Philly City Hall Timeline
Was there ever a curse of William (Billy) Penn? Many Philly sports fans say there was. Here we’ll provide a short timeline starting with the construction of Philadelphia’s City Hall. Designed by John McArthur, Jr., it’s a beautiful French Renaissance Revival building and one that you’ll most certainly see on your visit to the City of Brotherly Love. It’s a massive building, occupying more than 14 acres, with over one million square feet of habitable space, topped by a 37-foot tall, 27-ton bronze statue of William Penn. (source: https://www.asce.org/about-civil-engineering/history-and-heritage/historic-landmarks/philadelphia-city-hall, retrieved 27 May 2024)
Panoramic View From the Top of City Hall
“The City Hall Tower Tour offers a panoramic view of Philadelphia's landscape from 548 feet above ground. Ascend to the top of the historic building via elevator to enjoy a spectacular view of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and city skyline from the city’s highest open-air observation deck.” (source and link to purchase tickets: https://www.phlvisitorcenter.com/CityHallTowerTour, retrieved 27 May 2024)
1871Construction begins on Philadelphia’s City Hall. It was designed to be the world’s tallest structure at 548 feet to the top of William Penn’s hat. And it would have been, at least briefly, had it not taken 30 years to build.
1901 Construction of Philly’s City Hall is completed. The Eiffel Tower and the Washington Monument were both completed first, both taller. But our beautiful City Hall is still, to this day in 2024, the tallest load-bearing masonry building in the world and was the tallest habitable building until 1909.
1976 Philly's City Hall is designated as a National Historic Landmark. At the time, it was still the tallest building in Philly due to a gentleman’s agreement not to build anything taller than William Penn’s hat. So, all those skyscrapers in Philly's skyline were not there.
1984 The plans for another skyscraper, One Liberty Place, are approved. Some say that this broke the gentleman’s agreement. We think the more complete story is that they just modified the agreement to allow taller buildings other than to the northeast of City Hall. This way Billy Penn wouldn't be able to "see" them because he faces northeast.
1987 Construction of One Liberty Place is completed, making it the tallest building in Philly. Some say that this was a sad milestone in Philadelphia sports history.
1987-2008 Philly sports teams had successful seasons in the 1970s and 80s until One Liberty Place was completed. Then, the alleged Curse of Billy Penn, an urban legend, plagued them with 20 seasons without winning a championship. We stuck by them through these years because we're true fans.
2005 The Pats are victorious over the Birds in Super Bowl XXXIX, 24-21...
2007 The Comcast Center is nearing completion, to be much taller than One Liberty Place. When the highest beam was hoisted, a small statue of Billy Penn was attached to it for good luck.
2008 The Phillies win the World Series! Thank you, Billy Penn!
2017 The Comcast Technology Center hoisted the last beam and attached another small statue of Billy Penn just in time for Super Bowl LII... The Birds are victorious against the Pats, 44-31. Go Birds!
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