How a Political Convention Helped Save America's First Modernist Skyscraper

The Philadelphia Savings Fund Society (PSFS) building has always carried a sense of significance since its opening in 1932. It can claim the title of America's first Modernist (or International Style) skyscraper, and was originally conceived as the new home to America's first savings bank. But a skyscraper boom 50 years after its opening and a bank crisis that ruined its creators jeopardized the building's future.

The 36-floor structure, designed by William Lescaze and George Howe, ushered in a new era of corporate architecture in America, a style more synonymous with the public plazas and curtain walls of architects like Mies Van Der Rohe. The T-shaped tower on the corner of 12th and Market Street allowed for more sunlight and floor space than the typical early 20th century office building. The base of the tower reflects Bauhaus values, a curved wall that hugs the intersection and provides first and second floor commercial space all highlighted by ample glass and black marble.