Liberty Place - Reception and Legacy

Reception and Legacy

The construction of One Liberty Place radically changed the Philadelphia skyline. While critics were upset the building would be taller than City Hall, flat topped office buildings nearly as tall had surrounded much of City Hall. With the construction of One Liberty Place, Philadelphia now had a definable skyline that it hadn't had since City Hall was obscured. The breaking of the gentlemen's agreement paved way for other skyscrapers taller than City Hall. After One Liberty Place was approved, a building boom of tall office skyscrapers in Center City such as the Mellon Bank Center and Commerce Square. This construction boom, which lasted until the early 1990s, turned the West Market Street district into the city's premiere office location and gave what architecture critic Paul Goldberger called "one of the most appealing skylines of any major American city". The success of Liberty Place, along with helping expose an extortion scheme involving a city councilman, helped turned developer Willard Rouse into "Public Hero No. 1" in Philadelphia during the late 1980s.

On April 5, 1984 The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote "By 'gentlemen's agreement' (the statue of William Penn atop City Hall) remains highest. It is a supremacy that must be maintained, for philosophical and aesthetic and, indeed, economic reasons - density caused by towering skyscrapers is one of the surest ways to render a downtown ruinously overbuilt while its fringes wither." In 1990, the Inquirer took it all back, noting that Rouse transformed Philadelphia's skyline to near universal acclaim. In 1987, Paul Goldberger called One Liberty Place the best skyscraper Helmut Jahn has ever designed and the best skyscraper built in Philadelphia since the PSFS Building. Goldberger noted that "The skyline of Philadelphia, far from being destroyed by One Liberty Place, is in fact given new life by this building. The skyline has been transformed from one of the flattest of any American city to one of the richest." He praised the shape which he said "strikes a remarkable balance between dignity and verve". He was critical that the building was too busy with too many panels and stripes, but acknowledge it was more restrained than other of Helmut Jahn's buildings.

Two Liberty Place was less warmly received by critics. Goldberger said that despite the similarity in appearance Two Liberty was "as much of a slab as a tower, with a spire that looks as if it was plopped awkwardly on top instead of having grown naturally out of the building's overall form." He also criticized giving One Liberty Place a smaller, similar twin which he said gives the complex an odd look.

A story of the "curse" of Billy Penn sprang up after Philadelphia sports teams failed to win championship games after the construction of One Liberty Place. The "curse" stated that no Philadelphia sports team will win a championship while a building rises taller than the statue of William Penn on City Hall. Construction of the Comcast Center included a small statue of William Penn on the tower's highest point and in 2008 the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series, effectively disproving the "curse".