Centre Square (Building)
Centre Square is an office complex in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The complex consists of two concrete high-rise towers: the Centre Square I (also known as Centre Square East) and the Centre Square II (Centre Square West)—respectively, the 24th- and 15th-tallest buildings in Philadelphia. Designed by Vincent Kling & Associates in the 1960s, Centre Square opened in 1973. The complex is credited with shifting Philadelphia's downtown office district from South Broad Street to West Market Street. A tenant since 1975, management consulting firm Willis Towers Watson is Centre Square's largest tenant. The complex is best known for Claes Oldenburg's sculpture, ''Clothespin'', in the plaza in front of the building. A fan of contemporary art, developer Jack Wolgin commissioned three works under Philadelphia's percent for art program: ''Clothespin'', Jean Dubuffet's ''Milord la Chamarre'', and a series of banners by Alexander Calder. The works helped Phil ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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KlingStubbins
KlingStubbins was an architectural, engineering, interior, and planning firm headquartered in Philadelphia, with offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Raleigh, North Carolina; San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing. In 1982, the Franklin Institute awarded Vincent G. Kling the Frank P. Brown Medal. Firm history KlingStubbins was formed through the merger of two offices in 2007. The first, The Kling-Lindquist Partnership, Inc., was founded by Vincent Kling (1916–2013) in 1946, and grew to become the largest firm in Philadelphia. One of the most recognizable buildings designed by Kling is the Bell Atlantic Tower, which was completed in 1991 and remains among the tallest buildings in Philadelphia. Kling also collaborated with Philadelphia city planner Edmund Bacon. The Stubbins Associates was founded by Hugh Stubbins, FAIA, in 1949 and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hugh Stubbins had designed several of the world's most noted skyscrapers, including the Citicorp Cente ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, with 90 million customers in over 60 countries. The firm was founded on March 24, 1868. MetLife ranked No. 43 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. On January 6, 1915, MetLife completed the mutualization process, changing from a stock life insurance company owned by individuals to a mutual company operating without external shareholders and for the benefit of policyholders. After 85 years as a mutual company, MetLife demutualized into a publicly traded company with an initial public offering in 2000. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia's Pacific region, Europe, and the Middle East. MetLife serves 90 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority
The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (PRA) was created by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Urban Redevelopment Law of 1945. Until the Fall of 2011 it was known as the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia (RDA). Function The PRA focuses on planning and developing balanced mixed-use communities to create thriving, well-served neighborhoods. As the public government agency charged with the redevelopment of the City of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority provides the foundations that enable private investors to revitalize neighborhoods. The Authority's function is to acquire real estate using the power of eminent domain, plan for redevelopment working with private firms, and financing the redevelopment by issuing municipal bonds of the Authority, with the overall objective of eliminating urban blight in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Board The Authority is governed by a five-member board, appointed by the mayor of Philadelphia. The boa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Banner
A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, a bar-shaped piece of non-cloth advertising material sporting a name, slogan, or other marketing message is also a banner. Banner-making is an ancient craft. Church banners commonly portray the saint to whom the church is dedicated. The word derives from Old French ''baniere'' (modern french: bannière), from Late Latin ''bandum'', which was borrowed from a Germanic source (compare got, 𐌱𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍅𐌰, translit=bandwa). Cognates include Italian ''bandiera'', Portuguese ''bandeira'', and Spanish ''bandera''. Vexillum The vexillum was a flag-like object used as a military standard by units in the Ancient Roman army. The word ''vexillum'' itself is a diminutive of the Latin ''velum'', meaning a sail, which confirms the histo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Weathering Steel
Weathering steel, often referred to by the genericised trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting, and form a stable rust-like appearance after several years' exposure to weather. U.S. Steel (USS) holds the registered trademark on the name COR-TEN. The name COR-TEN refers to the two distinguishing properties of this type of steel: corrosion resistance and tensile strength. Although USS sold its discrete plate business to International Steel Group (now ArcelorMittal) in 2003, it still sells COR-TEN branded material in strip-mill plate and sheet forms. The original COR-TEN received the standard designation A242 (COR-TEN A) from the ASTM International standards group. Newer ASTM grades are A588 (COR-TEN B) and A606 for thin sheet. All alloys are in common production and use. The surface oxidation of weathering steel takes six months, but surface treatmen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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15th Street (SEPTA Station)
