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318:"Still more original and impressive were his banks, even though they lay quite off the main line of development of commercial architecture in this period. The most extraordinary of these, and Furness's masterpiece, was the Provident Institution in Walnut Street, built as late as 1879. This was most unfortunately demolished in the Philadelphia urban renewal campaign several years ago, but the gigantic and forceful scale of the granite membering alone should have justified its respectful preservation. The interior, entirely lined with patterned tiles, was of rather later character than the façade and eventually much cluttered with later intrusions, but it was equally fine in its own way originally."
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Furness's
Provident Building (1888–90) was a disappointment, a busy Bavarian fantasy attached to a model of creative rationalism. On its lower stories, he replicated the polychromatic materials of the bank and echoed the Gothic arch, but mostly the office building was ponderous and pretentious. Its
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Almost immediately, Furness's original vision was compromised as the company expanded. Within a couple years, a low, curved balcony was added at the rear, and another at the front beneath the great Gothic window, accessed by a spiral staircase to the banking floor and later from the building to the
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tiles, an arched iron truss at mid-building decorated with machine-inspired cutouts, and skylights supported by iron trusses with similar cutouts. The front half was lit by the great Gothic window of the facade's projecting bay and a large skylight; the rear half, by another skylight and clerestory
217:(1876) at 32nd Street and Lancaster Avenue, Furness experimented with architectural features that would become part of his distinctive design vocabulary: unorthodox stone massing; revealing (and even highlighting) structure; compressed, piston-like columns; polychromy, all in a Moorish-influenced
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and used it to call attention to the
Provident. But, in the end, the Colonial Revivalists remained unswayed, and Furness's bank was demolished beginning in 1959. Samples of the Minton tiles and other architectural elements are preserved in the architecture study collection at INHP.
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east. The bank was expanded north to
Ranstead Street, the clerestory windows blocked, and a second balcony added at the rear. By 1888, the Provident had bought up all the adjacent properties to the east, and hired Furness, Evans & Company to build a 10-story office building.
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The bank at 407–09 Chestnut Street was to be part of
Philadelphia's "Banker's Row", and the challenge was to distinguish it from the established Italianate buildings. Furness won the Provident commission in a national design competition in 1876, besting his former partner
229:. His forceful Modern Gothic facade demanded attention, its projecting bay and tower balanced on compressed columns, themselves supported by corbels (brackets) jutting out from the building. The whole was a study in tension and compressed energy, heavy, but not looming.
181:, which served as the entrance to the bank, and at 42 South 4th Street, which was the entrance to the insurance company. The two wings were eventually consolidated into an office building, also designed by Furness, at the northwest corner of 4th and Chestnut Streets.
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steep, 3-story red-tile roof was matched by a new pyramidical roof for the bank's tower—a duncecap on what had been the brightest student. The office building's 1945 demolition (and the removal of the duncecap) enabled architects to look at the original bank anew.
282:(INHP) began in the late 1940s, and Strickland's bank was to become an art museum housing portraits of the Founding Fathers. On the block opposite Furness's bank, every building except the Second Bank was demolished for the national park, and a re-creation of
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windows facing north. Rear windows from the insurance company on 4th Street opened into the tall light-filled banking room. The effect was more church-like than secular—a shrine to commerce—with a severity and logic that presaged the
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style. The
Provident Life & Trust Company was a major breakthrough for Furness, and remained vibrant even after later additions, interior and exterior, seriously compromised its power.
290:(1790) was erected. The sedate Italianate buildings of Banker's Row were considered harmonious with the Second Bank and the re-created Library Hall; the Provident was considered jarring.
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Peterson's efforts to save
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Through the 1950s, architectural historians worked to save
Furness's bank, writing articles for major publications, photographing and documenting it.
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and considered to be one of the famed architect's greatest works. A bank and insurance company founded in 1865 by members of the
Society of Friends (
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The company's motto was "Organized and
Managed by Friends," and it was informally known as "the Quaker bank".
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The
Provident's interior, looking south from the rear second balcony toward the Gothic window in 1959
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The interior was one enormous room, its 4-story walls and floor covered with multi-colored
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586:"Another Furness Building: Provident Life and Trust Company Building, Philadelphia".
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Provident Life & Trust Company Bank, 1888–1890 Addition, 401–407 Chestnut Street
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696:. New York, New York: Princeton Architectural Press. pp. 199–200, 289.
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488:. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 81.
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727:(HABS) documentation, filed under Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA:
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675:. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Museum of Art. pp.
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462:. University of Pennsylvania Architectural Archives. Archived from
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205:, built between 1888 and 1890 and demolished in 1945, seen in 1910
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Provident Life & Trust Company Bank, 407–409 Chestnut Street
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Thomas, George E.; Cohen, Jeffrey A.; Lewis, Michael J. (1991).
