When Ed Rendell became mayor of Philadelphia in the early 1990s, the city was at a civic and cultural low point, having seen its national reputation plummet in the previous two decades. Over his two terms as mayor, Rendell spearheaded a relentless drive to revive his city, and championed arts initiatives and building projects which he saw as essential to Philadelphia’s future. But while the city’s comeback has been remarkable, the buildings used to accomplish the feat are somewhat disappointing from an architectural standpoint. “Given a once-in-a-generation chance to distinguish itself with design, Philadelphia instead showed a preference for the prosaic.”