Architecture
One South Broad is a 28-story 472 feet (144 m) art deco office tower on south Broad Street in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Designed by architect John Torrey Windrim, the skyscraper contains 465,000 square feet (43,000 m2) of space. One South Broad originally had an ornate lower facade with a lot of detail and fluting that was removed in the 1950s renovation. Philadelphia National Bank's renovations included the addition of granite black slabs on the street level facade. These were removed in the 2000 renovation and replaced with imported Italian granite to better match the skyscraper's original architecture. The 2000 renovation also created a new entrance on the building's Broad Street front, which leads to a three-story gallery lobby. The lobby was expanded by demolishing a wall and connecting it to the lobby of the neighboring Widener Building.
Containing 9,000 square feet (840 m2) each, the 24th and 25th floors were used as a penthouse apartment for Rodman Wanamaker, consisting of five bedrooms, six baths, and outdoor terraces. The rooms featured hardwood floors, marble fireplaces, and detailed cast-plaster crown molding. Originally the penthouse apartment was to be for Rodman Wanamaker and his wife but Wanamaker died in 1928 before the building was completed. Rodman Wanamaker's wife lived there only briefly, as she did not like the ringing bell in the tower overhead. The penthouse floors were converted to office use in 2000 by creative agency Red Tettemer + Partners. The firm Agoos/Lovera Architects modernized the basic office space on the 24th floor while preserving the ornate molding and materials that decorate the rest of the former penthouse space.
The Philadelphia National Bank's initials still adorn the top of the building, surrounding the top of the structure's bell tower. The letters, which are made of 16 feet (4.9 m) stainless steel, each weigh 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg). Until the 1970s, PNB used the sign to forecast weather by lighting the letters in red to indicate a warming trend, or green to predict the opposite. Wachovia considered removing the PNB sign in 2003 to replace it with its own signage, but, in response, some Philadelphians expressed nostalgia for the name of the former Philadelphia institution and hoped the sign would stay. While the sign has not been replaced, the Philadelphia Historical Commission has said that the sign is not an integral part of the building's design or as significant to the city as the nearby PSFS Building's sign.
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