Form follows Finance: Skyscrapers and Skylines in New York and Chicago

by Carol Willis

Although fundamental factors of program, technology, and economics make tall buildings everywhere take similar forms, skyscrapers in New York and Chicago developed very differently in the first half of the twentieth century. In contrast to standard histories that counterpose the design philosophies of the Chicago and New York "schools," Willis shows how market formulas produced characteristic forms in each city"vernaculars of capitalism"that resulted from local land-use patterns, municipal codes, and zoning. Refuting some common clichs of skyscraper history such as the equation of big buildings with big business and the idea of a "corporate skyline," Willis emphasizes the importance of speculative development and the impact of real-estate cycles on the forms of buildings and on their spatial distribution. Form Follows Finance cautions that the city must be understood as a complex commercial environment where buildings are themselves businesses, space is a commodity, and location and image have value.

Genres: Architecture, History, Economics, Cities, Nonfiction, Business, Finance

220 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1995

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my first week of grad school, I was unceremoniously thrown into an accelerated financial modeling class. I thought I was pretty proficient at Excel coming off of my 4 years as a research analyst--and I certainly had a leg up over some of my classmates--but it was still a baptism by fire. After six weeks, we had our final exam. The professor took away my mouse and I had 60 minutes to build a 10-year cash-flow investment model from scratch using just the keyboard.

It. Was. Brutal.

I don’t think any other class caused so much anxiety among my classmates and I. As tough as it was though, I walked away with two very valuable lessons. The first is that there is a keyboard shortcut for just about everything. The second, and probably more useful, is that every building gets built financially before it gets built physically.

Skyscrapers are the ultimate architecture of capitalism. The first blueprint for every tall building is a balance sheet… (page 181)

This concept was the main thesis of Carol Willis’s Form Follows Finance. More of an extended research paper than an actual book, Willis looks specifically at the development of modern skyscrapers in New York City and Chicago in the early 1900s. She explores the two major building styles that emerged and makes the argument that these forms were developed as a result of financial decisions, and not architectural decisions.

For example, in the early 1900s electric lights were still a luxury. This meant that offices were illuminated either by gas lamps or by natural light. Natural light was obviously the cheaper and more efficient of the two, so research was done to determine how far away from a window you could work and still have sufficient natural light. The general consensus was 20-28 feet. Landlords and developers quickly learned that any office space farther than 28 feet from a window would not rent well. As a result, all subsequent floor plans were built to this standard. In NYC, where the blocks are naturally long and narrow, this led to the creation of tall, thin buildings. In Chicago, where building heights were capped at 150 feet, big boxy buildings with large central light wells became the trend.

Modern architects might call this decision to cap office depths at 28 feet something like “sustainable design” or “designing for livability”... but at the end of the day, it was all about maximizing rents.

“Architect Harvey Wiley Corbett stated the general point simply: It is better business to construct less building, and have shallow offices well-lighted, than to have more building with deep spaces poorly lighted.” (page 27)

Another example from the book that I found fascinating had to do with the introduction of New York’s well-known 1916 zoning code. The first such zoning code in the country, this ordinance had no building height restrictions, but mandated a progression of building setbacks the higher a building reached. This led to the well recognized style of “wedding cake” tiers (picture the Empire State Building) that quickly spread to other parts of the country.

Most summaries of the 1916 zoning ordinance will tell you that it was passed as a result of the Equitable Building, a monolithic box of a building that cut off light and views for many of its neighbors, even some that were a full four blocks away! Building setbacks were seen as a way to guarantee that light and air would reach all the way down to street level. However, Willis argues that this was only part of the story. While city officials were largely in favor of passing the new zoning code, they would not do so without the support of business and real estate interests. That support came as the building industry went into recession between 1911 and 1913, with vacancy rates climbing as high as 17 percent. Property owners began to see that oversupply had led to decreased profitability and a decline in property values. Their support for the new legislation was seen as a way to ensure the continued success of their existing buildings by limiting new construction.

These examples, and others that Willis shares, make a strong argument that early skyscraper design was more heavily influenced by financial decisions than by perhaps any other interest.

All this said, I feel the need to state clearly that this book wasn’t great. The content had a lot of promise, but overall, it was a struggle to reach the end. Willis writes like an academic, and in the second half of the book it becomes very clear that she doesn’t fully understand what she’s talking about. Several common real estate terms were repeatedly misused, showing that she only had a superficial understanding of them. I got the sense that she interviewed a bunch of brokers and tried to work their jargon into her manuscript. The one redeeming quality of her book was the many historic illustrations and photographs provided. This was a treasure trove of old floor plans and elevations, and the author included many impressive postcards of historic skylines from her personal collection. Like the setbacks on a 1920’s office building, these photos really helped to break up the monotony.

I’ll close by saying that I really appreciated the intent of this book, but I think the execution fell pretty flat. I’ve read a handful of books on architecture and city design, and this one probably took the most realistic approach I’ve seen. Ideally, it would be great to design buildings and spaces while only considering livability, style, and the environment, but only in the rarest circumstances does that actually happen. Even the initial design of the iconic Empire State Building was “entirely financial, not architectural. The different schemes were described only in numbers--stories, cubic feet, operating costs, and projected income.” (page 95).

