Historic Reading Terminal Headhouse

Philadelphia, PA

Owner/ Client:

Philadelphia Downtown Marriott

Construction Data:

$1.2 million

O&S Services Used:

Surveying

Structural Investigations

Prime Design

Architecture

Structural Engineering

Electrical/ Mechanical Engineering

The Reading Terminal Headhouse in Center City is one of Philadelphia’s iconic historic structures. O&S was selected by the Marriott Company to provide an assessment of the exterior walls of this historic building. The Reading Terminal Head House is included on the list of the National and Philadelphia Registers of Historic Places. Originally constructed as the Reading Company headquarters, the Head House now houses a hotel and serves as the entrance to the Reading Terminal Convention Center. The owner had received a façade inspection for compliance purposes and came to O&S when additional levels of certainty were needed with respect to the necessary scope of work, probable construction costs, and other project concerns. Our project team members are experts in historic façades and experienced in determining accurate budgets for their repairs.

This historic building is one of the icons of the City of Philadelphia. It consists of brick masonry, granite block masonry, and ornamental terracotta. Repairs to the exterior of the building needed to be carefully managed to satisfy the demands of the public, the historic commission, and most importantly, those with an ownership interest expecting a return on investment from this functional asset. O&S understands how to balance the demands of such opposing interests and has been successful at completing more exterior wall repair projects around the country than the total inventory of the City of Philadelphia combined.