One Liberty Place

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Information
One Liberty Place
Upper floors and spire of One Liberty Place in 2005
Location	1650 Market Street Philadelphia
Status	Complete
Constructed	1987
Roof	945 feet (288 meters)
Floor count	61
Companies
Architect	Murphy/Jahn Architects
Owner	Philadelphia Liberty Property

The One Liberty Place Building is currently the tallest building and skyscraper in the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the 16th tallest building in the United States. Completed in 1987, One Liberty Place has 61 floors and is 945 ft (288 m) tall, only two feet (0.6 m) shorter than the Key Tower in Cleveland, Ohio. Designed by Helmut Jahn of Murphy/Jahn Architects, the building's spire echoes that of the Chrysler Building in New York City.

After its completion, a slightly smaller sister building, Two Liberty Place, was erected in 1990 within the same complex.

[edit] Additional information

In addition to its modern exterior, One Liberty Place is equipped with modern building-system technology, including an ice and snow melting system and a chilled-water plant equipped with cooling towers, pumps, and chillers.

On October 12, 1999, One Liberty Place was sold to Philadelphia Liberty Property, L.P for $185 million and an additional US$28.2 million for the land. CIGNA, a large insurance corporation in the United States, has its corporate headquarters in One Liberty Place.

On January 3, 2005 it was announced that another tower, the Comcast Center, will be completed by late-2007 at a height of 975 feet (297 m), which will end One Liberty Place's reign as Philadelphia's tallest building.

[edit] "Curse of Billy Penn"

One Liberty Place was locally famous for being the first building to break the gentlemen's agreement, which was not to exceed the 548 ft (167 m) height of the William Penn statue atop Philadelphia City Hall built in 1901. In breaking this agreement, the so-called "Curse of Billy Penn" was born—a Bambino-like hex that supposedly affects the city's professional sport franchises. Since One Liberty Place was completed, Philadelphia's major sports teams (the Eagles, Flyers, Phillies, and 76ers) have all failed to win league championships.