Drake Hotel
- Style
- Art Deco
- City
- Philadelphia, PA
- Collection
- philly deco
The Drake Hotel rose 375 feet over 33 stories at 1512-1514 Spruce Street in Rittenhouse Square, built in 1928-29 by the Murphy, Quigley Company to designs by the firm Ritter and Shay. The building grew from a planned 28 stories during construction, and stunt reporter Vivian Shirley climbed to the top of the unfinished tower on January 29, 1929, months before it opened that September.
the building
Drake-themed terra cotta. Ritter and Shay dressed the tower in Spanish Baroque terra cotta ornamented with dolphins, shells, sailing vessels, and globes, all keyed to the building's namesake, the English explorer Sir Francis Drake, and capped it with a terra cotta dome.
the style
The Drake was built in the Art Deco style, with Spanish Baroque terra cotta detailing carrying a nautical theme -- dolphins, shells, sailing vessels, globes -- that ties the ornament directly to Sir Francis Drake.
More on Art Decosignificance
The Drake was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places on October 6, 1977, and to the National Register of Historic Places on September 18, 1978; it underwent an extensive renovation in 1998.
nearby
- The University of the Arts
- Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
- Academy of Music
- Racquet Club of Philadelphia
- St. Mark's Episcopal Church
- Clarence B. Moore House