Site Description and History

Click pictures for enlargements

Early Market East concept from the 1958 Market East Plaza Report


Color rendering of the Market East Plaza concept


1964 scheme approved by OPDC's Market East Committee


Skidmore Owings and Merrill site plan

Site Description

Market East is one of Center City Philadelphia's prime retail districts. It is located between the historic Independence Mall to the east and the bustle of City Hall and the city's central business district to the west. Chinatown and the City's convention center are to the north. The area has historically been a retail center and has been home to major department stores and markets. Concepts for revitalizing the area were realized in the 1970s and 80s through the development of the Gallery mall and Market East commuter rail station.

Recently, Market East has physically shown signs of age. Though it comprises a number of destinations and developments, the area lacks connectivity. Market East has the advantage of being physically linked to the city's mass transit lines. However, the concourse that connects these services is underutilized and in its current design prevents the user from feeling connected to the street and City as a whole.

The Gallery is still successful from a retail perspective, but the nature of retail mall design has led the stores to turn a blank face to the street, disconnected from pedestrians. The whole development does not connect well to its surroundings: Chinatown, the central business district, Independence Mall or to the Avenue of the Arts. Market East contains a few major vacant buildings and development parcels, and will border the coming expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Destinations At/Near Market East:

• Aramark Building (One Reading Place)
• Avenue of the Arts
• Chinatown
• City Hall
• Greyhound Bus Station
• Independence Mall
• Macy's (Wanamaker Building)
• Market East Station
• Marriott Hotel
• Mellon Independence Center (Lit Bros. Building)
• Pennsylvania Convention Center
• PSFS (Loews Hotel)
• Reading Terminal Market
• Strawbridge & Clothier Building
• The Gallery at Market East (shopping mall)

History

Early Development

Market East has been a center of Philadelphia commerce since the early nineteenth century, when local merchants, farmers, and fishermen vended from open-air market sheds along the eastern end of Market Street, then known as High Street. The sheds, known as "shambles," eventually spread as far as 12th street, transforming High Street into the center of Philadelphia commerce. By the 1850s, however, High Street had become plagued by congestion, pollution, and traffic. In 1859, the City denounced the shambles as unsightly and unsanitary, and called for their removal. Thereafter, the street was renamed Market Street.

The merchants of Market Street took the removal of the shambles as an opportunity to build more permanent facilities in the area. The farmers and fishermen erected two indoor markets — the Farmers' Market and the Franklin Market — at the corner of 12th and Market Streets. In addition, several merchants established major new businesses on Market Street. These included John Wanamaker, Justus Clayton Strawbridge, and Isaac Hallowell Clothier.

Wanamaker opened his first clothing store in 1861, at 6th and Market. After setting up in several other locations, in 1911 he had a brand new building constructed, designed by Daniel Burnham — a magnificent, European-style department store, with 12 floors, and one of the world's largest pipe organs. Wanamaker's was the first true department store in Philadelphia, and one of the first in the United States. Meanwhile, Strawbridge and Clothier were setting up a dry goods store, Strawbridge & Clothier, at 8th and Market. Together, the new markets and department stores anchored the area, establishing it as the city's retail hub.

20th Century Growth and Decline

Market East flourished during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as new businesses and institutions flocked to the area. In the 1890s, the Reading Railroad moved their main train depot to a new facility — the Reading Terminal — at 12th and Market Streets, the very location of the Farmers' and Franklin Markets. The Railroad purchased both Markets, and relocated them underneath the shed of its new railroad terminal. Known as the Reading Terminal Market, the new market was the largest, most advanced indoor market in the world. Moreover, as the Railroad's main passenger station, Reading Terminal was a major transportation hub.

Over the following decades, the federal government established a presence in the area, siting a courthouse, post office, and Federal Reserve headquarters on the parcel bounded by 10th, Market, 9th, and Chestnut Streets. In 1932, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society (PSFS) opened a new headquarters at the southwest corner of 12th and Market Streets, in a building designed by George Howe and William Lescaze. PSFS is widely considered to be the first International-style skyscraper in the United States.

The area remained relatively stable throughout the first half of the twentieth century, but began to show decline during the postwar period as a result of mass suburbanization, and the rise of the suburban shopping mall. Although there were 5 department stores and several other stores in the 1950s, the retail environment was quickly shifting, and all of these businesses felt pressure to find ways to compete with the suburbs.

As early as 1954, Ed Bacon, then Executive Director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission proposed building an urban shopping concourse to revitalize the Market Street shopping corridor. Over the next few years, the Planning Commission staff developed a concept for a multi-level shopping concourse, pedestrian plaza, and transportation hub. They set forth this concept in several plans, including the Planning Commission's plan for "Market East Plaza" (1958), the 1960 Comprehensive Plan, and the Center City Philadelphia Plan (1963). There was another separate proposal developed in 1963, based on the work of Louis I. Kahn, and created by Planning Commission staff member Don Jackson that relied on an above-street-level connection as the main pedestrian area.

However, the local business community rejected each of these proposals, questioning the strength of the retail market, and believing that it was infeasible to have pedestrian circulation at multiple levels. Market analyst Larry Smith reported that the local market would not support one level of retail development, let alone three. Nevertheless, Bacon continued to push the idea, believing that the market potential did exist, and that the new development would be able to attract shoppers back downtown.

