Nearly six months have passed since we
last reported on
1200 Bank, the decidedly swish billiards club being designed by
DAS Architects, and which local developer Paul Giegerich plans to construct inside the once-grand
Beneficial Bank building at 1200 Chestnut Street, the exterior of which has "become kind of a prime attraction for homeless people," as architect David Schultz puts it.
In the interim, residents of a condominium building located across the street objected to the club's plans to add a rooftop bar, citing the potential for excess noise. But last week, the project went before the City Council's Rules Committee and passed; it was also unanimously approved by the
Historical Commission and the
Planning Commission. That may have had something to do with the fact that the construction of the 1200 Bank project, according to Schultz, won't require any serious alterations to the historic building, which was designed by the noted Philadelphia architect
Horace Trumbauer. "We're not going to alter the space," Schultz explains. "We're going to embellish the space."
Of course, 1200 Bank will involve some modern-day concessions, including an elevator, a minimalist staircase, and the aforementioned rooftop bar, which will be glass-enclosed and sporting a retractable roof. "If you can imagine what a turn-of-the-century billiards club might look like," says Schultz, "that's what we'd like to achieve. The branding and imagery of the project is high-end, old world luxury."
Currently, 1200 Bank's price tag is somewhere around the $6 million mark. And assuming the project passes its final City Council vote, Schultz estimates that the club's doors could open in as little as 12 to 16 months after that.
"This is not the concept that some people have of a pool hall," Schultz adds. "Nothing like this exists in Philadelphia now, and I don't even know if there's anything in the country that's quite like this."
Source: David Schultz, DAS Architects
Writer: Dan Eldridge
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