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The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered
Louis H. Sullivan 
First published in
Lippincott’s Magazine 
#57 (March 1896) pp. 403-09
I.
The architects o
this land and generation are now brought face-to-face with something new under thesun—namely, that evolution and integration o
social conditions, that special grouping o
them, thatresults in a demand for the erection o
tall of 
ice buildings.It is not my purpose to discuss the social conditions; I accept them as the fact, and say at once thatthe design o
the tall of 
ice building must be recognized and confronted at the outset as a problem to besolved—a vital problem, pressing for a true solution.Let us state the conditions in the plainest manner. Brie
ly, they are these:–Of 
ices are necessary for the transaction o
business.–The invention and perfection o
high speed elevators make vertical travel, which was oncetedious and painful, now easy and comfortable.–The development o
steel manufacture has shown the way to safe, rigid, economicalconstructions rising to a great height.–The continued growth o
population in the great cities, and the consequent congestion o
 centers and the rise in value o
ground, stimulate an increase in number o
stories.These, successfully piled one upon another, react on ground values—and so on, by action and reaction,interaction and inter-reaction. Thus has come about that form o
lofty construction called the "modernof 
ice building". It has come in answer to a call, for in it, a new grouping o
social conditions has founda habitation and a name.Up to this point, all in evidence is materialistic—an exhibition o
force, o
resolution, o
brains inthe keen sense o
the word. It is the joint product o
the speculator, the engineer, the builder.
Problem 
: How shall we impart to this sterile pile—this crude, harsh, brutal agglomeration, thisstark, staring exclamation o
eternal strife—the graciousness o
these higher forms o
sensibility andculture that rest on the lower and
iercer passions? How shall we proclaim from the dizzy height o
thisstrange, weird, modern housetop the peaceful evangel o
sentiment, o
beauty—the cult o
a higherlife?This is the problem, and we must seek the solution o
it in a process analogous to its ownevolution, indeed, a continuation o
it—namely, by proceeding step-by-step from general to specialaspects, from coarser to
iner considerations.It is my belie
that it is o
the very essence o
every problem that is contains and suggests its ownsolution. This I believe to be natural law. Let us examine then, carefully, the elements—let us searchout this contained suggestion, this essence o
the problem.The practical conditions are, broadly speaking, these:
Wanted 
:1.A story below ground, containing boiler, engines o
various sorts, etc.—in short, the plant forpower, heating, lighting, etc.
 
2.A ground
loor, so called, devoted to stores, banks, or other establishments requiring large area,ample spacing, ample light, and great freedom o
access.3.A second story readily accessible by stairways—this space usually in large subdivisions, withcorresponding liberality in structural spacing and expanse o
glass and breadth o
externalopenings.4.Above this, an inde
inite number o
stories o
of 
ices piled tier upon tier, one tier just like anothertier, one of 
ice just like all the other of 
ices—an of 
ice being similar to a cell in honey comb, merely a compartment, nothing more.5.At the top o
this pile is placed a space or story that, as related to the life and usefulness o
thestructure, is purely physiological in its nature—namely, the attic. In this, the circulatory systemcompletes itsel
and makes it grand turn, ascending and descending. The space is
illed with tanks,pipes, valves, sheaves, and mechanical etcetera that supplement and complement the force-originating plant hidden below ground in the cellar.6.Finally, or at the beginning rather, there must be on the ground
loor a main aperture or entrancecommon to all the occupants or patrons o
the building.This tabulation is, in the main, characteristic o
every tall of 
ice building in the country. As to thenecessary arrangements for light courts, these are not germane to the problem, and as will becomesoon evident, I trust, need not be considered here. These things, and such others as the arrangement o
 elevators, for example, have to do strictly with the economics o
the building, and I assume them tohave been fully considered and disposed o
to the satisfaction o
purely utilitarian and pecuniary demands. Only in rare instances does the plan or
loor arrangement o
the tall of 
ice building take onan aesthetic value, and thus usually when the lighting court is external or becomes an internal featureo
great importance.As I am here seeking not for an individual or special solution, but for a true normal type, theattention must be con
ined to those conditions that, in the main, are constant in all tall of 
