__NOTOC__ The Old Federal Reserve Bank Building is an historic, American

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

building that is located at 925 Chestnut Street, in the Market East neighborhood of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979.

History and architectural features

The main section of this building, which was designed by architect

Paul Philippe Cret Paul Philippe Cret (October 23, 1876 – September 8, 1945) was a French-born Philadelphia architect and industrial designer. For more than thirty years, he taught at a design studio in the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsyl ...

in the

Classical Revival style Neoclassical architecture, sometimes referred to as Classical Revival architecture, is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy, France and Germany. It became one of the most promin ...

with influences of the Beaux-Arts style,, p.73 was built between 1931 and 1935. It incorporated the

Penn Mutual The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, commonly referred to as Penn Mutual, was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1847. It was the seventh mutual life insurance company chartered in the United States. As of 2019, it had 3,140 employee ...

Life Insurance Building, that was erected in 1889, with additions made in 1918 and 1925. Cret also designed the formal gardens, which were added in 1941. Between 1952 and 1953, a recessed seventh story was added. It was designed by

Harbeson, Hough, Livingston & Larson H2L2 (for three decades, officially Harbeson, Hough, Livingston & Larson) is an architecture firm in Philadelphia founded in 1907 by Paul Philippe Cret as The Offices of Paul Philippe Cret. In 1923, John Harbeson became Cret's partner, along ...

, the successor firm to Cret. The building, which features sculptures of the goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

that were created by Alfred-Alphonse Bottiau, is eleven bays wide and measures 170 feet wide and 113 feet deep. It has a steel-frame structure that is faced with Vermont marble and has engaged piers. ''Note:'' This includes It was added to the

in 1979. It is located on the East Center City Commercial Historic District. The building is now part of the Center City campus of the

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is the flagship hospital of Jefferson Health, a multi-state non-profit health system based in Philadelphia. The hospital serves as the teaching hospital for Thomas Jefferson University. With 937 licensed b ...

, housing both administrative space and clinical facilities.

Gallery

File:Old Federal Reserve Building west sculpture.jpg, Bottiau's sculpture on the west side of the main entrance File:Old Philly Fed.JPG, The center of the Chestnut Street facade File:Old Federal Reserve Building east sculpture.jpg, Bottiau's sculpture on the east side of the main entrance

References

Notes

External links

* * {{Clear Bank buildings in Philadelphia Market East, Philadelphia Government buildings completed in 1952 Bank buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Historic American Buildings Survey in Philadelphia 1950s architecture in the United States Streamline Moderne architecture in Pennsylvania Stripped Classical architecture in the United States

History and architectural features

Gallery

See also

References

External links