YMCA Philadelphia vs Lewis Tower

Comparing the YMCA Philadelphia and the Lewis Tower 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 Lewis Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 390ft (119m) with 33 floors above ground, while the YMCA Philadelphia reaches 0ft (m) with 26 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 YMCA Philadelphia and the Lewis Tower 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 Louis El Jallade and Edmun Gilchrist followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

Both the YMCA Philadelphia and the Lewis Tower are primarily residential towers, serving similar roles in the urban fabric.

Originally, the Lewis Tower was designed for commercial, but over time it was converted to residential. The YMCA Philadelphia by contrast has maintained its original role.

The YMCA Philadelphia offers 120 residential units.

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