Packard Motor Corporation Building
- Architect
- Albert Kahn
- Style
- Chicago School
- City
- Philadelphia, PA
Built in 1910-1911 at 319 North Broad Street, the Packard Motor Car Company Building served as a showroom and inventory space for new Packard automobiles. It was designed by Albert Kahn of the Detroit firm Kahn & Wilby, and its construction was among the first commercial uses of reinforced concrete. In 1928 it became headquarters of the Philadelphia Record newspaper, which occupied it until the paper folded during a 1947 strike.
the building
Reinforced concrete frame. The nine-story, steel-framed building used reinforced concrete construction, one of the first commercial applications of that material in a commercial building, clad in terra cotta with an ornamented canopy and a prominent overhanging roof.
1927 showroom remodel. The ground-floor showroom, originally built to display new Packard automobiles, was remodeled in 1927 by architect Philip Tyre.
the style
The building's terra cotta cladding, ornamented canopy, and overhanging roof read in the Chicago School commercial idiom, translating factory-scale engineering into a street-facing automobile showroom.
More on Chicago Schoolthe architect
Albert Kahn, of the noted Detroit firm Kahn & Wilby, was among the era's most prolific industrial architects; this 1910-1911 commission for Packard's Philadelphia showroom reflects the close ties between Kahn's firm and the automaker's home offices in Detroit.
significance
A contributing property to the Callowhill Industrial Historic District, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
nearby
- Inquirer Building
- Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
- Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul
- Masonic Temple
- Congregation Rodeph Shalom
- Suburban Station