The PSFS Building , now known as Loews Philadelphia Hotel , is a skyscraper in Downtown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A National Historic Landmark, it is the first International-style skyscraper built in the United States. Built for the Philadelphia Saving (later Savings) Society Fund in 1932 and designed by architects William Lescaze and George Howe. The design of skyscrapers is a departure from traditional banks and Philadelphia architecture, lacking features like domes and ornaments. Combining Lescaze's experience with European modernism, Beaux-Arts Howe's background and the wishes of Community President James M. Wilcox to think ahead, tall skyscrapers combine the main characteristics of International style architecture.
Called the first modern skyscraper in the United States, and one of the most important skyscrapers built in the country in the first half of the 20th century, this building features an innovative and effective design of a T-shaped tower that allows the maximum amount of natural lightweight space and can rented. The tower sits at the base with a polished marble facade. The first floor of the base contains space for retail, while the second floor features banking space, bank offices and related facilities. The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society's office and banking premises feature specially designed furnishings, including special Cartier watches on each floor. The top of the skyscraper features a boardroom of banks and other facilities for the board of directors. The office tenants are attracted to the tower with modern facilities such as a radio receiver, and it is also the second tall building in the US that is equipped with air conditioning. Skyscraper on it by a red neon sign with the initials Philadelphia Saving Fund Society (PSFS) on it. Visible as far as 20 miles (32 km), the sign has become a Philadelphia icon. Next to the sign is a television tower established in 1948.
In the 1980s, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society began to expand into other financial services, but lost millions in its new business business. In 1992 the bank and its buildings were confiscated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). That same year the skyscraper was 85 percent empty, with most businesses attracted to the bigger and more modern office space built in the city in the 1980s. The FDIC auctioned off the building, and was bought by the developer to be converted into Loews Hotel. The Pennsylvania Convention Center opened in 1993 a block away from the skyscrapers, and the city promoted the creation of enough hotel space to convene a political convention in 2000. The conversion to the hotel began in 1998, and the Loews Philadelphia Hotel opened in April 2000, in time for the 2000 Republican National Convention.
Video PSFS Building
Histori
In the 1920s banks such as Girard Trust Company and other businesses such as Wanamaker and Sun Oil Company expanded by building skyscrapers in the City Center, Philadelphia. To replace their headquarters at Walnut Street, the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society (PSFS) began planning a new building on Market Street at the former William Penn Charter School site. Under the direction of President James M. Wilcox's bank, they began looking for designs for a building, which architect William Lescaze and George Howe accepted by the board of directors in November 1930. During the 1920s, Howe worked for the Mellor, Meigs and Howe companies he designed two branches of the Beaux-Arts-style bank for the PSFS. In 1929, Howe left the company and partnered with Lescaze. Together, with the influence of Wilcox, they designed the new PSFS Building.
Construction contracted by George A. Fuller Company. Completed in 1932 at a cost of US $ 8 million, the PSFS Building is a modern departure from the architecture of traditional banks and other Philadelphia skyscrapers. Designed in International style, it is the first skyscraper of its kind to be built in the United States.
Parts of modern facilities installed to attract tenants include radio reception equipment installed in each office building by RCA Victor Company. Carrier Engineering Corporation is contracted to install air-conditioning in the building, making it the only air-conditioned second building in the United States. The skyscrapers were completed during the Great Depression and the fluorescent initials of the Savings Fund Society Society of Philadelphia continued to be lit along economic issues to create a symbol of hope and consistency for the city. In the early part of the Depression, words jokingly remarked "Philadelphia Slowly Facing Hunger."
Over the years, the building with its mark became a Philadelphia landmark. The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society runs a school program that allows Philadelphia children to open an account at a bank and deposit money every week. The program, in which the Philadelphians generation opened their first bank account, featured School Account Counters in the building and stepstools for the youngest children. For many children, this is a rite of passage to travel to the PSFS Building to access their accounts.
The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society occupied 112,723 square feet (10,000 m 2 ) of 374,628 square feet (35,000m 2 ) from office space in the building. The remaining office space is available for rent by other tenants. One of the famous tenants was Towers Perrin, who placed himself in the PSFS Building in 1934.
