Bell Atlantic Tower

The Bell Atlantic Tower is a 53 story high-rise located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Height to structural top is 739 ft (225 m) with construction being completed in 1991. The building encloses convert|1300000|sqft|m2 of office space. The building was designed by the Philadelphia-based architecture firm Kling Lindquist.

A city ordinance declared that no building within convert|250|ft|m of the nearby Benjamin Franklin Parkway can rise higher than convert|250|ft|m. As such, the Bell Atlantic Tower stands at the southernmost edge of its plot, farther away from the parkway, to take full advantage of its height. A landscaped plaza, constructed from the same red granite as the building itself, occupies the rest of the land, fulfilling a city requirement that 1% of the total budget for new building construction must go towards a work of public art.

A banquet hall, known as Top Of The Tower, exists on the top floor of the building and is available for public rentals.

Although Bell Atlantic and GTE merged to become Verizon and hence the 'Bell Atlantic' name no longer officially exists, the building's managers kept the original name (mainly due to the difficulties in getting all necessary parties to agree to change it).

ee also

*List of tallest buildings in Philadelphia
*List of skyscrapers
*List of towers

External links

* [http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=117832 Emporis]
* [http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2003/05/26/story5.html/ Bell Atlantic Tower Sale]