The St. James

The St. James
The St. James seen from Walnut St.
General information
Status	Complete
Type	Residential
Location	700 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Coordinates	39°56′52″N 75°09′14″W / 39.9477°N 75.154°W / 39.9477; -75.154Coordinates: 39°56′52″N 75°09′14″W / 39.9477°N 75.154°W / 39.9477; -75.154
Construction started	2001
Opening	2004
Cost	US$80 million
Owner	700 Walnut LP
Height
Roof	498 feet (152 m)
Technical details
Floor count	45
Design and construction
Architect	Solomon Cordwell Buenz and Associates Bower Lewis Thrower
Developer	St. James Associates Joint Venture

The St. James is a luxury residential skyscraper in Washington Square West, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The 498 feet (152 m), 45-story high-rise stands along Walnut Street and Washington Square and is the 12th tallest building in Philadelphia.

The Chicago-style, glass-and-concrete skyscraper incorporated into its design several historic 19th-century buildings that lined Walnut Street. These buildings included three Federal-style rowhouses built in 1807 called York Row and the Italianate-style former headquarters of the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, built in 1868–1869. After lying vacant and neglected for years, the only part of York Row preserved were the rowhouses' facades. Only a back portion of the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society building was demolished, the rest being incorporated as retail and office space.

Developer P&A Associates first attempted to develop the site in 1995, but was delayed because of a lack of investor confidence in the project. When the Philadelphia residential market improved in the late 1990s, St. James Associates Joint Venture, a joint venture of P&A Associates and others, began construction in November 2001. The high-rise building, completed in 2004, features 306 units, with each but the studio apartments having a private balcony. Its amenities include a 60 feet (18 m) swimming pool, a private courtyard, and a nine-story parking garage that makes up the base of the building.

The site of The St. James was formerly occupied by a group of historic 19th-century buildings that lined Walnut Street in the Washington Square West neighborhood in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The most notable of these was the former headquarters of the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society (PSFS). Designed in 1868 by Addison Hutton, the granite-faced Italianate-style building was the second headquarters building that PSFS had built. Construction began on the building on June 13, 1868 and it was opened for business on October 11, 1869. An addition designed by Hutton was added in 1885, and another designed by Frank Furness in 1895. The building served as the PSFS headquarters until 1932 when the company moved to the PSFS Building on Market Street.