The PSFS building was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1976 due to its architectural significance.
In 1982 PSFS joined the Western Savings Fund Society and extended it to other financial services. In September 1985 the bank began to conduct business as Meritor Financial Group, in which PSFS became a subsidiary. Meritor's aggressive expansion in the 1980s caused the company to lose millions of dollars in new business ventures. In 1989, Meritor sold 54 PSFS branches and the PSFS name to Mellon Bank. The deal came into force in 1990 and on May 21 of that year the building's neon sign was turned off. Meritor says that after selling the name it is not appropriate to light the sign. Turning off the marks sparked outrage and protests from the public, historians, and architectural fans. As a result, Meritor and Mellon Bank agree to revive the sign and stay on. Meritor said, "We agree that it is in the best interest of the city to revive it."
In the late 1980s, an explosion of office buildings in the West Street Market Street neighborhood attracted tenants looking for a larger office space than the older PSFS Building. In 1992, the building was empty 85 percent and in December of that year the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) seized Meritor Financial Group and sold its remaining bank branches to Mellon Bank. FDIC takes over the remaining Meritor assets including the PSFS Building. FDIC was not the sole owner of the building since Meritor, in the 1990s, sold interest in the building to several partners.
Transformation
In 1994, the PSFS Building looked obsolete and much of Meritor's furniture and equipment was sold at auction by the FDIC in 1993. That same year, the Pennsylvania Convention Center opened a block away from the PSFS Building and many new hotels popped up around the city.. Initially thinking of turning the PSFS Building into an apartment, developer Carl Dranoff decided a hotel would be the best after seeing the Marriott built across the street. Dranoff hired Bower Lewis Thrower Architects who made the plans, which he brought to commercial developer Ronald Rubin from the Rubin Organization. Rubin took over the project and hired Dranoff to keep an eye on him. Rubin first approached the Hyatt and after a year of negotiations, Hyatt decided to build an entirely new property in Penn's Landing instead. Rubin then approached the Loews Hotels network.
On April 11, 1997, Rubin developer, hotelier Jonathan Tisch and Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell announced in the PSFS courtroom that the PSFS Building would be converted into Loews Hotel. Over the next year the conversion of buildings into hotels was postponed while Loews negotiated with the Rubin Organization to buy interest in the building. The deal was officially reached in June 1998, and work began in the building shortly thereafter. After a year's delay to start the renovation, there are more concerns that delays will occur if the building conversion is more difficult than expected. This concern stems from the city's efforts to attract political conventions to the city in 2000. An important part of attracting political conventions is the number of hotel rooms available in the host city, and the timely completion of the PSFS Building is an important factor.
The Loews Philadelphia Hotel opened in April 2000 with a renovation cost of US $ 115 million. A year before it was over, Republicans had decided to hold the 2000 National Convention in Philadelphia despite previous concerns about hotel space. The Florida delegation will stay at Loews Philadelphia during the event.
Maps PSFS Building
Architecture
General
The Loews Philadelphia Hotel is a 36-storey, 491-foot (150 m) skyscraper in the Eastern Market neighborhood of the City Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Located at the corner of 12th and Market Streets, this skyscraper contains 557,000 square feet (52,000 m 2 ) in the original building, with more space provided by modern additions. The main building consists of a T-shaped tower and its base. The tower is split between the crossbar that serves as the spine of a skyscraper, and the rest of the tower projecting from the spine asymmetrically. The office floor is set back from 12th Street about 20 feet (6.1 m) and is set back on the west side about 40 feet (12 m).
The facade of the tower consists of a vertical dock of limestone and horizontal spandrels of matte brick. Prominent pillar 15 inches (38 cm) out of the rest of the facade. The core facade of the tower, which contains elevators, stairs, and utilities, is made of shiny black brick. The tower windows are grouped in sets of four on the east and west sides of the tower. The north side window stretches across its length except on the fourth and fifth floor where the window is two sets of four flanking a set of six. The 21st floor, the mechanical floor that houses the AC equipment, has a narrower window than in other parts of the building.
