| Penn Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
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Penn Center is the heart of Philadelphia's Central Business District . It is primarily located north of Rittenhouse Square , west of Chinatown , south of Spring Garden , and east of the Schuylkill River . THE CHINESE WALL ]] Before the 1950s, the area north of . This created a block wide barrier known as ''the Chinese Wall'', cutting the Western portion of the city in half and preventing development there. During this time, most commercial activity in Center City was east of Broad Street , thus the reason the SEPTA Market-Frankford Line has no stops between 30th Street Station and 15th Street (SEPTA Station) . (The stations at 19th and 22nd street are however served by SEPTA Subway-Surface Trolley Lines .) URBAN RENEWAL In 1925, the Pennsylvania Railroad announced its intention to leave Broad Street Station, freeing the land for redevelopment. The station had grown too small for the large railroad which would move its operations to the newly constructed 30th Street Station and Suburban Station . Broad Street Station was not completely vacated until 1952, during the term of Mayor Joseph S. Clark . Plans for the demolition of ''the Chinese Wall'' and accompanying train station were finalized, and both were raised in 1953. for placing vibrant urban activity underground leaving no use for the above ground promenade, and failing to account for actual human usage of the space. Johnson, Eleanor and the editors of Fortune, ''The Exploding Metropolis: A study of the Assault on Urbanism and How Our Cities Can Resist it'' p 144, Doubleday, 1957. CURRENT Throughout the mid to late 20th century, the city's office sector began to move west into the Penn Center area, thanks to planning efforts. As the office-working population became more and more Suburb anized, convenient access to Suburban Station began to become more important than local city transit access. Today, Penn Center is home to many high rise office buildings such as Mellon Bank Center and Five Penn Center . REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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