Commission brief:
In 1926, the Philadelphia architecture firm of Mellor, Meigs, and Howe received a new commission from the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society (PSFS) for a 15-story bank and office building. The firm produces a Beaux-Arts inspired design but the project is put on hold until the company tests the feasibility of the proposed site on South 12th Street. After testing the new location for two years and confident of the site, PSFS makes the decision to move forward with the skyscraper project.

Because George Howe ends his working relationship with Mellor &.; Meigs during 1928, PSFS solicits design schemes from both the original firm and Howe in 1929. Upon review of the submitted schemes, they rejected the more traditional design submitted by Mellor & Meigs and opt for Howe’s modern proposal. Howe had discarded the earlier Beaux-Arts concept in favor or one that referenced ideas of the European International Style and the Chicago School.

In 1929, Howe enters into a new partnership with William Lescaze. Lescaze, a Swiss-born architect, was devoted to the ideas of Modernist design. With the formation of the new partnership, the two architects begin jointly developing the design scheme for PSFS.

Design brief:
The design for the building evolves during 1929 and 1930. Although George Howe independently submits the original design proposal, it was after he began working with William Lescaze that the design begins to reflect the building’s final form.

In July of 1930, a model of the proposed skyscraper is presented to the PSFS Building Committee. President Willcox encourages the architects to continue working the scheme. He is concerned that the detailing is too horizontal and wants a design that speaks to the verticality that will be reflective of the height of the building. By this point, the building design is 36 stories tall. Numerous variations of the scheme are worked from July to December. In early December 1930, the final design is approved by the company’s Building Committee.

As part of the overall approved plan, the architects are enlisted to create designs for a range of items including lighting, bathroom fixtures, clocks, furniture and numerous other details for the buildings interior space.

Building/construction: In January 1930 building plans are filed with the city of Philadelphia and excavation of the corner lot at Market Street and South 12th Street begins. The steel frame of the building begins to rise later that year and construction is completed in 1932.

Type of change: Interior alterations and major renovation, 1933-1949:
The PSFS skyscraper originally opened as a branch location, transitions to the company headquarters. Because of the significant increase in customers during the first two decades of the building’s life, the size of the banking hall is expanded by using existing space originally occupied by offices.

Banking counters are rebuilt and the number of teller windows increased. Lighting in the hall, originally provided by desk lamps and incandescent lighting near the air conditioning units, is updated with recessed lighting throughout the banking hall ceiling. Changes in banking hall are designed by in-house architect, Alexander Hazell.

As a result of issues (cracking and dislocation) with glass panes installed at the banking level, all are replaced. In this time period, all brickwork is repointed.

Dates

• 1948-1949
  Television tower installed on building roof.
• 1949
  Retail stores located on the ground floor are remodeled.
• 1997-2001
  Property is purchased by Rubin Organization and Loews Hotel after FDIC takes over property from bankrupt Meritor Savings Bank (parent company of PSFS). Interior of property is significantly altered as it undergoes a major renovation that converts is from an office building to a luxury hotel. Updates to exterior are limited to restoration work of original materials. Rubin also purchases 18,875 square foot parcel behind PSFS building. The lot will is used for an addition that is part of the building’s conversion to the Loews Hotel.

Effects of changes: 
Prior to 1997, general interior alterations occurred as part of PSFS business needs and general maintenance. Beginning in 1997, when the property was acquired by the Rubin Organization and Loews Hotel, the building undergoes a major interior renovation to convert it to a 550+ room hotel.

Persons/organizations involved: 
PSFS, City of Philadelphia, Rubin Organization (Developer), and Loews Hotels

The PSFS building is now owned and operated by the Loews Hotels Corporation as an upscale hotel. Now renamed, Loews Philadelphia Hotel, it features 581 guest rooms, function spaces, health club, restaurant, and other related services. The close proximity of the hotel to the Pennsylvania Convention Center was seen as a critical element to the parties who invested in the building’s conversion.

As the result of a recent major renovation of the interior and restoration of exterior, the building is in excellent physical condition. Although the building is now officially Loews Philadelphia Hotel the hallmark PSFS sign on the roof has remained.

European Modernism, Chicago School, International Style.

Canonical status: It is viewed nationally and internationally as the first example of an International Style skyscraper in the United States, as well as one that masterfully executed the ideals of the style. Two exhibits, one historically notable and one more recent, are a testament to the building’s continuing influence in architecture. The first one, the building’s inclusion in the 1932 International Style exhibit organized by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The exhibit coincided closely with the opening of the building, bringing it to the immediate attention of the design community and general public. Even more recently, the 2004 exhibit Nothing More Modern held at Yale University took a close look at the evolution of the design and its embodiment of the modern.

In addition to its influence upon changing architectural tastes, the PSFS building led the way for a new approach to the planning and development of office buildings in the United States, with its continued influence still seen throughout new commercial design today.

The building resulted from a collaborative working relationship between the president of the company, James M. Willcox and the architects. The goal was to create a building that met the company’s business needs in addition to income producing rental office space. With the retail shops on the first floor, the PSFS banking hall on the second, and offices rising up to the 36th floor, the building was a pioneering design of “mixed-use” development.

It is this understanding of the key role that business needs and its evolving culture should play in the development of this building that is critical to its importance. The president of the company was supportive of the design, in that he felt that its form met the needs of his company and the people who would be using it. On opening day of the PSFS Building, President James M. Willcox announces that “This building is ultra-modern only in the sense that it is ultra-practical.”

Archives

Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania/Meyerson Hall, 102, Philadelphia, PA 19104
• Athenaeum of Philadelphia/219 S. Sixth Street,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106
• Drawings Collection, Avery Library, Columbia University/300 Avery, 1172 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027
• Hagley Museum and Library/298 Buck Road East
Wilmington, DE 19807-0630
• Philadelphia City Archives – Building Permits/3101 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
• William Lescaze Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library/E.S. Bird Library, Room 600, Syracuse, NY 13244-2010

Principle publications (in chronological order):

Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania/Meyerson Hall, 102, Philadelphia, PA 19104
• Athenaeum of Philadelphia/219 S. Sixth Street,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106
• Drawings Collection, Avery Library, Columbia University/300 Avery, 1172 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027
• Hagley Museum and Library/298 Buck Road East
Wilmington, DE 19807-0630
• Philadelphia City Archives – Building Permits/3101 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
• William Lescaze Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library/E.S. Bird Library, Room 600, Syracuse, NY 13244-2010
5. 2 principal publications (in chronological order):