United States Custom House vs Drake Hotel

Comparing the United States Custom House and the Drake Hotel is especially interesting because they share much in common. Both rise in Philadelphia, PA both were designed by Ritter & Shay, and they were completed within 5 years of each other.

This overlap gives us a unique opportunity to understand how Ritter & Shay approached different commissions in the same urban context and historical context during a short period.

The Drake Hotel is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 374ft (114m) with 32 floors above ground, while the United States Custom House reaches 285ft (87m) with 17 floors above ground.

Of course, each project may have faced different briefs or regulatory constraints, which we don't really know about and could also explain the outcome.

Both the United States Custom House and the Drake Hotel were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Art Deco style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So Ritter & Shay followed what was in many ways expected at the time, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms rather, than breaking with convention.

The United States Custom House is primarily governmental, while the Drake Hotel is primarily residential.

Originally, the Drake Hotel was designed for hotel, but over time it was converted to residential. The United States Custom House by contrast has maintained its original role.

The United States Custom House also provides 30 parking spaces.

These two towers illustrate the many possible ways to combine structure and enclosure in skyscraper design.