At the end of the day, if it doesn’t make financial sense, even the best-designed building in the world will likely never get built. Willis’s title probably sums it up most succinctly and effectively by stating that the form of your building will always follow the finance.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ask yourself this, have you ever sat down and carefully read an Excel spread sheet, thousands of tabs in breadth, that concerns the numerical values assigned to the global expansion in use and sales and dollar margins of the Microsoft Excell program itself? No? Have you ever desired to do so? No? Then don't go near this one.

Perhaps Willis has covered the development of skyscrapers in these two great cities during a certain period of time in comprehensive detail - that I don't doubt. What I have an issue with is the catchy reclamation and transmogrification of Sullivan's oft-quoted...quote. With that, the small travel sized format of the paperback itself implies to me that this is the best choice to take along to some sun (and tequila) drenched Mexican locale to while away the hours because I don't really like beaches or sunburn. But no - this is a bore. This is like hedge-fund weekend convention in Ames, Iowa boring. My friend Sean was better off with his fat-porn-guy book than anyone would be with this selection. They should change the title to something morbidly lame and let someone else reuse Form Follows Finance for something with a bit more flavor than stale, saltless, saltine crackers! May I suggest something like one of those 19th century scientific tome titles - Skyscraper development in the Two United States Cities that Dominated Skyscraper Construction at the Turn of The Last Century with Full Analysis of the Financial Mechanisms, Political Processes, and Accounting Proceedures that Propitiated a Desire to Construct Ever Higher and Utilize More Advanced Technological....snore...

[Mark Ehlen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gift from a dear friend, this book taught me a lot about how a city (Chicago, NY) tries to guide the development of its downtown skyline, against the relentless machine of corporate identity and the need to make a profit from tall buildings. Some interesting discussion around how the height of the buildings depends on how many elevators (cross-sectional lost space at every floor) are needed, how the size of rooms used to be determined by how much natural light could enter through exterior windows, and how the skin of a building (all we really ever see) is a statement of prestige.

Am staying in a friend's West Village apartment now, and on the roof there is a deck with a view of 300-400 buildings in all directions. I can now understand when and how these buildings were built, according to how the city guided their forms.

[Ajk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this, it's a slim comparison of zoning laws and finance in Chicago and New York. There's a lot I wish it went further into, particularly about how and why zoning laws get made.
What it does have, though, is really great - showing how the froth of the market affects zoning laws, and how office gets overbuilt. It's a great companion/precursor to Rachel Weber's "From Boom to Bubble" in that regard.
In terms of delineating how and why cities in 1890-1930 look the way they do, there's really no beating this. I wish we read this in grad school (which, a thing I say about a lot of books!) but even still, happy that I'm getting to it now.

[Scott Gann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. It made great points about how the big tall skyscrapers in NYC and Chicago (as well as other metropolises) is shaped by their regulations and financial factors. Without summarizing the specific takeaways I feel much more knowledgable about these tall buildings and why they look the way they do. I’ll always look at them wondering when they were built, who built them, what they look like inside, who occupies them, etc. I think this book will help me professionally by better understanding the forces acting on land developers.

[Michael Collazo · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fan of skysrapers, and a fan of NY and Chicago, I really enjoyed this book. However, the book bursted my fantasy that skyscrapers were born from pure engineering genius and a wanting to make relly cool-looking structures, there were born out of capitalism and grew alongside corporate power. This explains that, and how markets shaped the look of skyscrapers, really well! And for that newfound knowledge that I can random use as fun facts at the next AEC-indsutry networking party, I've given this book 4 stars.

[Holger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wandering through New York or Chicago will never be the same after reading this beautifully illustrated book.

It gives you something that coffee table books of skyscrapers can't match: Historical context, economic analysis and indepth explanation of why buildings were built the way they were.

[Frank Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the author's preferred title "Vernaculars of Capitalism," I half-expected 200 pages of "shocking" revelations about the profit motives behind skyscraper construction, but Willis's true contribution is to examine the effects of interior layout, and the early 20th century market for interiors, on skyscraper construction. She digs into all the old trade publications to get a truly nuanced view of how demand for foot-candles in shallow, poorly lit offices created most of what we know as the old American skyline.

[alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

written like an academic paper, do not expect to have your mind blown with the prose and story telling. however, this is perfect if you're in interested in: why our skylines and skyscrapers look like they do and in particular, how chicago and new york's look and feel developed so differently.

the writing is definitely 3-star territory, but the real find in this book are the numerous illustrations and photographs of pre-war buildings and skylines. author did a great job tracking those down and including them in this book.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short but densely informative argument on the economic factors underlying skyscraper construction. Given the smallish evidentiary base, Willis is scrupulously narrow in her theoretical conclusions, and usually critical of ideological readings of city skylines. She's persuasive, but I wanted more, especially since she cites Nature's Metropolis as a major influence.

[Terra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting in the fact that it was published twenty years ago and therefore only mentioned the Twin Towers once. Pre-9/11. The book was good, but not overly good. I think I'm glad I read it.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating (to me, anyway) look at how finances and the real estate market shaped the skyscraper.