The 33rd floor contains a meeting room, dining room, solarium, and other spaces intended for the PSFS Board of Directors. Wooden panels are displayed all over the 33rd floor. Hudoke wooden veneers adorn the walls of the Committee Room, the walls of ebony makassar and Venetian blinds adorn the aisles, ebony wooden panels and rosewood tombs form the Meeting Room and the Main Dining Room.
The building's base is distinguished from the rest of the tower by a delicate granite facade and large windows. The base is wider than most of the towers above and curved in a corner facing Market Street and the 12th Street intersection. The base is housed in the original banking space and the former retail space. A two-storey window mounted in a flat aluminum frame opens into the banking hall area, curved with the other bottom. Stainless steel rods form mullion windows. The large banking hall has stainless steel columns supporting the tower above and two mezzanine levels, now separated from the hall by metal and glass walls. Mezzanine levels are connected by black and white stairs.
The building has two road entrances and one subway entrance. The 52ft Street (16m) Street Market entrance lobby has stairs and escalators leading to the previous banking building. The black, gray, and white marble lobby has a three-story window with mullion stainless steel mounted in a flat aluminum frame similar to a window in the banking hall. The other entrance is on 12th Street. Originally designed for office workers in the tower, the entrance now leads to the hotel lobby. Custom Cartier Watches adorn both lobby entrances and every elevator lobby.
Office building
This skyscraper was originally designed for banking and offices. The base of the tower contains retail and office space along with a large banking hall and related facilities. The main floor of the banking hall holds the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society teller lockers and tubular steel furniture specially designed for the banking floor. On the mezzanine floor there is a bank office, a safe and a safe. Under the banking hall, on the ground floor and in the basement, there are 28,755 square feet (2,700 m) of retail space designed to be changed as needed. Last rented by Lerner clothing store, the retail space initially featured a display window and store access at the subway station below.
The office tower contains 374,628 square feet (35,000m 2 ) offices and banking spaces. 228,867 square feet (21,000 m 2 ) of the space available for rent. The rental space covers more than 30 floors and attracts potential tenants by displaying radio outlets in every office, air conditioning, and garage facilities. The rental floor is intended to be tailored to the needs of the tenants, and the floor configuration has changed over the years. In the 1970s more than 2,000 people worked in the building.
The 33rd floor meeting room contains a giant oval table with ebene veneer Macassar. The hallway leads to the conference room and the solarium contains a coat hanger for each board member and senior officer. The porch has a roster of presidents and board members of the Philadelphia Fundraiser Society for years and where they sit at the conference table. The Foyer also features old Walnut Street Head sketches and a list of bank offices and dates they open. The boardroom is decorated with portraits of the founders of the bank and its president. The chairs around each table have a plaque on the back that shows the number of seats and the names of current and previous board members sitting there.
Hotel
Converted to Loews Philadelphia Hotel, the building has 581 rooms including 37 suites in a total building area of ​​631,006 sq.ft. The hotel has a 40,000 square foot (3.700 m 2 ) square-foot function room in three ballrooms and fourteen conference rooms. The hotel also offers a Concierge Library on the 31st floor and a spa, swimming pool and gym on the fifth floor.
At the base of the building, the banking building, now called the Millennium Hall Ballroom, is used as a function room. Separated by metal and glass screens, the mezzanine level is used as a pre-function hall and dining room. Located at the entrance of 12th Street on the ground floor, the lobby is decorated by genuine safes doors from the third floor mezzanine, bronze ceiling from the deposit box area, and counter teller from the banking room. Designed to replicate the original style of the building, the lobby contains replicate stainless steel columns found on the mezzanine, and the walls are made of wood and marble. The ground floor also contains Solefood's Restaurant, Bar and Lounge, and glass news studio for NBC WCAU affiliates.
Attached to the south side of the building are four floors, concrete-framed, additional glass and aluminum, which houses the entrance and exit of parking garages, meeting rooms, hotel service facilities, kitchens, and space for mechanical equipment. On the north side of the canopy building with a loews sign on it is added to the entrance of Market Street.
Sign and tower
Skyscraper above it with a distinctive mark with the Philadelphia Society Saving Fund initials. The 27-foot-high letter (8.2 m) is white in the daytime and illuminated with red neon lights at night. The sign hides mechanical equipment and can be seen for 20 miles (32 km).
