NOMINATION

FOR THE

PHILADELPHIA REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES

THE PHILADELPHIA POLICE HEADQUARTERS

ERECTED 1959 - 1962

ALSO KNOWN AS

“THE ROUNDHOUSE”
700-734 RACE STREET
CITY OF PHILADELPHIA
PHILADELPHIA COUNTY
PENNSYLVANIA
 Race Str
eet

Street

Street
Eighth

Seventh
Cher r y S
treet

The boundary for the proposed designation is delineated in red. (Source: Google 2019)
5. Boundary Description
The Philadelphia Police Headquarters is bordered on the north by Race Street, the east by Seventh Street, the south
by Cherry Street, and the west by Eighth Street, and is delineated as follows:

Parcel 270
Beginning at a point on the north side of Cherry Street, 30 feet wide and the east side of Eighth Street, 50 feet wide.
Thence north 11° 21’ east, 179.7-3/8” to a point. Thence 78° 24’ 30” east, 49’ 1” to a point. Thence north 110° 21’
east. 111 feet to south side of Race Street, 122 feet wide. Thence south 78° 59’ 35” east al. same 188.4 to the west
side of Franklin Street, 20 feet wide. Thence south 110° 26’ 25” west. Along same 110 feet to an offset. Thence
north 78° 59’ 35” west along said offset, 2 feet. Thence south 110° 26’ 25” west along Franklin Street, 24 feet wide.
117.10-1/2” to a point of offset. Thence south 78° 55’ 45” along said offset 2 feet. Thence south 11° 26’ 25” west
along Franklin Street, 20 feet wide. 62.6 to north side of Cherry Street, 30 feet wide. Thence north 78° 55’ 45” west
along said Cherry Street. 236.11-3/8 to east side of Eighth Street and beginning point.

Parcel 271
Beginning at the intersection of the south side of Race Street, 97 feet wide and west side of Seventh Street, 50 feet
wide. Thence south 11° 26’ 25” west along the west side of Seventh Street. 290.6-3/4 to north side of Cherry Street,
30 feet wide. Thence north 78° 55’ 45” west along north side of Cherry Street. 141.8 to the east side of Franklin
Street, 20 feet wide. Thence north 11° 26’ 25” east along south side of Franklin Street. 62.6 to an offset. Thence
south 78° 55’ 45” east along said offset 2 feet. Thence north 11° 26’ 25” east along Franklin Street, 24 feet wide.
117.10-3/4 to a point of offset. Thence north 78° 59’ 35” west along said offset 2 feet. Thence north 11° 26’ 25”
east along Franklin Street, 20 feet wide. 110 feet to the south side of Race Street. Thence south 78° 59’ 35” east along
south side of Race Street. 141.8 to west side of Seventh Street and point of beginning.

6. Physical Description
Situated on the south side of Race Street between Seventh and Eighth streets in the City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia
County, Pennsylvania is the Philadelphia Police Headquarters (PPHQ), which was originally the Police Administration
Building and is known colloquially today as the Roundhouse. The PPHQ was designed in 1959 by the Philadelphia
architectural firm Geddes, Brecher, Qualls, and Cunningham (GBQC) and construction completed in 1962 by
Sovereign Construction Company with Eastern Schokbeton as the precasting subcontractor. The building is 90%
architectural precast concrete. The concrete finish is the final finish in most of the building, interior and exterior. In
total, roughly 1,000 precast concrete units compose the entire structure, including the vertical exterior panels and
floor slabs. The exposed quartz aggregate in a white concrete matrix is the primary exterior architectural finish. The
Schokbeton system of precasting, developed in the Netherlands, was new to the United States of America in 1960
but had been proven in Europe for several decades. Their approach to architectural precasting created a high quality

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Plate 1 (left): View of the south elevation of the Philadelphia Police Headquarters, from Seventh Street (Source: Allee Davis, June 2019)
Plate 2 (right): View of the north elevation of the Philadelphia Police Headquarters, from Race Street. (Source: Allee Davis, June 2019)

of casting using zero-slump concrete through high intensity vibration unique to Schokbeton.1 Cast-in-place concrete
was limited to the footings, foundations, corridors, and elevator-stair cores.2

Today, the building is sited in between the city’s Chinatown neighborhood to the west and Independence National
Historical Park to the east (Plates 1 and 2). Adjacent to the north, across Race Street, is Franklin Square, one
of William Penn’s five original open-space parks, and the similarly rounded, residential MetroClub Condominium.
Further north, bordering Franklin Square, is the Vine Street Expressway (Interstate 676). Approximately two blocks
to the east is the western approach for the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.

