United States Custom House vs Naval Hospital Philadelphia

Comparing the United States Custom House and the Naval Hospital Philadelphia is interesting because they both stand in Philadelphia, PA, and were completed just one year apart, but they were designed by different architects.

This offers a unique glimpse at how rival designers approached projects in the same city during the same era.

The United States Custom House is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 285ft (87m) with 17 floors above ground, while the Naval Hospital Philadelphia reaches 0ft (m) with 15 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 Naval Hospital Philadelphia 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 both Ritter & Shay and Karcher and Smith followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The United States Custom House is primarily governmental, while the Naval Hospital Philadelphia is primarily medical.

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.