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Philadelphia, the largest city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, is home to 389 completed high-rises, 32 of which stand taller than 400 feet (122 m). The tallest building in the city is currently the 58-story Comcast Center, which rises 975 feet (297 m) in Center City. Comcast Center is also the tallest building in Pennsylvania and the 20th-tallest building in the United States. The second-tallest building is One Liberty Place, which rises 61 floors and 945 feet (288 m). One Liberty Place stood as the tallest building in Pennsylvania for over 20 years until the completion of Comcast Center in 2008. Overall, seven of the ten tallest buildings in Pennsylvania are in Philadelphia, with the remainder being in Pittsburgh. Philadelphia is one of only five American cities with two or more completed buildings over 900 feet (270 m) tall.
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Philadelphia's history of tall buildings is generally thought to have begun with the 1754 addition of the steeple to Christ Church, which was one of America's first high-rise structures. Through most of the 20th century, a "gentlemen's agreement" prevented buildings from rising higher than the 548-ft (167-m) Philadelphia City Hall. Despite this, Philadelphia amassed a large collection of high-rise buildings. The completion of One Liberty Place in 1987 broke the agreement, and Philadelphia has since seen the construction of eight skyscrapers that eclipse City Hall in height.
Philadelphia has twice held the tallest habitable building in North America, first with Christ Church, then with City Hall. The latter reigned as the world's tallest building from 1894 to 1908, and is currently the world's second-tallest masonry building, only 1.6 feet (0.49 m) shorter than Mole Antonelliana in Turin. Like other large American cities, Philadelphia went through a massive building boom in the 1970s and 1980s, resulting in the completion of over 20 high-rise buildings.
As of August 2014, there are several major high-rise construction projects underway in Philadelphia. The largest of these projects is the Comcast Innovation and Technology Center, which began construction in 2014 and will rise 1,121 feet (342 m) upon completion. The Comcast Innovation and Technology Center will surpass Comcast Center by over 100 feet (30 m) to become the tallest skyscraper in Pennsylvania and the tallest building in the country outside of New York and Chicago.
Tallest buildings
This list ranks completed and topped out skyscrapers in Philadelphia that stand at least 400 feet (120 m) tall, based on standard height measurement. This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts. An equal sign (=) following a rank indicates the same height between two or more buildings. The "Year" column indicates the year in which a building was completed. The only demolished building that would have ranked on this list was the 492-foot (150 m) One Meridian Plaza, razed in 1999.
Tallest approved or proposed
This lists buildings that have been approved or are proposed for construction in Philadelphia and are planned to rise at least 400 feet (120 m). A floor count of 40 stories is used as the cutoff for buildings whose heights have not yet been released by their developers.
* Table entries with dashes (—) indicate that information regarding building heights or dates of completion has not yet been released.
Timeline of tallest buildings
Philadelphia has seen few city record-holders compared to other cities with comparable skylines. Although churches, cathedrals, and the like are not technically considered to be skyscrapers, Christ Church, after being surmounted with its lofty spire in 1754, stood as its tallest building for 102 years before being surpassed by the (no longer extant) spire of Tenth Presbyterian Church, which was only surpassed by the North American Building in 1900. Then, due to the "gentlemen's agreement" not to build higher than the top of the statue of William Penn atop City Hall, that building stood as the city's tallest structure for 86 years; it also held the world record for tallest habitable building from 1901 until the 1908 completion of the Singer Building in New York City. Schuylkill Yards