Within the rectangular boundaries of the PPHQ, the building occupies the northern half of the site with an associated
surface parking lot on the southern half. Delineating a majority of the northern half of the site, primarily along the
sidewalks, are rectilinear, precast concrete panels that exhibit a coarser aggregate than that used in the concrete
panels of the building. In plan, the building is two circles connected by a reverse curve connector. The geometry
addressed two primary objectives. First, presenting a softer more open presentation to the street than achievable in an
orthogonal scheme and second, getting the most precast
pieces out of a mold to clad the building, an essential
aspect of realizing the economy of precasting concrete.

The PPHQ is particularly important for its connection

to GBQC, the architect, prior second place finisher
in the Sydney Opera House competition and for the
contributions of the internationally renowned structural
engineer, August Komendant. Komendant’s use of post
tensioning to create the cantilever at the second floor that
carried three floors of the structure above is a bold and
exceptionally important part of the building’s history.

The design of the building was achieved through a level

of collaboration that was both totally unique at the time
in the practice of architecture and foretold the future of Plate 3: The original primary entrance on the north elevation. (Source:
Allee Davis, June 2019)
digital collaborative design.

1  Jack Pyburn, “The Role of Architectural Precast Concrete Technology in the Internationalization of Postwar Modernism,” in Eighth International
Docomomo Conference: Postwar Modernism in an Expanding World, 1945-75 (New York, 2004), 115.
2  August E. Komendant, “Precasting Making New Strides,” Progressive Architecture (October 1960): 189.

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The building rises four stories in height, measuring approximately 50 feet from grade. Below grade is a 12-foot high
basement. Atop the roof are three penthouses that measure 20 feet, two inches in height. In elevation, the form
of the building features sweeping, curving wall surfaces that create both convex and concave planes, repeating the
curvilinear vocabulary observed in plan view. The building is composed of a traditional base, shaft, and capital.
Acting as the base, or piloti, the ground floor of the
PPHQ rises 17 feet in height and is set back on all sides
from the upper three floors. The north elevation, facing
Race Street, contains the original primary entrance that
is accessed via a large concrete, terraced plaza and two
revolving doorways; this entrance is no longer used (Plate
3). The south elevation faces a large parking lot and has
two entrances accessed by ramps on either side of the
convex, curving wall surface; these entrances currently
serve as the building’s primary point of entry.

The shaft of the PPHQ consists of the upper three

floors that cantilever 12 feet from the base, or ground
floor. Each floor is 11 feet in height. There are a total of
144 precast concrete panels that define the form of the
Plate 4: View of the south elevation of the Philadelphia Police shaft. These panels measure approximately five feet by
Headquarters, from Eighth Street. (Source: Allee Davis, June 2019) 32 feet. Each panel is punctured with three rectangular
windows, one window for each floor, creating a total of
432 windows. The windows on the concave surface on the north side of the building are slightly more elongated
than the other windows. These other windows each have a sill that slopes outwards. Although there have been a
number of replacement windows since the PPHQ’s construction, the remaining original windows are a quarter-
inch thick with a bronze glaze. Replacement windows vary and are randomly placed; replacement window types
include louvered, casement, and operable bottom units. Additional window modifications include adjustments for
accommodating air conditioning units.

At the roofline, an open parapet wall follows the undulating form of the shaft and forms the capital of the PPHQ.
The parapet wall is slightly slanted back towards the roof surface. The three penthouses crowning the roof house
the mechanical equipment; two are circular in plan and the third is more of an oval form. The walls of all three
penthouses rise 20 feet, two inches in height. The circular penthouses measure approximately 38 feet in diameter and
are positioned in the center of the east and west circular wings. Each are approximately 43 feet from the edge of the
parapet well. The third, and largest, penthouse is sited in the center of the overall form, roughly in the center of the
concave hyphen.

