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PHILAPHILIA Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week: Bridge Hall/Welcome Hall/Convention Hall
It's hard to believe that the idea of a Convention Hall built over a river would ever be taken seriously, but here we have one that was designed down to the last stitch in a time period where a project like this would seem nearly impossible.
PHILAPHILIA Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week: Bridge Hall/Welcome Hall/Convention Hall
A weekly series of foul-mouthed investigations into empty lots, dead-ass proposals and other design phenomena in Philadelphia. Find more stories like this at Philaphilia.blogspot.com.
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East/West facade. Image from the Athenaeum of Philadelphia. |
Straddling the Schuylkill River between Market and Chestnut Streets -- This proposal is insane now and was even more insane in 1910. It's hard to believe that the idea of a Convention Hall built over a river would EVER be taken seriously, but here we have one that was designed down to the last stitch in a time period where a project like this would seem nearly impossible.
In the late 1800s, cities across America were hosting a new kind of gathering: conventions and trade shows. These events, larger than most cities were used to, were being held in any indoor space that was large enough to hold them. Theatres, armories, ballrooms, you name it. Nonetheless, the really large conventions were forced to settle for small spaces in multiple buildings. Many American cities started putting together plans for Civic Centers and Convention Halls to accommodate these types of events, which were massive economic boosters for the city. A study from that time period stated that every visitor spent an average of $8 at local businesses while attending a convention or trade show. That was HUUUUGGGE!!
Philadelphia was on the forefront of this type of event, but was forced to relegate them to the Musical Fund Hall, Witherspoon Building, ,First Regiment Armory, and some other spaces that were never designed for this purpose. After the Commercial Museum was completed in 1899, the push for a Convention Hall became even more severe. In 1909, a group of Center City business owners formed the Town Meeting Convention Hall Committee in order to get the job done. These businessmongers wanted to find the most profitable and cost-effective way to quickly get a Convention Hall built. They wanted it to be close to transportation and their businesses without having to purchase land at too high a price.
Their idea? Build a Convention Hall over the Schuylkill River between Market and Chestnut streets. That way, transportation would not be a problem, Center City businesses would benefit, and there was no private land to buy. Business leaders and city officials loved the idea but didn't think it would be possible to build. A feasibility study was done by engineer James Christie of the American Bridge Company, confirming not only that it could be built, but that it would take less material to build a bridge-like Convention Hall than it would to build one on solid ground. That's fucked up.
The firm of Ballinger and Perrot was commisioned to design what was now being called the "Bridge Hall." They came back with a 320-foot-by-120-foot space, two stories tall, covered with a dome. The facade would be delightfully embellished on all sides. Permanant exhibition space for individual businesses took up the edges of the first floor and a massive 18,400-seat auditorium filled the rest of the space. Seven causeways would be built leading to the 50,000-square-foot hall, along with a semi-circular plaza on the Center City side.
Once the plans were revealed, business leaders went fucking apeshit over it. They pledged $942,000 to the plan's $1.92 million budget. City officials were also excited, seeing how this plan was larger than its New York City counterpart and had added novelty of straddling a river. They even started planning extra additions to the original plan for future generations. These included improvements to the Schuylkill River Banks and museums dedicated to fire safety and health. They briefly considered calling the place "Welcome Hall," after William Penn's ship, the Welcome. For the entirety of 1910, this project was considered a sure thing. Land was cleared on the east bank of the Schuylkill between Market and Chestnut to make way for the plaza that was to stand out front. Contractors were tapped for the construction and engineers were hired to solve some of the logistical issues associated with a river-straddling building.
After that, it all went to shit. Mayor Reyburn, once a huge proponent of this plan, changed his mind. He was so impressed with San Francisco's Civic Center that he rejected the river-straddler in favor of the Grand Assembly Centre, a 56-acre complex to be built in Fairmount Park. Despite the extremely vocal objections of Center City businesses, City Council declared the Bridge Hall dead by March 1911, when they started appropriating funding to the Grand Assembly Centre, a plan that never happened. Twenty-two proposals later (that's not a joke), the Convention Hall was finally built near the Commercial Museum, the place that got all this Convention Hall business going in the first place.
What a shame. This thing would be a cool building to have around nowadays. I wonder if it would have survived to this era or if it would've fallen into the river by now? Eight decades after the Bridge Hall was proposed, the Pennsylvania Convention Center was built, bringing the idea of a downtown convention hall to fruition. Took fuckin' long enough.
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North/South Facade. Image from the Athenaeum of Philadelphia. |
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