The PSFS mark has become a Philadelphia icon. At the time of construction, abbreviations are rarely used but the Howe and Lescaze architects encourage their use because their full names will not be read from the ground. When Loews announced it would be converted into a hotel, the first question the reporter asked was what happened with the sign. Loews briefly considered changing the mark by projecting the Loews name on it, but the idea was immediately removed.
Southern sign is the television tower. The 258 foot (79 m) tower is set to relay TV and radio signals and added to the skyscrapers in 1948.
Design
The PSFS building was built for the Society of Savings Funds of Philadelphia under the direction of the bank President James M. Wilcox. Wilcox's purpose for the building was "ultra modern only in the sense that it is ultra-practical." The design of the building through several revisions with Wilcox works closely with architects William Lescaze and George Howe. The building is a radical departure from the traditional Greek and Italian inspired bank architecture. Beaux-arts trained George Howe combined his experience with William Lescaze's familiarity with modern European design. The building is designed in an International style, a term that will be created two years after the building was designed. The main characteristics of style, focus on volume over mass, balance rather than previously formed symmetry, and lack or ornamentation all in the design of skyscrapers. The proposed design analysis of the building by the Savings Fund Society Society of Philadelphia states that the belief that traditional banking architecture will soon become obsolete and that economic realities will lead to similarly designed buildings in the near future. The analysis says "The marble hall and the fantastic dome have been exaggerated and no longer excite the public interest they have lived their day in. A healthy and handsome era but a 100% practical building is near."
Wilcox is the one who encourages stressing the height of the building with a vertical dock. Howe opposes the vertical lines that want to emphasize office space inside the tower. Wilcox insisted on showing off the height of the building and at the end of the added vertical dock, along with emphasizing the horizontal space inside using spandrels. The jetty protrudes from the facade to not disturb the wall space and allows the maximum amount of floor space and flexible office settings. The t-shaped tower is designed in such a way as to allow for maximum amount of light on the office floor and to emphasize the banking section of the base. The spine of the building containing elevators and utilities is seen outside for the first time in a skyscraper, not hidden inside the center of the building.
Placing the banking hall on the second floor allows retail space at the street level, giving the owner additional income buildings and attracting middle-class depositors to the bank. To support the tower above, the structural column extends from the truss within 16.5 feet (5.0 m) on the floor of the banking room. Lescaze designed a curved base, giving it a marble to give the impression of luxury on the building from the road surface.
Conversions
While the T-shaped space in the tower is useless as a modern office, it has the ideal shape for hotel rooms. The tower conversion to the hotel is led by the head of the Arthur Jones project of Bower Lewis Thrower Architects and conservation consultant Robert Powers of Powers and Associates. Since the building is a National Historic Landmark and is listed in the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, all changes to the building are monitored by the National Park Service, the State Historic Preservation Office, and the Philadelphia Historical Commission.
To be an effective convention hotel, this building requires an additional 40,000 square feet (3,700 m 2 ) for space and meeting space. Ground is obtained along 12th Street and additional built. If the developer can not get neighboring sites, the hotel conversion will not occur. In addition to historic buildings, these buildings must be distinguished from other structures, but constructed of comparable materials, structures and sizes. The developers are also required to ensure the addition will not damage the original building if it is destroyed. The addition also reduces changes to the rest of the original building that should be required to make room for certain facilities.
Part of the conversion is the rehabilitation of the building facade. Because flashing was not originally included around the building's windows, rainwater failed to flow, causing the window shelves to degenerate and the surrounding rocks to fail. During rehabilitation, the facade is cleaned and rebuilt and repaired if necessary. Along with the addition of weatherproofing, 97 percent of the windows in the tower need to be replaced. The new window was initially criticized for being too bright, but its brightness has faded over time. The two-story window on the 33rd floor needs to be replaced, but the first replacement does not meet historical preservation standards, and the second set should be designed and then approved. The large windows on the base were repaired, uniformed and cleaned. The street level window is returned to its original view based on physical evidence and images.
