The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, at the southwest corner of South Broad and Walnut Streets in Center City Philadelphia, was completed in 1904 in the French Renaissance style and was described at the time as the most luxurious hotel in the nation and perhaps the most spectacular hotel building in the world, with the most magnificent ballroom in the US on the first floor. Modeled after the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan, it boasted 19 floors, 725 rooms, and the grandest event space in the city: a 500-person ballroom that could host events for nearly 3,000 people when including adjoining spaces. For many decades the Bellevue-Stratford, the “Grand Dame of Broad Street,” was Philadelphia’s largest hotel. Thomas Edison was involved in the lighting design for the hotel, creating fixtures as well as a switchboard for the hotel’s ballroom. Throughout its time in operation, 15 presidents were guests at the hotel, including Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. 

Apart from a large addition in 1912, which brought the square footage to 657,000 and the room total above 1,000 and added the iconic cameo rooms and other function spaces to the 19th floor, the hotel remained largely unchanged until its closing. In 1976, an outbreak of an unidentified respiratory disease led to the hotel’s sudden closure. In 1978 the building was sold to the Richard I. Rubin Company, saving it from demolition. Rubin undertook a $25 million renovation, reducing the key count to 565 and restoring the public areas, before reopening it as the Fairmont. Westin later acquired an interest in the building, and the Hotel was renamed the Westin Bellevue Stratford in 1983 before closing in 1986 due to low occupancy. In 1988, a new owner reopened the building as The Bellevue, converting much of the hotel to office and cutting an atrium into the remaining hotel portion.

The historic 31-story Tower Life Building, originally known as the Smith-Young Tower, was constructed in San Antonio, Texas, between 1927 and 1928 by the renowned architects Robert and his father Atlee Ayres, who were among the most influential architects in Texas during the 20th century. Their work can be seen across the city such as the Municipal Auditorium, the Plaza Hotel, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the Administration Building at Randolph Field.

For a decade, Sears, Roebuck and Company occupied the first six floors, featuring large display windows along St. Mary’s and Villita streets, while the upper floors were leased to prominent local professionals and businesses, cementing the building’s place as a focal point of commerce and innovation in the city. The Smith-Young Tower with its rich history has borne witness to many significant moments throughout the years, serving as a mooring mast for a blimp, a performance site for aerialists, the headquarters of the third U.S. Army, and a television station transmission tower.

The San Antonio Transit Company purchased and renamed the building the Transit Tower in the 1950s, and by the early 1960s, the building was sold again to the Tower Life Insurance Company where the building was renamed to what we know it as today, the Tower Life Building. It was the tallest building and structure in San Antonio until 1968 and is currently the fourth tallest building in the city and the tallest 8-sided building in the U.S.

The Philip Morris Blended Leaf Plant is a former industrial building that was originally a stemmery that supported the mass production of cigarettes. Originally constructed in the late 1950s, the facility was part of an ambitious plan of expansion initiated in the 1950s by the Philip Morris Company. The plant was the epicenter of the Philip Morris Blended Leaf Complex historic district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017, until 2011, when the factory was decommissioned and fell into disrepair.