icebuildings, and every mere incidental and accidental variation eliminated from the consideration asharmful to the clearness o
the main inquiry.The practical horizontal and vertical division, or of 
ice unit, is naturally based on a room o
 comfortable area and height, and the size o
this standard of 
ice room just as naturally predeterminesthe standard structural unit, and, approximately, the size o
window openings. In turn, these purely arbitrary units o
structure form, in an equally natural way, the true basis o
the artistic development o
 the exterior. O
course the structural spacings and openings in the
irst or mercantile story are requiredto be the largest o
all; those in the second or quasi-mercantile story are o
a somewhat similar nature.The spacings and openings in the attic are o
no importance whatsoever (the windows have no actual value), for light may be taken from the top, and no recognition o
a cellular division is necessary in thestructural spacing.Hence it follows, inevitably and in the simplest possible way, that i
we follow our natural instinctswithout thought o
books, rules, precedents, or any such educational impediments to a spontaneousand "sensible" result, we will in the following manner design the exterior o
our tall of 
ice building:–Beginning with the
irst story, we give this a main entrance that attracts the eye to its location,and the remainder o
the story we treat in a more or less liberal, expansive, sumptuous way—away based exactly on the practical necessities, but expressed with a sentiment o
largeness andfreedom.–The second story we treat in a similar way, but usually with milder pretension.
 
–Above this, throughout the inde
inite number o
typical of 
ice tiers, we take our cue from theindividual cell, which requires a window with its separating pier, its sill and lintel, and we,without more ado, make them
look
all alike because they 
are 
all alike.–This brings us to the attic, which, having no division into of 
ice cells and no special requirementfor lighting, gives us the power to show, by means o
its broad expanse o
wall and its dominatingweight and character, that which is the fact—namely, that the series o
of 
ice tiers has comede
initely to an end.This may perhaps seem a bald result and a heartless, pessimistic way o
stating it, but even so, wecertainly have advanced a most characteristic stage beyond the imagined sinister building o
thespeculator-engineer-builder combination. For the hand o
the architect is now de
initely felt in thedecisive position at once taken, and the suggestion o
a thoroughly sound, logical, coherent expressiono
the conditions is becoming apparent.When I say the hand o
the architect, I do not mean necessarily the accomplished and trainedarchitect. I mean only a man with a strong, natural liking for buildings, and a disposition to shape themin what seems to his unaffected nature a direct and simple way. He will probably tread an innocentpath from his problem to its solution, and therein he will show an enviable gift o
logic. I
he has somegift for form in detail, some feeling for form, purely and simply as form—some love for that—his result,in addition to its simple, straightforward naturalness and completeness in general statement, will havesomething o
the charm o
sentiment.However, thus far, the results are only partial and tentative at best; relatively true they are, butsuper
icial. We are doubtless right in our instincts, but we must seek a fuller justi
ication, a
inersanction for it.
II.
I assume now that in the study o
our problem, we have passed through the various stages o
inquiry,as follows:–First, the social basis o
the demand for tall buildings.–Second, its literal material satisfaction.–Third, the elevation o
the question from considerations o
literal planning, construction, andequipment, to the plane o
elementary architecture as a direct outgrowth o
sound, sensiblebuilding.–Fourth, the question again elevated from an elementary architecture to the beginnings o
truearchitectural expression, through the addition o
a certain quality and quantity o
sentiment.But our building may have all these in a considerable degree and yet be far from that adequate solutiono
the problem I am attempting to de
ine. We must now heed quality and quantity o
sentiment.It demands o
us, ‘what is the chie
characteristic o
the tall of 
ice building?’ And at once, weanswer, ‘it is lofty’. This loftiness is to the artist-nature its thrilling aspect. It is the very open organtone in its appeal. It must be in turn the dominant chord in his expression o
it, the true excitant o
hisimagination. It must be tall, every inch o
it tall. The force and power o
altitude must be in it, theglory and pride o
exaltation must be in it. It must be every inch a proud and soaring thing, rising insheer exultation, that from bottom to top, it is a unit without a single dissenting line—that it is thenew, the unexpected, the eloquent peroration o
most bald, most sinister, most forbidding conditions.
Notes
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