Daroff Design, Inc. responsible for interior decoration. Daroff Design and Loews decided the International style will not provide the atmosphere of hotel guests who are sought and dominated using Art Deco style instead. Critics criticize the use of Art Deco, saying Daroff's design does not understand the International style and degrade its original building. However, an architectural critic says the "flamboyant approach of Daroff allows Howe and Lescaze's contribution to having his own identity, and Daroff has it." Karen Daroff said, "Our first instinct is to stick with the minimal design of the International style but we do need to soften it." We take almost a cinematic approach, using the Hollywood view of the '20s and '30s, juxtaposed with abstract geometry.
The decision to use the banking room for a function instead of serving as a hotel lobby was financially encouraged by allowing the hotel to rent out large spaces for events. In the banking room, counter teller is deleted even though there is a "character defining" feature. The State Historical Preservation Office recommends that the shadow line of the counter be inserted on the floor, but the recommendation is not made. The metal and glass walls separating the mezzanine and hall are required by the security code. The ladder connecting the mezzanine floor has been surrounded by modern walls, but the walls have been removed in the restoration. Rooms on the 33rd floor, including a boardroom, restored and much of the original furniture were acquired by Loews. There are several different features of the building on the first floor so that the developers use the area for the hotel lobby. Among other changes to the first floor is creating access to the lobby from the entrance of Market Street.
Reception
The PSFS Building Design invites early criticism and praise. In the March 1931 edition of the T-Square Club Journal Elbert Conover said, "The day will come when even in America, we will become skilled enough to cope with economic pressures without forcing such a vile and illogical community to design. "The PSFS building is one of only two US skyscrapers to be included in the 1932 International-style exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art run by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, the exhibit is where the international style term was invented.The PSFS building is praised for its cantilever facade and store building organizations on the first floor, banking buildings on the second floor, above offices and service towers in the back.Unlike the PSFS Building, the design of other skyscrapers - the McGraw-Hill Building of New York City - is more due to the needs of publishing operations and zoning restrictions rather than following the architectural movement.Hitchcock and Johnson were critical of the use of decorative markings in the building, but the designs of Lescaze and Howe were not shown at the 1932 New York City Architecture Exhibit after the skyscrapers were deemed to have ugly and illogical designs. saying "Like all institutions that have become traditions al, he tends to hate change. "
In 1939, the building was awarded the Gold Medal by the Philadelphia chapter of the American Institute of Architects. While the PSFS Building will affect other buildings, skyscrapers do not start a trend in banking architecture. Spiro Kostof said the building was "too cold, too intellectual, probably to start a trend." After the International style became popular in the 1950s, the PSFS Building was named one of the most important skyscrapers built in the United States in the first half of the 20th century. Called the first truly modern skyscraper in the United States by Architectural Overview in 1957, the PSFS Building was awarded the Century Building by the Philadelphia chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1969.
Robert AM Stern said of the building, "Nothing like it has been built, and only rarely... has something close to its size has been envisioned in the vocabulary of either the first or second stage of the International style." PSFS is much more than an extraordinary marriage of function and technological innovation within the new vocabulary constraint of form.This is a remarkable object, perfected in every detail... PSFS is the rarest phenomenon of our time, a working monument. "
William Jordy says the uniqueness of the buildings "arose in remarkable ambiguity, such as reconciliation, synthesis, and prophecy." Jordy also said, "Although it symbolizes the coming to America of the European functionalist styles of the twenties, this event is too late to make it appear more synthetic than the previous developments than the herald of the new departure, but... as a synthesis, then as the synthesis of America, the PSFS is worthy of study today... somewhat more innovative than its appearance, date, and provincial position show... PSFS is not even an impeccable example of the seemingly international Style.It depends also on Beaux-Arts theory, which as if rejected. "
See also
- Philadelphia portal
- List of tallest buildings in Philadelphia
- List of tallest buildings in Pennsylvania
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Philadelphia
- List of Historic Historic Places of Historic Places in Town Center, Philadelphia
References
Note
External links
- The Loews Philadelphia Hotel
- The PSFS Building Building an Historic American Buildings Survey
- Hagley Library Digital Archives from PSFS Building
- Philadelphia Architects and Buildings
- William Lescaze Papers at Syracuse University - architectural design and plans, photo construction, interior and exterior design and photos
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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