Rohm and Haas Corporate Headquarters

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 Rohm and Haas Corporate Headquarters is a nine-story reinforced concrete office building at 100 Independence Mall West in Philadelphia, built from 1963 to 1965 in the Modern Movement style by architect Pietro Belluschi with the George M. Ewing Company, which also served as builder.

Why it's listed

It was listed under criterion C and criteria consideration G, with national-level significance in architecture; the nomination gives its period of significance as 1963 to 1965, reflecting the years it was built.

Physical character

Its walls are reinforced concrete, aluminum, glass and Plexiglas, its roof combines concrete, aluminum and synthetic material, and its foundation is reinforced concrete. Distinctive features include an inverted pyramid design carried through to the ceiling, a colonnade of prismoidal reinforced concrete columns, balcony-like slabs, bronze-colored anodized aluminum windows, a full basement, and a 19,000-square-foot precast concrete mechanical penthouse. In the 1980s the interior was updated with new floor treatments and wall coverings and side walls were added to the stair, and the cafeteria was renovated in 1987.

Historical context

Ground was broken on April 15, 1963, and Rohm and Haas moved into the finished building in 1965, when it was dedicated and became the company's corporate headquarters.