So Many Possibilties

As long as she keeps her job I suppose it's fine if the Inqy wants to run multiple responses to an architecture critic, and I'm sure it has absolutely nothing to do with the importance of real estate ads for the newspaper business or the fact that one of our new newspaper overlords has the last name of Toll.

But I love the response of the developer which deftly pivots and deflects criticism of his ugly building onto the people who bought units there.

Am I to imagine that all of the many sophisticated buyers at Symphony House have bad taste? Should I assume that the zoning officials, the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. selections committee, our neighbors along the Avenue of the Arts, our governor, senators, mayor and other high-placed civic officials who have called the project "visionary," "brilliant" and "magnificent" also all have bad taste?

Funny.

The building is rather prominent in my view. It is pretty ugly and I certainly hope it isn't seen as something to duplicate. I'm generally less concerned about style and more about urban function, and on that note it gets a mixed grade. It gets points for actually having ground level retail and a new theater. It loses points because of the poorly placed parking garage entrances and the extremely gaudy theater marquee. It certainly could have been worse.