The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia is a luxury hotel and residential complex in

Center City, Philadelphia Center City includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of Philadelphia. It comprises the area that made up the City of Philadelphia prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854, which extended the city borders to be coterminous wi ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, United States. It comprises three adjoining buildings: the Girard Trust Bank, at the northwest corner of South Broad & Chestnut Streets; the Girard Trust Building, at the southwest corner of South Broad Street & South Penn Square; and The Residences at the Ritz Carlton, at 1414 South Penn Square.

Girard Trust Company

Girard Trust Company – also known as Girard Trust Corn Exchange Bank Building – was built as the headquarters and main branch of the

Girard Trust Company Girard Bank was a Philadelphia-based bank founded after the death of Stephen Girard in 1831 by local merchants eager to trade on the sterling reputation of their namesake. Stephen Girard neither founded the bank, nor had any financial ties to th ...

, a company founded in 1811. The Beaux Arts building was inspired by the

Pantheon Pantheon may refer to: * Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building Arts and entertainment Comics *Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization * ''Pantheon'' (Lone S ...

in Rome, and was conceived by architect

Frank Furness Frank Heyling Furness (November 12, 1839 - June 27, 1912) was an American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his diverse, muscular, often unordinarily scaled b ...

.George E. Thomas, et al., ''Frank Furness: The Complete Works'', (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996), pp. 338-39. The commission was shared between the Philadelphia firm of Furness, Evans & Company and the New York firm of

McKim, Mead & White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), Wil ...

. The building was begun in 1905 and completed in 1907. While its masonry dome is hemispherical on the exterior, the interior is octagonal. The soaring, 4-story Main Banking Room is used as the hotel's restaurant and ballroom.

Girard Trust Building

Girard Trust Building – also known as Girard Trust Company Office Building – is a 394 feet (120-meter) 30-story skyscraper facing

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. It was designed by McKim, Mead & White, and built as an office building in 1930-31. It was later renamed Two Mellon Plaza. The adjacent

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 Kl ...

(built 1972, damaged by a major fire 1991, demolished 1999) was connected to this building. Shortly after One Meridian Plaza's demolition, the building was converted in 2000 into a 330-room

Ritz-Carlton The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC is an American multinational company that operates the luxury hotel chain known as The Ritz-Carlton. The company has 108 luxury hotels and resorts in 30 countries and territories with 29,158 rooms, in addit ...

hotel. Responsible for the building's conversion are James Garrison and Dr. George C. Skarmeas. The building is located on the site formerly occupied by the West End Trust Building (1898-1928) by Furness, Evans & Company.

The Residences at the Ritz Carlton

On the former site of One Meridian Plaza stands The Residences at the Ritz Carlton, constructed in 2009.

References

External links

The Ritz-Carlton
at emporis.com
Girard Trust Corn Exchange Bank
at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings
The Girard Trust Company Building
at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings {{DEFAULTSORT:Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia Commercial buildings completed in 1908 Office buildings completed in 1931 Skyscraper hotels in Philadelphia 1940s architecture in the United States McKim, Mead & White buildings 1908 establishments in Pennsylvania Residential skyscrapers in Philadelphia