7. Statement of Significance
The City of Philadelphia Police Headquarters (PPHQ) was designed in 1959 by the eminent Philadelphia architecture
firm Geddes, Brecher, Qualls, and Cunningham (GBQC). The building, colloquially known as the Roundhouse,
was constructed by the Sovereign Construction Company between 1959 and 1962 at 700-734 Race Street, between
Seventh and Eighth streets, adjacent to the south of Franklin Square. Significant for its architecture, the PPHQ
meets Criterion C for listing in the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places (PRHP) as a prominent example of the
architectural trends of the Post-World War II years. The design for the PPHQ reflects significant aesthetic principles
developed by GBQC in their earlier academic training at Harvard University and in their second-place finish in
the Sydney Opera House competition, one of the most prestigious and notable architectural competitions of the
twentieth century.

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The PPHQ meets Criterion D for PRHP designation as a building that embodies distinguishing characteristics of the
Expressionist style of architecture, as well as for its engineering for its almost exclusive use of architectural precast
concrete and state of the art post tensioning engineering to support a fully integrated building system. While the
iconic curvilinear form and massing of the building respects but softens the gridded plan of Philadelphia, it does so
with sweeping, poetic architectural verve that is emblematic of the Expressionist style of architecture—rather than
Brutalist, a common misnomer. The stylistic identity is further defined by the building’s envelope, through the precast
concrete panels that integrate the structural, mechanical, and electrical systems. These panels were manufactured
using the Schokbeton process, an innovative method of precasting concrete that flourished during the mid-twentieth
century and was used for a number of other prominent examples of Modern architecture designed by Minoru
Yamasaki, Philip Johnson, Marcel Breuer, and Edward Durrell Stone.

The significant design and construction of the PPHQ is the result of the deft collaboration between the prominent
Philadelphia architecture firm GBQC, August Komendant, and general contractor Sovereign Construction Company.
Included in the architectural design movement known as the Philadelphia School, GBQC played a key role in
the development of mid-century American architecture locally and nationally, examples of which can be found
in Philadelphia, including the PPHQ. Most of GBQC’s work was largely for civic institutions and found to be
expressive of the progressive manner in which the firm engaged with the urban context. In the case of the PPHQ,
its visually distinct design was made possible, in part, by its innovative engineering which was conceived by August
Komendant. The PPHQ is the second known building in the United States to employ the Schokbeton system.3 In
addition to working closely with GBQC for the PPHQ, Komendant worked with a number of other prominent
mid-century architects, most notably with Louis I. Kahn for his Richards Medical Research Laboratories (1957-1960;
1962-1965). The construction of the PPHQ was undertaken by Sovereign Construction Company, a firm involved
in the construction of many significant buildings at the time, including Edward Durell Stone’s Garden State Arts
Center situated on the Garden State Parkway in Holmdel Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey.4 The Garden
State Arts Center used a similar innovative, structural concrete system that was pre-stressed. For these reasons, the
PPHQ meets Criteria E and F for PRHP designation.

The PPHQ also meets Criterion H for listing in the

PRHP due to its unique location adjacent to the
south of Franklin Square, across Race Street, and its
proximity to Chinatown and Independence National
Historical Park. The PPHQ has since become a
significant landmark in this area of Philadelphia.

Given the cultural and political discourse dominating

the historical context of the years in which the PPHQ
was designed and built, the building meets Criterion J
for PRHP designation. The PPHQ is a product of a
progressive period in Philadelphia that spanned from the
mayorship of Joseph Clark (1952-1956) to Richardson Plate 5: View of the south elevation of the Philadelphia Police
Dilworth (1956-1962). During this period there was a Headquarters, from Cherry Street. (Source: Allee Davis, June 2019)
desire to reduce the connections between ward politics and policing as well as to address the deteriorated state of
police department facilities in Philadelphia’s City Hall, the location of the police since 1901. It was the goal of a
headquarters building in the community for the community that was the impetus for the development, siting, and
design of the PPHQ. The building’s siting and design exemplify the transformative post-World War II period of
Philadelphia where urban renewal was the prevailing theme.

3  The first building to use the Schokbeton process for precasting concrete was Philip Johnson’s Lake Pavilion (1962) in New Canaan, Connecticut.
4  Built in 1968, the Garden State Arts Center, known today as the PNC Bank Arts Center, is individually eligible for listing in the National Register
of Historic Places, as well as eligible as a contributing resource to the National Register-eligible Garden State Parkway Historic District.

