Bell Telephone Company Building

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

The Bell Telephone Company Building is a seventeen-story skyscraper at 1827-35 Arch Street in Philadelphia, built in 1925 in the Moderne and Art Deco styles. Eugene A. Stopper was its architect; it was listed in the National Register in 2000.

Why it's listed

It was listed under criteria A and C, with consideration G, and local significance in communications and architecture. Its period of significance runs from 1925 to 1950, reflecting its 1925 construction and 1939 addition.

Physical character

The walls are limestone, granite, brick and terra cotta on a concrete foundation, with a limestone base. Inside, a mushroom-slab concrete frame carries marble-clad vestibules in pink-grey Tennessee marble over terrazzo floors. A three-story east wing was added in 1939, and a c.1970 renovation converted it to offices; the lower floors were later infilled with self-storage cubicles in the 1990s.

Historical context

In 1914 Bell Telephone Company relocated its offices west to 17th and Arch Streets, and this building opened in 1925 with switching facilities and offices. Nationwide long-distance service arrived in 1926, and in 1970 Bell opened a new facility at 24th and Lombard Streets, converting this building to office space. At the time of its listing the building stood vacant, its space used as a warehouse.