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 The Pagoda - Reading, PA Posted by:  Janila
N 40° 20.173 W 075° 54.332
18T E 423084 N 4465467
The Reading Pagoda sits high on Mt. Penn overlooking the city of Reading.
Waymark Code: WMYTEK
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 07/22/2018
Views: 5
The PAGODA (open the year round), on Skyline Blvd., is a seven-story structure designed and erected by William Abbot Wittman, Sr., of Reading, in 1908. Intended originally as a novel hotel, it was presented to the city by Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Mould and now serves as an observation tower for visitors. Its foundations rest on huge piers of metal and concrete embedded in solid rock. Ten tons of bolts were used to anchor the building to the mountain. The plan of the Pagoda is rectangular, the walls being set back two feet at each story. Wide wooden verandas surround the first two stories, which are of stone; from the upper red-tiled stories project broad, tiled roofs curving slightly upward, with decorative masks at each corner. A lighting system makes the structure visible at night for miles around . The Pagoda is reached on foot by a series of rough-hewn steps leading up from the rear of the Commons.
Today, the Pagoda continues to be a tourist attraction and has been modernized inside with a snack bar and a gift shop. One can purchase a ticket to climb up to the seventh floor for a donation of $1. Outside, there are now solidly built concrete steps to access the building from the hillside below or the parking lot above.
One of the main attractions of the Pagoda for the residents of Reading is that it can be seen from so many places as it sits high on the hill. It is often the first thing I see when I have been away from home as its lights shine brightly welcoming us home.
Book: Pennsylvania
Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 7452
Year Originally Published: 1940
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