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The PPHQ meets the following criteria for designation as set forth by the Philadelphia Historic Preservation
Ordinance, Section 14-2007(5), of the Philadelphia Code:

(c) Reflects the environment in an era characterized by a distinctive architectural style;

(d) Embodies distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style or engineering specimen;
(e) Is the work of a designer, architect, landscape architect or designer, or engineer whose work
has significantly influenced the historical, architectural, economic, social, or cultural development of the City,
Commonwealth, or Nation;
(f) Contains elements of design, detail, materials or craftsmanship which represent a significant
innovation;
(h) Owing to its unique location or singular physical characteristic, represents an established and familiar visual
feature of the neighborhood, community or City; and
(j) Exemplifies the cultural, political, economic, social or historical heritage of the community.

Criterion C: Reflects the environment in an era characterized by a distinctive architectural style; and
Criterion J: Exemplifies the cultural, political, economic, social or historical heritage of the community.

The City of Philadelphia Police Headquarters (PPHQ) reflects the environment of the mid-twentieth century, when
both the City of Philadelphia and the nation were moving away from traditional architectural styles and toward
modern ideals about design that were directly influenced by contemporary aesthetic principles and movements.
Such a transition was further justified by economic, political, and social theories of urban development, design,
and planning. During this time most large American cities, especially Philadelphia, witnessed the local government’s
increased involvement in the city’s physical development and growth, which resulted from reform and legislation
from the Federal Government. As private investment in cities generally declined, the municipal government took
an increased interest in architectural trends as a means to redevelop depressed areas of the city, a trend that is
characterized and represented in the design of the PPHQ.

During the nineteenth- and early-twentieth centuries, Franklin Square was once surrounded by a thriving
neighborhood. The years during the 1920s saw a decline in the neighborhood as automobiles and the construction
of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge (1922-1926) created substantial traffic congestion; access to the park consequently
became problematic for pedestrians. As the mid-twentieth century approached, this area was called “Skid Row.” Jane
Jacobs provides a telling description of this particular neighborhood in her seminal book The Death and Life of Great
American Cities:

The second of Penn’s little parks is Franklin Square, the city’s Skid Row park where the homeless,
the unemployed and the people of indigent leisure gather amid the adjacent flophouses, cheap
hotels, missions, second hand clothing store, reading and writing lobbies, pawnshops, employment
agencies, tattoo parlors, burlesque houses and eateries. This park and its users are both seedy, but it
is not a dangerous or crime park. Nevertheless, it has hardly worked as an anchor to real estate values
or to social stability.5

Along with urban revitalization efforts related to the creation of Independence National Historical Park and Society
Hill, the neighborhood that comprised Franklin Square underwent an intensive transformation during the 1950s and
1960s. This led to the demolition of many buildings that defined the character of Franklin Square. The loss of this
built fabric meant a loss of residential character. As was the prevailing formulate of the time, the notion of urban
renewal, or demolition and redevelopment, became more appealing and seen as an immediate solution. The same
idea was materializing just a few blocks away as numerous old commercial squares were procured by eminent domain
and entirely razed for what would become Independence Mall, a project that had been a concept since the 1930s but
would not officially begin until 1951.

5  Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York: Vintage Books, 1992), 95.
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Edmund Bacon (1910-2005), the eminent Philadelphia Architect and Urban Planner, shared his support for these
plans and visions for the area in a letter he wrote that same year. He described how spaces are to function differently
than the residential areas just south of the park, and that he wanted commercial and industrial development to
pervade the areas north of the Mall.6 Also in the 1950s, the newly empowered Planning Commission, backed by
recent Federal legislation, was quick to activate the project for Washington Square East beginning in 1957. I.M. Pei’s
(1917-2019) plans for the Society Hill Towers were submitted that same year. This area was to be developed strictly
for only residential use and was made possible with the help of a Federal planning grant.7 As work continued, a
marketability study was conducted in 1959 that revealed a strong demand for offices surrounding this area of the city.

When the idea surfaced to relocate the Philadelphia

Police from throughout City Hall to their own building,
the site for the new headquarters was to be carefully, and
thoughtfully, selected. Initially, Albert Greenfield (1887-
1967), the prominent Philadelphia Real Estate Broker and
Developer, and Harry Batten, both of the Old Philadelphia
Development Corporation (OPDC), suggested that the new
“Police Administration Building” be located in the Dock
Street area.8 However, John Robin, the Executive Vice
President of the OPDC, rejected the idea arguing that this
would be ruinous to Society Hill.9 Then-Mayor Richardson
Dilworth would select the location for the PPHQ in 1958,
and Geddes, Brecher, Qualls, and Cunningham (GBQC) was
commissioned for its design the next year. The new building
was to be constructed just outside the heart of downtown,
which Mayor Dilworth felt was advantageous to both the
police and the city.10 Additionally, the construction of a new
police building in this particular area was intended to serve as
Figure 1: 1963 photograph taken during the dedication ceremonies
a catalyst for improvement in police/community relations in for the Philadelphia Police Headquarters. (Source: Urban Archives,
the City and, as hoped for at the time, improve the conditions Temple University)
of the immediate neighborhood.

Constructed between 1959 and 1962, the PPHQ was not the only new development created by urban renewal
clearance in the area. Concurrent with the building of the PPHQ, the Dock Street Market, located some distance
to the south of the new headquarters, was to be razed, following the Redevelopment Authority’s acquisition of the
entire area via eminent domain by 1961.11 This would make a blank slate of sorts for the aforementioned Society Hill
Towers.

When the PPHQ was officially dedicated on April 1, 1963, the building was celebrated as a technological and symbolic
tour de force (Figure 1). GBQC was awarded the American Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal Award for the best
Philadelphia architecture of the year. The pamphlet that accompanied the dedication ceremony praised it as the new
“architectural focal point of the northern end of Independence Mall and an important contribution to the city’s

6  Ibid., 422.
7  Valerie Sue Halverson Pace, “Society Hill, Philadelphia: Historic Preservation and Urban Renewal in Washington Square East” (Master’s Thesis,
University of Minnesota, 1976), 113.
8  Ibid., 465.
9  John Robin, interview by Walter Philips Sr., February 11, 1978, transcript, Philips Oral History Project, Temple University Urban Archives,
Philadelphia, PA.
10  “The Changing City,” The Evening Bulletin, February 27, 1958.
11  Cohen, “Postwar City Planning in Philadelphia,” 521.

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 downtown renewal.”12 In attendance for the ceremony
were about 600 people, notably then-Mayor James Tate,
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Albert Brown, Los
Angeles Chief of Police William H. Parker, Chairman of
the City Planning Commission G. Holmes Perkins, and
GBQC.

By the time the PPHQ was completed and operational

in 1963, other government buildings were being erected
proximate to the subject building that would subsequently
redefine the character of the areas contiguous to
Independence Mall. These buildings included Pietro
Belluschi and George M. Ewing Company’s Rohm and
Haas Corporate Headquarters (1964) at Sixth and Market
streets, the United States Courthouse and Federal Office
Figure 2: Circa 1962 bird’s eye view of the Philadelphia Police Building (1963-1968) at Sixth and Arch streets, and the
Headquarters. (Source: Urban Archives, Temple University) United States Mint (1965-1969) on Fifth Street between
Race and Arch streets designed by Vincent Kling
& Associates. Siting the PPHQ just west of Independence Mall was in keeping with the trend of constructing
government buildings in this section of Philadelphia.

Initially, the 1966 Independence Mall Redevelopment Area Plan proposed a site plan for the PPHQ’s immediate
surroundings—Seventh Street to Ninth Street and Vine Street to Arch Street. This plan recounted the area as having
“unsafe, unsanitary, inadequate or over-crowded conditions of certain buildings.”13 As a result of this plan’s initiative,
many buildings were demolished whose lots remain vacant today, or have otherwise been converted into surface
parking. The proposed site plan, set forth by the City Planning Commission, was loosely followed as efforts proceeded.
The closing of Ridge Avenue was completed; this provided the necessary land for the Vine Street Expressway
(Interstate 676) ramps that were to connect to Market East and the Metropolitan Hospital, located across Race Street
to the north of the PPHQ. However, the ramp to Market East was never built. Today, this area is a parking lot.

