The Delaware Power Station of the Philadelphia Electric Company was, at its peak, Philadelphia’s largest power station in the post-World War I period and a critical component to the company’s incredible growth. Founded in 1899 and incorporated in 1902, Philadelphia Electric first formed as a corporation by consolidating many small electric utilities under a single large holding company with the goal of being the sole supplier of electricity to the city. A critical success toward the goal of standardization began in 1902 with the construction of the largest coal-powered central power plant in the world known as Schuylkill A-1. When run at full capacity, this station could generate all of the city’s electricity needs at a lower cost than what was possible through multiple smaller plants.

Within just 16 years, a site expansion, and the construction of a second station, by 1918, the company’s customer base and power needs had grown more than fivefold and continued to increase. This demand was further compounded by the industrial expansion resulting from the United States entering World War I. To meet the ever-growing needs, Philadelphia Electric began the two-phase construction of the Delaware Power Station in 1917. By 1923, the Delaware Station was in full operation and capable of generating over 46% of the city’s electricity when running at its full capacity, making it the largest power station in the Philadelphia Electric system.

Over the next several decades the company would continue to dominate the industry, constructing additional stations around the city and expanding the Delaware station once more in 1953. Although no expansions occurred after 1953, the Delaware Station continued to power a large portion of Philadelphia over the next several decades.

With the development of newer generating technologies such as nuclear power, however, the Delaware Station’s dependence on fossil fuels, both coal and oil, meant that it was becoming increasingly inefficient. By 1969, the original sections of the station were retired, leaving only the 1953 expansion in operation. Philadelphia Electric was acquired by the Exelon company in 2000 and, by 2008, the station ceased to function as a power plant. Exelon sold the station in 2015 when early development plans for the station’s future use began. Current ownership acquired the property in late 2019.

The former power station is now ‘The Battery,’ a 500,000 square foot dynamic multifamily and workplace campus experience on the Delaware River, adjacent to the heart of the bustling Fishtown neighborhood in Philadelphia, with a specific focus towards open-air, greenspace, and health and wellness.

The campus was developed in three phases, the first of which focused on two of the original historic structures, the “Boiler House” and the “Switchgear Building,” as well as an expansive public outdoor space. The Boiler House contains 239 loft and rooftop apartments, 49,000 square feet of office space on the ground floor, and a dramatic 2-story central amenity hub. Amenities include lounge, meeting, co-working, and café space with a rooftop outdoor terrace and garden. The Switchgear Building renovation created 45 studio and one-bedroom units and 25,000 square feet of event space operated by Cescaphe, a well-established event brand in Philadelphia.

The Battery lies directly adjacent to Penn Treaty Park and features a large outdoor space along the Delaware River waterfront with direct access to trails for walking/biking.

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.

In 1925 B. G. Collier, head of the African American Grand Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, purchased lots in the Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The Hill District is often referred to as Pittsburgh’s Harlem, due to its historically rich cultural and artistic environment that remains prevalent to the present day. In 1927, Collier commissioned prominent African American Architect Louis A. S. Bellinger of Pittsburgh, to build the Pythian Temple, a fraternal lodge and commercial building for Black construction workers to enjoy community events, music, and more. Bellinger was working as one of only sixty black architects in the United States in the 1930s. Located at 2007-2013 Centre Avenue, the three-story building designed in a Tudor Revival style was completed in 1928 and became one of the largest and most prominent secular buildings in the Hill District. 

Bellinger’s architectural vision for the Temple formed the blueprint for the Temple’s transformation in 1937 when Harry Hendel, a promoter and theater owner, bought the Temple and remodeled it as a commercial theater. After the transformation, the building was known as the New Granada Theater. The first floor became a commercial movie theater while the second floor housed a ballroom with a stage where jazz greats played. Harlem musicians touring from New York City to Chicago would stop at the New Granada theater to play on the second-floor stage. Jazz legends such as Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington all played at the Theater during its prime.  

Through the decades, the Theater’s popularity slowly declined, and it was finally closed in the mid-1970s. During a period of vacancy between its closure and 1990, the interior suffered extensive damage after the roof collapsed. In 1990, Hill CDC purchased the Theater to save it from demolition. Since then, Hill CDC has committed itself to restoring the New Granada Theater to a place of prominence and cultural enrichment in the Hill District.