PRUDENTIAL BUILDING, NEW YORK (1895-1896)

ARCHITECT: ADLER & SULLIVAN

50.6 M

 Sullivan's design for the building was based on his belief that "FORM FOLLOWS
FUNCTION". He and Adler divided the building into four zones.
 The basement was the mechanical and utility area. Since this level was below ground, it did
not show on the face of the building. The next zone was the ground-floor zone which was
the public areas for street-facing shops, public entrances and lobbies. The third zone was the
office floors with identical office cells clustered around the central elevator shafts. The final
zone was the terminating zone, consisting of elevator equipment, utilities and a few offices.
 Above the “base” of the building a series of office floors of identical plan were placed.
These floors featured private lavatories in reconfigurable office spaces.
 The halls were defined by wood and glass partition walls, intended to give the interior a
bright and “club” like feeling.
 The elevators and staircases were enclosed not by walls, but metal cages permitting southern
light to penetrate through the circulatory systems and into the hallways.
 The building has 13 floors above the ground level.
 The rigid frame structural system of steel bears the weight of the building while the walls
are mere curtain walls.
 The exterior is made up of brown terracotta moulded and engraved which adds to the
aesthetics of the building.

AFTER THE FIRE

Reviving a Louis Sullivan Jewel

Guaranty Building, Buffalo, NY
The victim of neglect, insensitive remodeling, fire, and foreclosure,
Louis Sullivan’s 1895 masterpiece once seemed doomed to
face the wrecking ball. The building was saved, however,
when a developer decided that the building had the potential
to be profitable if its original grandeur and prestige was
completely restored. To bring this vision to life, they
partnered with the developer to restore the building’s late
nineteenth-century appearance while meeting contemporary
needs and modern building codes.
In order to replicate nineteenth-century materials and workmanship, our design team
spent a significant amount of time researching and locating craftsmen who still possessed
skills and techniques that had largely disappeared. The terra-cotta façade that sheaths the
13-story office tower was refurbished; the marble mosaic ceilings, floors, friezes, and art
glass skylights were restored; and ornamental stairways between the two floors were
reopened, re-establishing the original circulation plan. Floors one and two are designed
for retail space, while the rest of the building meets modern office requirements with a
lay-in ceiling and efficient cores and corridors.
In 1983, the New York Times praised the project team for “brilliantly restoring” the
building, noting that “The Guaranty has been fixed up not to change its life, but simply so
it could go on being what it was always supposed to be.