Socially, the PPHQ is reflective of the vast urban redevelopment projects that swept across the city during the 1960s
(Figure 2). Today, the building is located in between several prominent Philadelphia neighborhoods: Independence
National Historical Park, Old City, and Society Hill to the east; and Chinatown and Penn Center to the west. This
centrally located site was chosen to not only improve the immediate surrounding area but also to benefit the city’s
other police districts.

Historic Context: The Philadelphia Police Headquarters in the Context of Post-War America
Post-war America is often described as a country burgeoning in the economic and political realms, as well as in
technological advancements. As it recovered from the Great Depression, the nation was faced with new challenges
that sparked a plethora of reforms in both government and architecture. With the population and economy booming,
there was a pressing need, or desire, to bulldoze the old to make way for the new.14 Modern architecture used this
opportunity as a catalyst to pervade the landscape of the United States. The American people latched on to a
newfound emphasis on family which fueled the demand for new houses, home-based consumer goods, and schools.15

12  City of Philadelphia, “Dedication of Police Headquarters,” Monday, April 1, 1963, pamphlet from Temple University, Urban Archives,
Philadelphia, PA.
13  Philadelphia City Planning Commission, “Amendment Unit Four” in Independence Mall: Center City Redevelopment Area (Philadelphia: City Planning
Commission, 1966).
14  Gelernter, A History of American Architecture, 261.
15  Ibid., 262.

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Paralleling this trend was the nation’s enthusiasm for investing in new technologies in the face of both the Cold
War and Vietnam War. Mass production proliferated and, as a result, so did building materials. As architecture took
advantage of these developing technologies, new construction, such as the PPHQ, took on styles that have managed
to capture and preserve the zeitgeist of this pivotal time.

Philadelphia, much like many other major cities, went through a series of political reform that consequently affected
development and the city’s architecture. Restructuring of the city’s government is said to have begun with the
elections of Mayor Joseph Clark in 1951 and Mayor Richardson Dilworth in 1955.16 As a result, local government
became increasingly more involved with housing and city planning in addition to a newly empowered City Planning
Commission. Commercial and institutional buildings were being revived and urban renewal was bursting at the
seams.17 Philadelphia’s architecture, and its architectural education, would emerge as leaders in the field as propagated
by the Philadelphia School. George Holmes Perkins (1904-2004) described it best: “A city that for nearly a quarter-
century had been in the doldrums awoke with the energy to transform its center and assume a national architectural
leadership through its urban renewal.”18 The PPHQ has since become a vessel for both these national and local
architectural and legislative trends that occurred during the mid-twentieth-century.

While the beginning of the Modernist style in the United States is not easy to pinpoint, it is largely accepted by
historians and scholars that Modernism hit the shores of America when Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock
wrote The International Style in 1932. Architects began to abandon historical styles and move towards ahistorical, austere
forms.19 Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe perpetuated and influenced these shifts in architectural design.
A plethora of different sects fall under the encompassing umbrella of Modernist architecture, including such styles
as Internationalism, Brutalism, Formalism, and Expressionism; the PPHQ being a strong example of Expressionism.
This variety of Modernist architectural styles allowed architects to explore and invent new vocabularies that, at
times, would simultaneously meet the needs of Post-War America. Modernism was found to be the most appropriate
expression for the burgeoning country.20 It appealed to the public as a rational, efficient, and practical style for
solving an assortment of problems.21 Additionally, architects took this as a much-needed opportunity to be inventive,
explorative, and to aesthetically create new forms and shapes.22

