project would be doomed from the start.

Many Negadelphians would assume that any public project is inevitably doomed. But the truth of the matter is that this space is surrounded by new development and renovated public spaces. The Convention Center is going to be pulling people north of Market Street, new museums are pulling tourists across Broad Street, and all of them will be passing through the most important piece of Philadelphia's architectural portfolio.

It's stubborn to propose that this space isn't due some attention, and it's naive to assume that no one will enjoy it. We don't all get in our cars and hop on 676 at 5pm to run from urbanity as fast as we can. Some of the less cranky commuters might stick around if our most important public spaces didn't smell so bad.

Dilworth Plaza Makeover to Start - Philly.com

Dilworth Plaza

Is the Dilworth Plaza redesign really that great, or does it look so good because it's clean? Renderings often conceal bad design, especially when you take a desolate, dirty public space and airbrush in pedestrians, trees, and shiny new pavement. If two designs were given to someone unfamiliar with Dilworth Plaza, would a rendering of a new Dilworth Plaza look any more impressive than a rendering of a cleaned and bustling Dilworth Plaza as it exists today? Probably not. But Dilworth Plaza doesn't lack design and good design isn't going to save it. What a new design will do - good or bad - is remind us all that Dilworth Plaza is here.

No matter what plan is put forth, naysayers will always argue any public space will become a concrete landfill collecting trash from commuters and a gathering place for homeless and pigeons. It took half a century to make the more seasoned Philadelphians realize that Independence Mall wasn't our Hooverville. And plenty who still use that term refuse to accept it as the successful public space it has become.

But Dilworth Plaza isn't about them, it doesn't have to be about them, and in a fitting honor commemorating its namesake, Richardson Dilworth wouldn't have want it to be about them. Dilworth Plaza is about the new life surrounding City Hall. Once closed at five on Friday, overlooked by a macabre and charred One Meridian Place, this forgotten gem in the shadow of one of the most impressive and architecturally revered buildings in the world has the potential to attract those who have made Center City Philadelphia what it has become in the past two decades.

Overlooked by the new Residences at the Ritz, surrounded by a growing number of hotels, adjacent to the new entrance of the Convention Center, Dilworth Plaza's reinvention isn't about architecture and design, it's about attracting activity to the literal heart of our city.

The unintrusive glass entrances, similar to the entrance across the street and the east entrance to Suburban Station - both underrated and undercelebrated improvements to the overall City Hall/Suburban Station transportation complex - don't overwhelm this natural space. In the overall design we see a lot of the same concrete but we also see a lot of grass. Given the advantages growing around it, this square has the potential to become a twilight enclave of Bohemia much like Rittenhouse and Washington Squares. Add to it a large shallow pool outfitted for fountains and easily transformed into an ice skating rink, it draws even more activity by attracting families, friends, and couples seeking unique evening or weekend afternoon activities that don't require a car.

As it exists, Dilworth Plaza doesn't need a lot of work. What it needs is a simple facelift - seen here - a good scrubdown with Lysol, and more than anything a reminder to all of us that it is here and that is exactly what this plan does.