DuPont_Building

DuPont Building

DuPont Building

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The DuPont Building, occupying the entire block bound by 10th, 11th, Orange and Market streets, was one of the first high-rises in Wilmington, Delaware, United States. It looks out over Rodney Square. The building was built in phases, with the original building constructed in 1908 fronting Rodney Square. At the time, the building housed the offices of DuPont. In 1913, the building was expanded into a "U" by adding wings along 10th and 11th streets, the DuPont Playhouse was added, and a portion of the original 1908 section was converted into the Hotel du Pont.[1] (Hotel du Pont is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.[2]) The final addition to the building occurred in 1923 when the Orange Street addition was added along with an additional two floors, bringing the floor count to 13 and the height to 124 feet (38 m).

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Until early 2015 the building housed DuPont's headquarters. In December 2014, DuPont announced that it would move and consolidate its corporate headquarters at its nearby Chestnut Run Plaza site and that The Chemours Company, which spun off from DuPont in 2015, would move into the DuPont Building.[3][4] As well as Chemours, the building houses The Playhouse on Rodney Square (formerly the DuPont Playhouse), the Hotel duPont, and a branch of M&T Bank.[5]

Under pressure from activist shareholders, the company first leased the building's DuPont Playhouse in January 2015 to the Grand Opera House, which renamed it The Playhouse on Rodney Square.[6] The entire structure and the hotel business were then sold to Wilmington-based developer Buccini/Pollin in January 2018. The new owners have leased the building's office space back to Chemours, will continue to lease The Playhouse to The Grand Opera House, and have promised to keep the hotel operating.[7]

Hotel du Pont was where Joe Biden announced his candidacy for the 1972 United States Senate election in Delaware.[8]

  • The DuPont Building (center left) and the Nemours Building (right) in 2006.
  • The corner of Market and 10th with the Wilmington Trust branch.

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "DuPont Building, Wilmington". Emporis. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  2. [2]
    "Hotel History - HOTEL DU PONT". Historic Hotels of America. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
  3. [3]
    "DuPont Consolidates Corporate Headquarters at Chestnut Run Plaza" (Press release). DuPont. December 22, 2014. Retrieved January 5, 2021 – via PR Newswire.
  4. [4]
    Kaskey, Jack (December 22, 2014). "DuPont Ends Century in Wilmington in Headquarters Move". Bloomberg News. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
  5. [5]
    Fishman, Margie (January 12, 2015). "DuPont Theatre sale could mean more shows, less Broadway". The News Journal. Wilmington. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  6. [6]
    Mordock, Jeff (January 9, 2017). "Chemours to stay in 'revitalized' HQ". The News Journal. Wilmington.
  7. [7]
    Mordock, Jeff (January 31, 2017). "Era ends as DuPont sells its hotel". The News Journal. Wilmington.
  8. [8]
    "'Hush-hush' preparations underway at Hotel du Pont in Wilmington as Biden VP pick announcement nears". WDEL 101.7FM. 11 August 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2021.

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