15th Street station is a subway station in Philadelphia. It is served by SEPTA's Market–Frankford Line and all routes of the subway–surface trolley lines. A free interchange also provides access to the Broad Street Line at City Hall station, which is connected to 15th Street by the Downtown Link underground concourse. The concourse also connects to Regional Rail lines at Suburban Station. It is the busiest station on the Market–Frankford Line, with 29,905 boardings on an average weekday. The station is in the very heart of Center City Philadelphia. City Hall lies across the street from the station, and attractions as Love Park, the Penn Center area, and the Comcast Center are within walking distance. History 15th Street was the original eastern terminus of the Market–Frankford subway–elevated, which was opened by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company on August 3, 1907, and ran west to 69th Street in Upper Darby. The line was eventually extended eastward to 2nd ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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SEPTA
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five counties in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It also manages projects that maintain, replace and expand its infrastructure, facilities and vehicles. SEPTA is the major transit provider for Philadelphia and the counties of Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks, and Chester. It is a state-created authority, with the majority of its board appointed by the five Pennsylvania counties it serves. While several SEPTA commuter rail lines terminate in the nearby states of Delaware and New Jersey, additional service to Philadelphia from those states is provided by other agencies: the PATCO Speedline from Camden County, New Jersey is run by the Delaware River Port Authority, a bi-state agency; NJ Transit operates many bus lines and a commuter rail line to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Storey
A storey (British English) or story (American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US). The terms ''floor'', ''level'', or ''deck'' are used in similar ways, except that it is usual to speak of a "16-''storey'' building", but "the 16th ''floor''". The floor at ground or street level is called the "ground floor" (i.e. it needs no number; the floor below it is called "basement", and the floor above it is called "first") in many regions. However, in some regions, like the U.S., ''ground floor'' is synonymous with ''first floor'', leading to differing numberings of floors, depending on region – even between different national varieties of English. The words ''storey'' and ''floor'' normally exclude levels of the building that are not covered by a roof, such as the terrace on the rooftops of many buildings. Nevertheless, a flat r ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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One Meridian Plaza
One Meridian Plaza, formerly known as the Fidelity Mutual Life Building, Three Girard Plaza and Three Mellon Bank Center, was a 38-story high-rise office building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The tower was designed by Vincent Kling & Associates and completed in 1972. On February 23, 1991, a twelve-alarm fire began on the 22nd floor and raged out of control for nineteen hours. Philadelphia firefighters fought the blaze but struggled due to a lack of power in the skyscraper and insufficient water pressure from the building's standpipes. Three firefighters died in the fire after becoming disoriented by heavy smoke. Firefighting efforts inside the building were eventually abandoned, due to fears the structure would collapse. The fire was only brought under control once it reached the 30th floor, which was one of the few floors that had automatic sprinklers installed. Ten sprinklers held back the fire until it started burning itself out and was finally brought un ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Philadelphia City Hall
Philadelphia City Hall is the seat of the municipal government of the City of Philadelphia. Built in the ornate Second Empire style, City Hall houses the chambers of the Philadelphia City Council and the offices of the Mayor of Philadelphia. It is also a courthouse, serving as the seat of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, and houses the Civil Trial and Orphans' Court Divisions of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. Built of brick, white marble, and limestone, Philadelphia City Hall is the world's largest free-standing masonry building and was the world's tallest habitable building upon its completion in 1894. In 1976, it was designated a National Historic Landmark, and in 2006, was also named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers. History and description The building was designed by Scottish-born architect John McArthur Jr. and Thomas Ustick Walter [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Plaza
A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. Related concepts are the civic center, the market square and the village green. Most squares are hardscapes suitable for open markets, concerts, political rallies, and other events that require firm ground. Being centrally located, town squares are usually surrounded by small shops such as bakeries, meat markets, cheese stores, and clothing stores. At their center is often a well, monument, statue or other feature. Those with fountains are sometimes called fountain squares. By country Australia The city centre of Adelaide and the adjacent suburb of North Adelaide, in South Australia, were planned by Colonel William Light in 1837. The city streets were laid out in a grid plan, with the city centre including a central public square, Vict ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |