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3-D Documentation - Art Jones That even historic restorations should retain
a unity of expression. Only sixty years had expired between the original construction
and the alterations, a brief moment in architectural history.
Now from the preservation point of view, from a technical point of view, preservation presented
few challenges. The team had at its disposal the original construction drawings, field
sketches and shop and fabrication drawings from the specialty contractors. The Lescaze
archive at Syracuse University had an extensive collection of historic photographs and correspondence
from the Howe and Lescaze firm. We found no surprises and with the exception of several
of the marbles, had no difficulty obtaining matching materials for patching where necessary.
The building had been well cared for during its active life. The bank retained an architect
on staff to oversee maintenance and tenant work and his records were available to us.
Though there were some instances of unsympathetic alteration in public spaces, there in the
areas such as lighting where the original had proved inadequate, the mechanical systems
were either original or had been replaced in the same configuration. Because so many
of the service spaces had been located in the new south edition, it was not necessary
to make any modifications to the historic exterior. A cantilevered canopy at the Market
Street entrance, is the sole exception. The original inoperable tower windows were replaced
and curve store front long since removed, restored following the original details. Existing
original windows were however retained and restored at the banking hall and the 33rd
floor and I must say that the building had originally milled raw aluminum windows that
was a new feature at the time. They had long since turned black with oxidation and when
they were replaced with modern anodized aluminum we received much criticism from the public
that we had done it wrong and the buildings windows should be black. Of course no one
had been around long enough to remember when they were for a brief period of time, bright
milled aluminum. In developing a philosophy of preservation,
we were aware that the PSFS building as originally conceived was what we call a cored shell structure.
The banking hall and public areas, lobbies, elevators, stairs, and corridors were the
interior spaces designed by Howe and Lescaze. All other spaces, office and retail areas,
constituting the largest part of the building had been turned over to Tennys, who brought
in their own designers. Such work might or might not have been designed in sympathy with
the architectural character of the base building and no doubt [ ? ] interiors were altered
frequently over time. We found few traces of the characteristic [ ? ] seen in historic
photographs. These areas therefore were available for alteration free from the constraints of
preservation criteria. There remained the principle finished public spaces designed
by Howe and Lescaze. First, the Market Street entrance hall with its escalator, which was
in place and which only the ceiling had been renewed. I'll show you a view of it here and
it's pleasant and point out two features. One is the unusual device by which Howe and
Lescaze occasionally opened up corners of their spaces by putting recessed lighting
just in the interior corner and we see this in many areas of the building and again it
was one of the devices they had with the international installer reducing the effective mass. And
third, I should mention the downlights in the ceiling. Of course they were not originally
there. The lighting was solely done by indirect lighting from the soffit and I think the explanation
for this, and the same problem occurred in the banking hall, is that the bank was really
not open in evening hours as originally conceived. They really didn't need much light and of
course their standards for what was an acceptable [ ? ] were much higher so recessed downlighting
was one of the really few ways in which we could bring modern lighting to those spaces.
Of course the escalator had been replaced within that housing many times.
Second the Twelfth Street office elevator lobby and the elevator cabs; of course this
space is virtually unchanged except that it ended at this back wall here with black marble
and we broke through there to get access to the original lobby. This is still the main
elevator lobby of the hotel. The marbles are including the floor marble and the wall marbles
are all in place. This space was originally much taller but in order to get access to
these elevators for the use of the hotel it was necessary to lower the ceiling but the
same design was followed. You see the big clock here? Those clocks were
designed and installed by Cartier, are part of the features of the original design and
it's still there in an upward condition just as it originally was. You see also on the
back wall, within the lobby itself, the original vault door from the bank's main vault which
was on the third floor as part of its safe deposit block area and this and several other
times we've retained or relocated particularly exciting features from this thing really as
ornament in the new project. Second, the banking hall on the second floor,
here again the wall finishes are all identical, the ceiling has been replaced, the colors
are the same complete with the brick red soffits and the downlights which were necessary to
bring the light. We also added as a free standing element torchieres to throw some light up
and getting light for those spaces into that area was something of a challenge.
The carpeting of course is new and that was an addition of our interior consultant. We'll
talk about her work later on but the original floor of that space was a combination of black
soapstone and rubber tile, both in front of and behind the counter so there was nothing
there that could reasonably be preserved and of course a hard surface in a space of this
kind would have never been acceptable. Then the tower elevator lobbies which are
essentially as they were. The colors are the same, there's that brick red favored by Howe
and Lescaze. Notice the very modern lettering and the lighting. Those are the elevator core
lights that were there in 1932 and have been refurbished with modern wiring and lamps.
So really again, you'll see this changing of materials at corners to break up the effect
of mass, again a new international style device. And third, the directors suite on the third
floor, the top floor of the hotel was entirely devoted to the Board of Directors which met
there perhaps once a month. It really wasn't used much between those times. It's kind of
a signature space and it's generally been preserved; that means that all of the wood
paneling you see and the wood floors are original material and the colors are original. It is
the black and white palette. The furnishings that have been placed here, those are LeCorbesier
design cubus chairs again from the period. it's interesting that we did have to bring
an exit stair up within the area that had formally been the serving pantry there and
also install modern toilet rooms. Of course we needed to provide toilet rooms for both
sexes there because of course the bank, there were no lady directors in 1932 at a Philadelphia
bank. Here's the bank boardroom. There was a big
oval table there which was removed. It's now available for functions at parties very popular
with Philadelphia groups. The counter at the back which is conserved as part of prepping
area. Above it there's the outlet for the original sound system and a clock. All those
and the rosewood rolling doors, all of those are elements originally there. Again, lighting
had to be installed. In this case downlights because the ceiling is *** this structure,
it was not possible to recess them in this space.
And finally, you're looking from the Director's dining room out onto the terrace with its
famous blue tile floor. That glass enclosure on the terrace was not in the original documents.
Howe and Lescaze had designed this as an open terrace but I suspect that when the bank's
board found out how breezy it is up there at the 35th floor, this screen was added and
it's set slightly back from the edge so it still looks like an open terrace from the
street. Now these spaces were identified as preservation
zones and to receive rigorous restoration treatment. Their walls and floors retained
the original stone and wood [ ? ] except in the banking hall, ceilings had been preserved.
Paint colors were analyzed and reproduced. Stone, wood, and metal surfaces were cleaned
and restored as necessary. The style of the building was founded on the use of materials
in their imperfect state. The reflection of light was an important design effect and interior
and exterior stone had been finished to a high polish. This is not a style that is enhanced
by patina. The restoration of these surfaces was the best that could be made without overly
invasive treatment but does not equal their original metal like finishes that you can
see in the original photograph of the escalator above. That kind of mirror effect, we could
not obtain. Within the interior, some original features
had to be removed to accommodate the new program. The banking counter was dismantled, black
marble, and partly reused as a front desk in the lobby [ ? ]. Here you see it, the original
banking counter and above it metal paneling also from the safe deposit area. Both doors
were relocated. I've showed you one and another one occurs in the main banking hall before.
Where the new work had to be installed to meet program requirements, it was designed
using detailing from similar original locations. This lobby is a new space. This was part of
Lerner's dress shop originally and you see that the designer has followed the black and
white column treatments, the black and white palette and the glass screen all using details
originally from the building and even the lighting fixtures in these spaces make use
of designs that we found in areas of the building which had been used for other purposes. The
decision was taken not to call attention to the minor alterations within the existing
architectural vocabulary of the building. The building's design for the hospitality industry
has a particular role to play. The hotel operator's charged with the very best care of his clients
that he can and he needs his building to express that standard of care. In a typical luxury
hotel, this is done with an air of richness and softness. We're all familiar with such
facilities. To a certain extent, the interior of an international style building is in contradiction
to this. This style took its inspiration from industrial products and from the ideal efficient
environment of the office. Its preference for hard surfaces and limited color palette
were an expression of satisfaction in the minimal. less is more, that kind of thing.
The style in its purest form may not have been thought suitable for a hotel program.
I'm aware of no original international style hotels.
The resolution, reached after careful consideration, was to retain the hard edge black and white
interiors in historic and in new circulation spaces, such as the one you see here in the
lobby, but to soften the atmosphere in guest rooms, ballrooms and meeting rooms and restaurants
with colors, textured materials, and some decorative detailing. Secondary and tertiary
colors were used in contrast to the rigid program of primary colors favored by Howe
and Lescaze. Here again is a new circulation space, the
lobby outside the large ballroom in the additional and you can see that in some ways it does
recall the original Howe and Lescaze [ ? ] it's a symmetry the [ ? ] of black marble . The
carpeting here designed by our interior design firm, a Daroff design, was inspired by drawings
and paintings made by LeCorbesier. I think as installed, the chroma is somewhat brighter
than originally intended but the them is again to bring in elements again invented in 1930
in the same period and by people who were working within the same style as Lescaze.
Here is some of the spaces which are totally new and placed into areas which did not have
preservation criteria. The restaurant for one thing intended to be very festive, almost
art deco in its use of pattern and carpet, its use of artwork on the floors, its tile
mural, the circular soffit and lighted column around the bar. This space was very gay as
originally installed. Ironically, it has since been redecorated as these hotels do tend to
change their restaurant decor every five or so years, by I believe, in-house designers
at Loews and is now quite black and gray so, this scheme was thought not to be trendy enough
and we have moved back again to the more somber coloration of the international style period.
Here a meeting room in the concierge floor outside the guest rooms decorated and furnished
almost as if it were a private library. I don't know how many people still know how
to play backgammon or if played on the tables but there it is. One of the guest rooms showing
the corner view back towards city hall, showing the use of lavender and green that is non-tertiary
colors within these spaces, which were not allowed in the main spaces, and showing in
the lamps and detailing again so fixtures taken from the period.
And finally, every hotel of this kind needs to have a swimming pool. You simply can't
rent a room in a hotel if there isn't a picture of a swimming pool in the brochure. People
don't use these swimming pools very often. They're vacant most of the time but they will
not go to a hotel that does not have a swimming pool and in hearing my clients say that I
thought, you know, I think that's my attitude too and I don't use those pools but there
it is. Now this swimming pool was installed on the
fifth floor of the building in one of those tall ceiling spaces which were used for meeting
rooms and that. We wanted the extra ceiling height and we knew that because we need to
cut the floor out and drop it down to about four feet so we could get a lap pool configuration.
Now because this building does not have a center elevator core, it's reinforcement against
horizontal forces, wind and earthquake and it cannot be done as it is today by sheer
walls which are part of the elevator core. So the entire building, the entire frame,
it's horizontal stiffness is created with steel haunches at the joint between the columns
and the beams. That's what you see here in the swimming pool but they existed throughout
the structure everywhere. Now we had to cut that horizontal in order to drop the floor
to make that pool, we had to cut that wind bracing at the fifth floor of a thirty five
story building. Our structural engineer, [ ? ] and Harmon had to then figure a way to take those
horizontal forces at the bottom of this structure around under the pool and back up again into
the frame and demonstrate to the city that the building still met the building codes
for horizontal forces. It was quite a feat and this is probably one of the most difficult
aspects of this project was their work in doing that which now many of us wouldn't even
notice unless thinking about it. this was fifteen years ago and they began the project
with a full computer analysis of the original documents to prove to the city that even with
no alteration, the building met then the current code for horizontal forces and then with this
design to show how that stiffness had been maintained but it was quite a feat and without
it, I do not think this part of the project could have occurred.
So you see these modern sort of art deco details and modern details in some of these spaces.
They were used all with devices and motifs from the [ ? ] period but this is one of the
few hotels we will not find any chandeliers, floral carpeting, or classically inspired
details. Now it's conventional to say that without
a sympathetic client, no creative architecture can take place. This was more than ever true
at the PSFS building. In Loews hotels and in the CEO, Mr. Jonathan Tisch, the team had
a leader who was committed to listening to the building and making capital of its unique
character. He knew and appreciated the special meaning of the building to Philadelphians
and he was determined to be a good citizen in its preservation. I'm happy to report that
he has received plenty of deserved credit for this.
Loews made significant concessions to preservation and it's reuse plan. The conversion of the
banking hall is a case in point. Hotel ballrooms are typically designed with space dividers
and rear service corridors to allow them to be used simultaneously for multiple events.
Had this been done the banking hall would have lost its open luminous character. Loews
agreed to retain it undivided for single events. The disposition of the famous PSFS rooftops
had the potential to become a major issue. As projects architects, we had assumed that
the new owner would insist on altering the sign to proclaim his corporate identity. After
all, PSFS was bankrupt and gone. Although earlier repairs had taken preservation crafts
credits on this element, we were prepared for a major showdown with the Advisory Council
on Historic Preservation and had developed several designs that met the letter of the
law or so we hoped. And then part way through design, word came down from New York that
the PSFS sign would stay. It's easy to look up now and say who could imagine that it would
not always be there. It was equally hard before this project to imagine a new owner permitting
the building to maintain the logo of a previous tenant. We in the preservation community should
be grateful for these favors. Thank you.