One Meridian Plaza | |
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One Meridian Plaza in 1972
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General information | |
Status | Destroyed |
Type | Office |
Location | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Coordinates | 39°57′5″N 75°9′53″W / 39.95139°N 75.16472°WCoordinates: 39°57′5″N 75°9′53″W / 39.95139°N 75.16472°W |
Construction started | 1968 |
Completed | 1972 |
Demolished | 1999 |
Cost | US$40 million |
Height | |
Roof | 492 feet (150 m) |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 38 |
Floor area | 756,000 sq ft (70,200 m2) |
Design and construction | |
Architect | Vincent Kling & Associates |
Developer |
Girard Bank Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance |
One Meridian Plaza was a 38-story high-rise office building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The 492 feet (150 m) tower was designed by Vincent Kling & Associates and completed in 1972. The building was demolished in 1999 as a result of damage of a fire that began on February 23, 1991. The fire began on the 22nd floor after linseed oil soaked rags ignited a blaze that raged out of control for 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 twelve alarm fire after becoming disoriented by heavy smoke. Firefighting efforts inside One Meridian Plaza eventually were 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 under control almost a full day after it started. The blaze seriously damaged the building destroying eight floors and damaged neighboring buildings.
For eight years after the fire, One Meridian Plaza sat vacant and damaged right in the center of Philadelphia's business district. The building was caught in litigation between the owners and the insurance company over how much the insurers would pay the owners and how repairs or demolition would proceed. Businesses near the empty high-rise closed or moved and the city sued the owners to do something with the building. After lawsuits were settled, the building was declared a total loss and began to be dismantled in 1998. At the time of its demolition in 1999, One Meridian Plaza was the third-tallest destroyed building in the world.
One Meridian Plaza was a 38-story high-rise office building designed by Vincent Kling & Associates. Construction on the 492 feet (150 m) tower began in 1968, was completed in 1972 and approved for occupancy in 1973. Built at the corner of 15th Street and South Penn Square in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the $40 million high-rise was built adjacent to the Girard Trust Building, now the Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia, and the front faced Philadelphia City Hall across the street. The rectangular One Meridian Plaza was 243 feet (74 m) long and 92 feet (28 m) wide and contained 756,000 square feet (70,000 m2). Of the 38 floors, 36 were occupiable and 2 were mechanical floors. The structure also had 3 underground levels. The building's structure was composed of steel and concrete and the facade was a granite curtain wall. There were two helipads on the roof. One Meridian Plaza's eastern stairwell connected the building to the adjacent Girard Trust Building. At one point there were plans to build a structure on the south side of One Meridian Plaza that would share one of the elevator banks in the high-rise, but nothing came of the plans mainly due to neither site having the same owner. On the northwest corner of the property is a bronze sculpture called "Triune." Designed by Robert Engman the abstract sculpture was not damaged in the 1991 fire and was still there in 1999. The following year the builders of The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton announced that they were considering demolishing the sculpture. In the end the statue was retained and still stands at the location it was originally installed at as of 2014.