Modernism in Philadelphia can be marked by two national trends. One being the spread of the International Style
and the subsequent Modernist styles that followed. And the second being regional modernism, which arguably
preceded the nationwide notions of Modernism.23 Architecture in the City of Philadelphia and the surrounding area
was on the pulse of larger trends as both the national and local government encouraged and supported substantial
redevelopment. Two important factors that set the stage for design and development for Philadelphia after the Second
World War was first, a series of planning initiatives that set the direction for areas pinpointed for redevelopment and
growth; and second, the arrival of a group of significant designers—known as the “Philadelphia School”—at the
University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in the early 1950s.24 The architects and engineers of the Philadelphia School were
responsible for revamping architectural education and consequently the city.25 With G. Holmes Perkins leading the
way for Penn and the Philadelphia School, city planning and urban design became intertwined and more intimately
involved with the city’s architecture.26
16  Perkins, “Part Four: Philadelphia Phoenix,” 204.
17  Ibid.
18  Ibid.
19  Gelernter, A History of American Architecture, 260.
20  Gelernter, A History of American Architecture, 263.
21  Ibid.
22  Ibid.
23  Clendenin, “Thematic Context Statement.”
24  Ibid.
25  Ibid.
26  Perkins, “Part Four: Philadelphia Phoenix,” 204.
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The PPHQ is reflective of the city’s architectural soul-
searching for a national heritage.27 The Expressionist
style employed for the design created a sculptural, iconic
building that has been prominently keyed into the city
(Figure 3). GBQC hastily celebrated technological
innovation as represented by the Schokbeton panels
of the building. Investing in such a high grade of
precast concrete, it is no secret that the City Planning
Commission supported emerging high architectural
ideals; Philadelphia was investing in good design. By
the 1960s, the Philadelphia Chapter of the American
Institute of Architects was considered to be one of the
most energized chapters in the United States.28 In 1963,
the chapter awarded GBQC the American Institute of
Architects’ Gold Medal Award for best Philadelphia Figure 3: Circa 1962 photograph from a promotional pamphlet for the
architecture for their design of the PPHQ.29 Philadelphia Police Headquarters (Source: Urban Archives, Temple
University)

Historic Context: The Philadelphia School

The Philadelphia School is a group of architects and engineers who are loosely defined by their work and design
beliefs. The concept of the Philadelphia School was first introduced in a 1961 Progressive Architecture article by Jan
Rowan titled, “Wanting to Be: The Philadelphia School.” Rowan defined the group as comprising Louis I. Kahn,
Robert Venturi, Romaldo Giurgola, Robert Geddes, and two engineers, Robert Le Ricolais and August Komendant.
Kahn was pinpointed as the group’s “spiritual leader” as his design principles were felt to be the driving force for
others.30 Rowan proclaimed that the Philadelphia School was to do for Philadelphia what the Chicago School did for
their city during the late nineteenth-century.31 Some of the architects singled out by the Progressive Architecture article,
including Robert Geddes, were hesitant about being classified into one style or group.32 Yet, the association provided
the men with exposure that won them numerous commissions, even if these were mostly for work located outside
of Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia School is also said to be a byproduct of the efforts of G. Holmes Perkins. Perkins worked diligently
to redefine architectural education within both Penn’s School of Fine Arts and the City of Philadelphia. Each
individual of this group taught at Penn and each influenced students in their own way. However, these architects
and engineers are each profound in their own right, outside of the Philadelphia School. Largely, the Philadelphia
School promoted a greater focus on context and developed their modern style by looking critically at history.33 These
architects and engineers understood there was an inherent need for Philadelphia to return to a more human-scaled
city. Their goal was for the public to be engaged in conversation with the architecture through associations buildings
could bring forth.34

GBQC’s design for the PPHQ embodies some of the design theories championed by the Philadelphia School. The
rectilinear concrete panels that define the majority of the building’s boundaries were meant to relate to Philadelphia’s
grid plan (Figure 4). The plaza on the north side of the building, housing the intended primary entrance, was
27  Ibid., 206.
28  Clendenin, “Thematic Context Statement.”
29  “Police Building Wins Awards of Architects,” The Evening Bulletin, April 1, 1963.
30  Jan C. Rowan, “Wanting to Be: The Philadelphia School,” Progressive Architecture 42 (April 1961): 131.
31  Ibid, 163.
32  Ibid, 157.
33  Clendenin, “Thematic Context Statement.”
34  Robert Coombs, “Philadelphia’s Phantom School,” Progressive Architecture (April 1976): 58.

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 positioned to deliberately face Franklin Square and
act as a welcoming civic entrance and to respond to
Ed Bacon’s goals for a walkable city, not yet realized
on Race Street. The inclusion and design of this
plaza was to afford the PPHQ a grand, public
presence along Race Street. Robert Geddes later
praised the plaza as serving as both the functional
and symbolic center of a community, speaking
to the ideas shared by those grouped into the
Philadelphia School.35 Shortly after the PPHQ was
completed, users of the building began entering on
the south side for the sake of convenience, which
is immediately adjacent to the PPHQ’s parking lot.
This resulted in the closure of the main entrance
Figure 4: Circa 1962 photograph of the interior of the Philadelphia Police which is now rarely ever used. GBQC were
Headquarters (Source: Urban Archives, Temple University) deliberate in designing a structure that was to read
as an inviting public entity.36 The appearance was
not meant to elicit the sense of jail, detainment, or an oppressive police force; however, over time, the nature of the
building’s function prevailed.