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Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia records
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The Provident Life and Trust Company of Philadelphia, 1865–1915
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177:), the Provident's L-shaped building had entrances at 407–09
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The Provident Life & Trust Company Building at 401–09
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Massy, James C. (1960). "The Provident Trust Buildings".
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Bank and insurance company in Pennsylvania, United States
514:. Baltimore, Maryland: Penguin Books. pp. 194–195.
599:"Provident Trust Company Banking Room, Philadelphia".
330:"Bankers' Row" prior to The Provident's construction,
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Demolished buildings and structures in Philadelphia
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301:architect assigned to INHP, edited a column in the
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33:The Provident Life & Trust Company Building in
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630:Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
601:Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
304:Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
1224:Financial services companies of the United States
573:. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Holmes Press.
512:Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
348:An illustration of the building from an 1886 map
151:Furness, Evans & Company (1888–90 expansion)
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486:Independence: The Creation of a National Park
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1244:Buildings and structures demolished in 1959
804:St. Peter's Episcopal Church of Germantown
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741:", 1 photo, 1 photo caption page
669:; Thomas, George E.; Myers, Hyman (1973).
388:The building's demolition in December 1959
364:in 1959 with The Provident right of center
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921:St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Birdsboro
412:"Provident Life & Trust Company Bank"
1219:Buildings and structures in Philadelphia
443:"PNC Financial Services Group - History"
315:eulogized the building in 1963, saying:
460:"Provident Life Bank Interior (c.1880)"
423:. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress
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1214:Commercial buildings completed in 1879
933:First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia
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822:Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
280:Independence National Historical Park
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445:. NY Job Source.com. April 6, 2008.
1090:Provident Life & Trust Company
1001:University of Pennsylvania Library
725:Historic American Buildings Survey
420:Historic American Buildings Survey
410:Massey, James C. (December 1960).
159:Provident Life & Trust Company
22:Provident Life & Trust Company
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746:Bank Row, 407–431 Chestnut Street
694:Frank Furness: The Complete Works
672:The Architecture of Frank Furness
510:Hitchcock, Henry-Russell (1963).
241:of early-20th century modernism.
209:In his Brazilian Pavilion at the
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268:Second Bank of the United States
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288:Library Company of Philadelphia
193:The building's interior in 1959
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661:. June 1960. pp. 108–115.
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1179:Wilson Brothers & Company
1114:B&O Station, Philadelphia
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1049:St. Luke's Church, Kensington
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484:Greiff, Constance M. (1987).
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1013:Princeton Club, Philadelphia
943:Furness, Evans & Company
262:Across from Furness Bank on
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278:. Planning for what is now
270:(1819–24), a white-marble,
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1126:Jersey City Ferry Terminal
737:HABS No. PA-1058-A, "
657:"Fearless Frank Furness".
569:Ashbrook, William (1915).
211:1876 Centennial Exposition
69:Bank and insurance company
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977:Brooke Mansion, Birdsboro
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720:Hagley Museum and Library
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852:Centennial National Bank
843:Frank Furness, Architect
744:HABS No. PA-1667, "
730:HABS No. PA-1058, "
311:Architectural historian
215:Centennial National Bank
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313:Henry-Russell Hitchcock
138:Design and construction
995:Williamson Free School
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858:Emlen Physick Estate
816:Thomas Hockley House
588:Architectural Review
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887:Furness & Evans
870:Wallingford station
659:Architectural Forum
548:39.9490°N 75.1477°W
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295:Charles E. Peterson
74:Architectural style
53:General information
1061:Wilmington Station
1037:Horace Jayne House
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909:Mount Airy station
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667:O'Gorman, James F.
360:"Bankers' Row" in
276:William Strickland
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165:-era building in
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468:. Retrieved
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99:Philadelphia
95:Town or city
35:Philadelphia
1154:John Fraser
1149:Allen Evans
1084:Lindenshade
950: 1931
927:Hockley Row
551: /
335: 1875
133:Four floors
130:Floor count
42: 1879
1208:Categories
563:References
539:75°08′52″W
536:39°56′56″N
470:2009-01-31
274:temple by
258:Demolition
213:, and his
117:Demolished
61:Demolished
579:187352917
520:245787794
245:Expansion
163:Victorian
149:(1876–79)
78:Victorian
989:Idlewild
897:Dolobran
876:Knowlton
864:Fairview
702:23014917
494:14933009
266:was the
185:Creation
84:Location
1195:Commons
1102:Pencoyd
983:Ormonde
677:110–115
175:Quakers
120:1959–60
109:Country
87:407–09
1134:(1893)
1128:(1892)
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794:Hewitt
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650:988012
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621:987679
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297:, the
234:Minton
58:Status
646:JSTOR
617:JSTOR
415:(PDF)
394:Notes
698:OCLC
681:OCLC
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490:OCLC
429:2023
157:The
66:Type
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