Maryland Business

A few weeks ago I was in Philadelphia for my niece’s birthday party, and as we happened to be downtown, and as I happen to be a bit of a building nerd, I walked with my cousin over to see the brand new, 975-foot-tall Comcast Center, which when it opened in June became the tallest building in Pennsylvania (and about 400 feet taller than anything we’ve got here in Baltimore).

It was a cool building, designed by the superstar architect Robert A.M. Stern (he’s supposedly the designer for 10 Inner Harbor, ArcWheeler’s non-starter of an office tower, supposedly to be built on the site of an old McCormick factory downtown) although critics say it looks like the world’s biggest USB flash drive.

I was struck, however, by the sight of the Arch Street Presbyterian Church’s rectory, which is attached to the skyscraper’s lobby on the North side of the building. As you can see from the photo, it blends in reasonably well — I love it when I see examples of new, highly modern architecture integrated with old, beautiful structures.

It reminded me immediately of Darlene Dixon’s West Baltimore row house, which she refused to move out of in order to accommodate the construction of the UMB Biopark on Martin Luther King Boulevard. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a really funny sight, and worth the trip to take a look.

Can anyone think of any other examples of this — big institutional or commercial buildings that have tiny houses or other residential properties as neighbors, coexisting peacefully in the urban environment?

ROBBIE WHELAN, Business Writer

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Want a shortcut to Tut?

You should. The Franklin Institute advises you to get to the museum 90 minutes before the time stamped on your $32.50 ticket for “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” and one look at the line snaking up three floors to the exhibit hall is all the explanation you need.

On our Labor Day weekend trip to Philadelphia, my husband and I cheerfully estimated it would take at least another hour, and possibly two, to get from the back of the line to the leather ropes at the front. I say “cheerfully” because we were doing the math while we breezed past the huddled masses (doing our best not to make eye contact as we passed them by, and passed them by, and passed and passed and passed them by), thanks to the VIP passes that came with our hotel package.

You say “elitist,” I say “efficient.” And not a little serendipitous. When we booked the package, we knew the VIP passes were untimed — meaning you can see the exhibit whenever you choose — but we didn’t know that VIPs get their own separate line. (There were four people in ours.)

Which means you can spend 90 minutes waiting in line, or spend the same 90 minutes enjoying a champagne brunch of eggs Benedict and lemon-ricotta pancakes with mixed berries at the Four Seasons, followed by a 10-minute stroll past the Swann Fountain to the museum and into the VIP queue.

Other hotels offer one-night packages starting at $185 per couple. You’d spend almost half of that on two “timed” tickets and parking at the Franklin Institute, if you can find a spot.

Sure, Ben Franklin may have been big on that whole penny-saved, penny-earned thing.

But what would the Boy King do?

—BARBARA GRZINCIC, Managing Editor, Law

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