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Correct, but overall Houston has much taller buildings & more of them through out the city.
If all of Houston's skylines were lined up together it would form a "mini" Chicago or NYC type skyline. Some vantage points miles outside the city capture this illusion very well as pictured above.
Otherwise, DT Houston is compable to DT Los Angeles in both height & size.
Philadelphia had a height limit that nothing could be built taller than City Hall up until 1989 with the completion of One Liberty Place. Houston is not much taller than Philadelphia at all and Philly is quickly catching up on Houston with only 23 years to build tall buildings. If you look at the historical building stock in Philadelphia there are several hundred buildings in the 200-300 foot range and several hundred more in the 100 foot range. Also, Philadelphia's 5 tallest buildings are all within a couple blocks of each other which make the skyline look smaller than it actually is... lastly, the architecture in Philadelphia is ten times better than Houston both historic and modern.
Let's look at the three tallest buildings in each city.
Houston-
JPMorgan Chase- 1,002 feet
Wells Fargo Bank Center- 992 feet
Williams Tower- 901 feet
Philadelphia-
Comcast Center- 975 feet
One Liberty Place- 945 feet
Two Liberty Place- 848 feet
As far as tallest in each city go, they are not too far off from each other.
If we look at the entire building stock
Houston has 103 skyscrapers, Philadelphia has 76. Houston has 418 highrises, Philadelphia has 365. These numbers are not terribly drastically different are they? Houston is NOWHERE NEAR Chicago which has well over 1,000 highrises/skyscrapers. Houston is actually much closer in competition to Philadelphia. Philadelphia also has one skyscraper currently under construction and 10+ highrises under construction as well as 20+ highrises/skyscrapers proposed.
Philadelphia has a much larger skyline than people give it credit for because only portions of the skyline are usually Photographed.
That's not including all the small clusters of highrises throughout the city that are RARELY photographed.
There is the City Avenue skyline in West Philadelphia... this is only a portion of it and it is being blocked by the hills and trees in Fairmount Park http://www.skyscrapersunset.com/tours/041227.html
There is also a highrise cluster in the East Falls/ East Germantown area in Northwest Philadelphia and a highrise cluster at Temple Hospital in Tioga/Nicetown on North Broad both of which there are zero pictures of.
Also, outside of skylines, Philadelphia is MUCH more densely developed than Houston.
Philadelphia had a height limit that nothing could be built taller than City Hall up until 1989 with the completion of One Liberty Place. Houston is not much taller than Philadelphia at all and Philly is quickly catching up on Houston with only 23 years to build tall buildings. If you look at the historical building stock in Philadelphia there are several hundred buildings in the 200-300 foot range and several hundred more in the 100 foot range. Also, Philadelphia's 5 tallest buildings are all within a couple blocks of each other which make the skyline look smaller than it actually is... lastly, the architecture in Philadelphia is ten times better than Houston both historic and modern.
Let's look at the three tallest buildings in each city.
Houston-
JPMorgan Chase- 1,002 feet Wells Fargo Bank Center- 992 feet Williams Tower- 901 feet
Philadelphia-
Comcast Center- 975 feet One Liberty Place- 945 feet Two Liberty Place- 848 feet
As far as tallest in each city go, they are not too far off from each other.
First 3 tallest?
How about the first 10, 15, or 20 tallest?
After Philly's top 3 or 4 building, the drop off in height compared with Houston is significant.
From there Houston has about 13 other taller skyscrapers then Philly with 1, then Houston with 5 more, then Philly with 2, then Houston with 7...you get the picture.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Summersm343
If we look at the entire building stock
Houston has 103 skyscrapers, Philadelphia has 76. Houston has 418 highrises, Philadelphia has 365. These numbers are not terribly drastic. Philadelphia also has one skyscraper currently under construction and 10+ highrises under construction as well as 20+ highrises/skyscrapers proposed.
Philadelphia has a much larger skyline than people give it credit for because only portions of the skyline are usually Photographed.
Here is the whole thing including Center City and University City
There is also a highrise cluster in the East Falls/ East Germantown area in Northwest Philadelphia and a highrise cluster at Temple Hospital in Tioga/Nicetown on North Broad both of which there are zero pictures of.
Also, outside of skylines, Philadelphia is MUCH more densely developed than Houston.
Even Houston's outter skylines are much larger than Philly's outter skylines.
Galveston, The Woodlands, Energy Corridor, Memorial, Westchase, & Greenspont are rarely photographed too.
Tall buildings surround by a sea of parking lots? No thanks. I'll take walkability, vibrancy and a densely developed city even outside of downtown over what Houston has any day.
Cities aren't just developed overnight guys, it takes a while to infill, and I'm sure Houston is becoming a beast in its own right. Rome wasn't built in one day.
i totally agree man. i think i'm still bitter about the NIMBYs
There are actually people walking around the streets in Philadelphia... you won't find much of that in Houston. In Houston they are all driving around and there are parking lots and driveways in front of pretty much every single building outside of Downtown/other business districts in Houston instead of the buildings facing the street and parking behind the building in an alley or underground or in a parking garage that has street level retail.
I agree the NIMBY's make me angry and I don't think a 200 foot building in Old City is such a big deal but I do agree with some things like a height limit along the Delaware Waterfront of 100 feet. It just makes sense. It will spread development out horizontally instead of building one 500 foot building than waiting 3 years for another to be built. Instead we can get five 100 foot buildings a year. However, I do think the NIMBY's should lighten up a little and let a few developments slip here and there that are in the 300-500 foot range. I know the developer can go 200 feet if he "gives something back to the public" in the Delaware Waterfront Master Plan.
Cities aren't just developed overnight guys, it takes a while to infill, and I'm sure Houston is becoming a beast in its own right. Rome wasn't built in one day.
Correct, but when cities like Philadelphia, New York and Boston where built, they were designed after European Urbanity which makes them favorable to public transportation and pedestrian traffic. Houston and other Southern cities were developed to favor the car and now have very poor walkability and pedestrian traffic as well as seas of parking lots and parking lots/drive ways in front of every building. It will take decades (possibly hundreds of years) for Houston to correct it's mistakes.
Cities aren't just developed overnight guys, it takes a while to infill, and I'm sure Houston is becoming a beast in its own right. Rome wasn't built in one day.
Look up the Texas Medical Center or other areas of Houston though on google maps.... why does how a city looks from far away matter at all? What matters is what happens at street level. The Texas Medical Center is hardly urban. Wide pedestrian unfriendly boulevards, buildings with blank walls or grass lots facing the street, poor transit, buildings that poorly meet the street, large parking garages with no ground floor retail, no pedestrian vibrancy.
The Texas Medical Center certainly forms a nice skyline... but does that matter at all? It is not really urban, it is more of a tall suburb. Also, the Philadelphia skyline is more ascetically pleasing than Houston if you ask me. It's denser, better architecture, more well placed buildings, better natural surroundings, has dense neighborhoods surrounding it. Plus when you know what goes on at street level there are actually people walking around under all of those buildings in Philadelphia.
Last edited by JMT; 09-04-2012 at 02:09 PM..
Reason: This thread is not about Pittsburgh.
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