Development Takes Shape

In 1956, a group of political and business leaders created the Old Philadelphia Development Corporation (OPDC), to work with the public sector in moving forward redevelopment plans to bolster Center City's development and business climate. OPDC continues today as the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation. In 1964, OPDC's Market East Committee, including representatives of PSFS and the department stores finally approved a City Planning Commission plan developed by staff member John Andrew Gallery and consultant Romaldo Giurgola for a four-block-long pedestrian concourse. This plan was approved because it called for an interior skylit concourse located one level below street (whereas previous plans had called for above-street-level connections).

After getting the "go-ahead" from the OPDC Market East Committee, the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (RDA) applied for and received urban renewal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and hired Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill to create an urban renewal plan for the area. Although the project was originally intended to house smaller stores, during the development of the urban renewal plan an agreement was reached to allow Gimbel's Department Store to build a new facility in the project. This changed the concept and design. The project stalled for several years, but in 1973, Augustine Salvetti, head of the RDA, negotiated a joint venture between the RDA and the Rouse Company, and construction finally began in 1974.

The redevelopment project had two major elements: the construction of a new shopping center (the Gallery at Market East), and the construction of a passenger railroad tunnel and underground transportation concourse (the Center City Commuter Connection). Construction of the Gallery at Market East began in 1974, and was completed in 1977. John Bower of Bower and Fradley Architects designed the first phase of the complex, a 400,000 square-foot, skylit shopping mall known as Gallery I. Gallery I extends beneath Market Street between 8th and 10th Streets. Based on the success of phase one, the City proceeded to condemn properties from 10th St to the Reading Terminal in order to encourage developer interest in a next phase of development. After several years of negotiation, the Rouse Company agreed to undertake phase two in 1984.

Gallery II extended the existing retailing complex westward to 11th Street, and added a new 190,000 square-foot department store. The glass-enclosed, four-level mall was designed by a joint collaboration between Bower Lewis Thrower and Cope Linder Architects, and was connected to Gallery I by a pedestrian bridge over 9th Street, and by a below-grade pedestrian concourse, linking the Gallery to Market East Station, which was part of the new Center City Commuter Connection, a nine-block system of underground concourses and tunnels that connects the Regional Rail lines with local subway and trolley lines. The Commuter Rail Tunnel was an idea conceived by Damon Childs of the Planning Commission staff that combined the defunct Pennsylvania and Reading Railroad lines, underground, into one continuous network. It was a massive undertaking, but one that made possible Philadelphia's current commuter rail system.

A Legacy of Mixed Results

Once completed, the Gallery spanned five city blocks, with 1.3 million square feet. The Gallery was a great success in its first year, achieving greater costs per square foot than most suburban shopping malls. Philadelphia won an award from the Downtown Research and Development Center, and received favorable reviews in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post hailing the City's success in competing with the suburban shopping mall.

However, the Gallery did not have a smooth ride in its early years, despite its initial success. Several community based groups opposed the fact that City spent millions in federal urban renewal dollars on a structure targeted at attracting suburban shoppers, instead of being spent in Philadelphia's struggling neighborhoods. In addition, Gallery I had no African-American-owned stores, even though African Americans comprised about 1/3 of the Gallery's clientele. At various points in 1978 and 1979 hundreds protested the Gallery in indoor and outdoor demonstrations. The protests at times involved police intervention and arrests. Store owners reported that these protests did significantly hurt business, and these events did seem to impact the course of Gallery II's development. Gallery II included much greater minority participation in both store ownerships and contracts awarded.

In the 1980s and 90s, the Gallery would not live up to its expectations. Gimbel's failed and went out of business in 1986. Another Gallery anchor store, JC Penney's, also closed. In 2006, Strawbridge's (formerly Strawbridge & Clothier) shut its doors. The Rouse company ended up selling its share of the Gallery. Nonetheless, the Gallery is still one of the most successful urban shopping malls in America, and maintains a 95% occupancy. It is criticized for not attracting high-end retail, yet its connection with mass transit makes it extremely successful as a downtown shopping hub, serving residents from all parts of the city.

Additionally, the area between the Gallery and City Hall has seen a significant development in recent history. In 1984, the 34-story One Reading Center skyscraper was built at 11th and Market Streets. The Reading Terminal Market is extremely successful today. Loews Hotel now operates the PSFS building. Lord and Taylor first, now Macy's occupies the Wanamaker Building, and has maintained its stunning interior, Grand Court, and pipe organ. Market East is also home to a Hard Rock Café, and new condo development on Arch Street.

In the 1990s, the State of Pennsylvania constructed the new Pennsylvania Convention Center, restoring the Reading Railroad Headhouse, and constructing the Center to contain over 65,000 square feet of exhibition space. The Convention Center project was joined to a new 1,410-room Marriott Hotel. The State and City now have plans for a major expansion of the Convention Center to Broad Street, that will make it the largest contiguous exhibition space in the northeast.

For years, Market East has been a space of mixed results; however, the coming years may bring new opportunities for Market East to gain new life. Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) now owns the Gallery, and has been developing plans for modernizing the space. Center City District/Central Philadelphia Development Corporation also been focusing heavily on Market East's future. Attention is being turned to Market East and the time is ripe for fresh ideas and visions, building on the many layers of history to bring this space a step closer to again becoming a vibrant downtown destination for Philadelphia.