The Power of William Penn
ARCKTIP at PHILALOG.com writes:
Hey all, I’m not sure how many of you are aware of this little fact … but it sure is a sweet one.
After the Philadelphia Phillies won the 1980 World Series the city of Philadelphia finally allowed the most venerated zoning code in the city to change. What was this code? Why does it matter?
Well, there used to be a rule in Philadelphia that no building could be taller than the top of William Penn’s hat atop our fine city hall. Following the 76er’s championship win in 1983 the city finally broke the rule of the hat. They approved the construction of buildings to be taller than City Hall. The first, One Liberty Place, was completed in 1987. Two Liberty Place followed and was completed in 1990.
Why did our fine city commissioners break the rule? For the oldest of American pasttimes … money and business. The Philadelphia City Council gave permission for buildings to be taller than City Hall to encourage skyscraper development along Market Street.
This little bit of history matters because ever since the city allowed buildings to be taller than Billy Penn, many in the city blamed our poor post season luck on the unhappiness of William Penn.
Now, you may be wondering something. If the Phillies just won the 2008 World Series … then doesn’t that mean the worry over Billy Penn is proven unfounded? The truth is, nope. Philadelphia is now home to one of the first “green” skyscrapers in the country. It is the Comcast Center and when completed it became the tallest building in Philadelphia.
Okay … so what? Another building taller than Billy Penn … what’s your point?
The point is … when the Comcast Center was completed just under a year ago the city fathers organized the creation of a smaller replica of the William Penn statue to be placed in the top of the new tower. It was. And within a year, our fine city saw a Championship team once again!
WooHoo for the power of the fantastic.
