A New 12th and Chestnut

Remember the Unknot Tower proposal? The funky, twisted hotel designed by Winka Dubbeldam and proposed by CREI near the corner of 12th and Chestnut a few years ago? Well guess what...no, that isn't happening. But what is happening at the corner of 12th and Chestnut is that a handful of private people with money are taking the desolate strip's revitalization into their own hands.

Winka Dubbeldam's Unknot Tower, a stale proposal near 12th and Chestnut.

While the modest units in the White Building continue to fetch over $800,000, you'd think the exotic lines of the Unknot Tower would have been a sealed deal. Not so much. The proposed location continues to sit abandoned, it's metal gate cut open with a blow torch, the former department store's main entrance chained shut, barely hanging from its twisted hinges.

But on this same post apocalyptic stretch of dollar stores and discount electronic and beauty suppliers, the residents of the White Building may soon be seeing a return on their hefty investment.

The S.S. White Dental Manufacturing Company designed by Samuel Sloan in 1858 is now home to condos and a hip cupcakery.

In addition to the hip cupcake boutique, Philly Cupcakes, 1200 Bank, a posh billiard hall, will soon find its home at the former Beneficial Bank Building on the corner of 12th and Chestnut. The present bank is actually the last of three incarnations of the Beneficial Saving Fund Society, designed by Horace Trumbauer in 1916.

Philly Cupcakes in the White Building at 12th and Chestnut.

Across the street, a building known for its nonprofit clinics once responsible for Chestnut's "stroller brigade," the Commonwealth Title & Trust Company is currently under renovation. Designed by James Windrim & Son in 1901, it is still home to 7-11 and the re-branded Mitchell & Ness.

James Windrim & Son's Commonwealth Title & Trust Company in a 1901 rendering.

It remains unclear if it will be apartments or offices, but one things for sure, the recent movement at 12th and Chestnut promises a vast environmental improvement over the early morning line of angry, chain smoking, fowl mouth women waiting outside 1205 Chestnut, or the late night camp of hostile homeless occupying the front steps of the vacant bank.

Can We Get a Pulse?

A quick look at some great contributions to the Philadelphia skyline that may or may not make it.

Richard Meier's Mandeville Place at 2401 Walnut Street is dead in the water following the real estate crash. Out of all the residential developments proposed, this arguably would have been the most glowing addition to Philadelphia's architectural portfolio.

Agoos/Lovera Architects' Bridgeman's View would have added height adjacent to a neighborhood that a Northern Liberties NIMBY may not have wanted, but got stuck with it anyway in the form of five lesser towers with Waterfront Square. This could have been the catalyst to create a new city on the Delaware but died off with the real estate crash, leaving the north end of Penn's Landing with a cluster of five isolated high rises and the coming of Sugarhouse Casino.

H2L2's Stamper Square, a tasteful and scaled addition to Society Hill, replacing the hole in the ground formerly occupied by the NewCity shopping mall, was staved off by bitter residents long enough for it to be completely killed by the bubble burst, leaving residents with...a hole in the ground.

The Boyd Theater restoration and ARCWheeler's addition of a Kimpton Hotel isn't quite dead...yet...but hasn't seemed to evolve beyond this sketch.

The parking garage at Brandywine Realty Trust's Cira Center South is moving along. According to Penn, this project is going forward. Cira Centre South would significantly change our skyline shifting our eyes upward west of the Schuylkill and creating what I would like to name Crystal City had it not already been taken by an underwhelming suburb of Washington, DC.

A name like Intercontinental might be a slim possibility during this particular financial situation. One can still hope this Brennan Beer Gorman design someday rises above the Vine Street Expressway.

The same could be said for Cope Linder's Waldorf Astoria at 15th and Chestnut, rivaling the neighboring Residences at the Ritz in height, style, and opulance.

Winka Dubbeldam's obscurely fascinating Unknot Tower (GMH Hotels) at 12th and Chestnut would make a truley unique and risky addition to Philadelphia, unmatched since the days when our archiscape was Frank Furness's playground.

Of course, Philadelphia's attempt to play with the big boys, rising above anything currently standing in Manhattan and rivaling Chicago's biggest, Kohn Peterson Fox's American Commerce Center is still the dream of many. Battled by biddies in neighboring residences, the ACC has weathered much of its criticism by simply being tall. Like many of our tallest, it's not necessarily great architecture but from the ground, simetimes height is all a building needs to inspire awe.