William Lescaze and George Howe designed the first International style skyscraper in the United States-The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society, which is considered as a National Historic Landmark. The PSFS is located at the corner of 12th and Market Street. It is a 36-story, 491 ft skyscraper. Rather than having highlights, for example, domes and ornamentation, Carolyn Pitt stated, “Marble halls and fantastic domes have been overdone and no longer excite the public’s interest...” It consolidates with Lescaze’s experiences with European modernism and Howe’s Beaux Arts foundation. The PSFS fuses the fundamental attributes of International style architecture.
Under the direction of bank President James M. Wilcox, the primary idea for the building…show more content… Windows plays a big part when it comes to getting natural light and the mullions create an aesthetes design. In the accompanying of Vitruvius’ criteria, it satisfies every one of the three necessities. For beauty, Lescaze and Howe chose stainless steel rods because it connects to their design of having the structure of steel framed. For function and strength, the mullions fit superbly as it is resistance to corrosion, staining, low maintenance, and supports the building weight. There are a few buildings that Lescaze and Howe’s PSFS building was influence. One building is the Carson Pirie Scott Store, designed by Louis Sullivan in 1899 – 1904. In comparison, both buildings expressed steel frame and the emphasis of horizontals and verticals.
Not only that, but the PSFS and the Carson Pirie Scott Store also emphasis windows to allow for the greatest amount of natural light into the building interiors. For the Carson Pirie Scott Store, it uses bay-wide windows. The PSFS uses large rectangular windows. From a pedestrian view, Sullivan, Lescaze, and Howe created an attractive design. Sullivan’s design of the entrance has elegant designs that draw the attention. As for Lescaze and Howe’s design of attraction, it’s luxury…show more content… As Richard Weston states, “The design was predicated on an absolute distinction between structure and enclosure—a regular grid of cruciform steal columns interspersed by freely spaced planes” Again, the steel columns are mention and in Lescaze and Howe’s design of the PSFS, steels are the supportive factors that supports the weight of the building. But, the difference is that Mies wanted his simple modern pavilion to have close spaces instead of having open spaces like Lescaze and Howe. Another thing about Mies’s design is that it is known for the use of refined abstracted materials, such as marble, red onyx, and clear, frosted or bottle green glass. Lescaze and Howe used refined abstracted materials through the exterior and interior. Not the same materials as Mies, but having the similar affect. The use of refined abstracted materials gives off a sophisticated taste and
