Structure north of Reading Terminal

What is the large structure north of the former Reading Terminal (Penn Conv Centre)? Seems the viaduct would have gone right thru it.

Was it possibly a freight terminal? And what is it today? See map/satellite view below.

http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q ... 4853&mag=1

Drew, you (inadvertently) answered it. That building is the Convention Center.

Remember that the Reading Terminal trainshed encloses basically just a grand ballroom and fancy entrance to the main structure; it is not the Center itself.

I once had the privilege of being there for a tradeshow. It was great to be able to spend a lot of time gawking under that majestic overhead arch. I suppose that I was rubbing shoulders with the ghosts of the "King Coal", the Philly connection to the LVRR's "Black Diamond", and of course the "Crusader".

Thanks Franklin, I didn't realise the main part of the centre is behind the trainshed.

Do you know if it was specifically built for the convention centre? The facade appears to be from a different time, or was it just designed this way perhaps to fit in with surroundings?

I was to the flower show this year with my father in law. He told me that his brother at tone time painted the entire inside of the train shed. Must have been some job!

Drew,
The Main Dispaly Hall was built jsut for the PA Convention Centre. I think the architecture was more or less designed to fit in as part of the headhouse and train shed. The two blocks between Arch Street and Race Street (N&S) and 11th and 13 th Streets (E&W) was razed to the ground to make way for the new structure. Here's photo's by our very own Glennk 419 from another thread that is looking from the train shed towards what is now the Display Hall to give you an idea what it used to look like.