Why are tall buildings starting to be forgettable? Twenty stories high, 300 feet in the air and we don’t give them a second look. Here’s a tall building you can’t fail to notice, Christ Church Spitalfields built in 1729 by architect Nicholas Hawksmoor to serve the poor on the outskirts of London. His church soared above the squat buildings around it with a limestone tower shining through the coal smoke of London. Hawksmoor’s tower was an expression of joy, pure and unrepentant.
Chicago architect Louis Sullivan (1856-1924) thought that a tall building should celebrate its height ” What is the chief characteristic of the tall office building? And at once we answer, it is lofty. This loftiness is to the artist-nature its thrilling aspect” he wrote in The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered. Sullivan’s Bayard Building in New York City is considered to be one of the first modern office structures to celebrate its height. To Sullivan and Hawksmoor tallness was an artistic treasure. Today our tall office buildings are often prosaic, little more than built density. Perhaps it’s time to look up.