Criterion D: Embodies distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style or engineering specimen.

The Philadelphia Police Headquarters (PPHQ) embodies distinguishing characteristics of both an architectural
style and engineering specimen due to its Expressionist style of architecture and engineered use of Schokbeton
to support a fully integrated building system. Architecturally, the PPHQ is a distinct juxtaposition with the City of
Philadelphia’s gridded plan through its curvilinear form and massing. The building’s nearly 1,000 precast concrete
panels, manufactured using Schokbeton that radically integrate the structural, mechanical, and electrical systems,
further support the PPHQ’s stylistic identity as Expressionist. An innovative method for precasting concrete during
the mid-twentieth century, the Schokbeton system required careful, precise engineering that resulted in remarkably
structurally sound buildings, as evidenced by the PPHQ, as well as a number of other significant Modern buildings
across the nation and other parts of the world.

One can argue that employing design vocabulary

indicative of the Expressionist style of architecture
allows for greater flexibility of form, as evidenced
by the PPHQ. Expressionist-styled architecture
often exhibits sweeping, curved wall surfaces and
rooflines, minimal use of symmetrical or geometric
forms, a combination of concave and convex
surfaces, and arched or vaulted spaces.37 Such design
vocabulary is evident on the PPHQ, which stands as a
prominent architectural example of Expressionism
(Figure 5). Particularly, the gentle, sweeping
concave and convex surfaces of the PPHQ define
its mass and form. No other buildings by Geddes, Figure 5: View of the underside of the cantilevering upper floors (Source:
Allee Davis, September 2012)
35  Robert Geddes, “Possibilities in Architecture,” Architectural
Record 108 (November 1977): 107.
36  “Circling in the Square,” Architectural Forum 118 (1963): 120.
37  Robinson & Associates, Inc., Judith H. Robinson and Stephanie S. Foell, United States General Services Administration, Growth, Efficiency, and
Modernism: GSA Buildings of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s (Center for Historic Buildings, U.S. General Services Administration, March 2006), 15.

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Brecher, Qualls, and Cunningham (GBQC) were designed in the Expressionist style, making it a rarity of the firm’s
oeuvre. Eero Saarinen’s TWA Terminal (1956-1962) at the Kennedy Airport in New York City utilizes this style to
revive the French idea of architecture parlante, where a building is expected to metaphorically express its function and
character.38 Similarly, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill’s Chapel at the United States Air Force Academy (1956-1962) in
Colorado Springs utilizes the Expressionist style and architecture parlante. A similar government building to the PPHQ
that has sweeping, curving wall surfaces is Marcel Breuer’s U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Headquarters (1963-1968) in Washington, D.C.

The PPHQ, much like the aforementioned examples, exploited burgeoning technology and materials in its design
to create a dramatic structure that utilized innovative construction techniques. Architect and critic J. M. Richards
summarized best the changing trends in architecture in his 1940 book, An Introduction to Modern Architecture, when he
said:

The principal reason why a new architecture is coming into existence is that the needs of this age
are in nearly every case totally different from the needs of previous ages, and so cannot be satisfied
by methods of building that belong to any age but the present. We can satisfy them in the practical
sense, by utilizing modern building techniques and modern scientific inventions to the full; and we
can satisfy them in the aesthetic sense, both by being honest craftsmen in our own materials and by
taking special advantage of the opportunities these materials offer of creating effects and qualities
in tune with our own times.39

In many ways, this quote can be directly applied to the PPHQ. Post-
war Philadelphia restructured its government which resulted in the city
commissioning a vast number of building campaigns in the name of urban
revitalization. The PPHQ was one of many nodes among these efforts as it
bulldozed its way into a blighted neighborhood. As one of the more notable
buildings in which the city invested during this time, the Schokbeton-
manufactured panels of the PPHQ served as the structural system for
the building while also defining its mass and form (Figure 6). Such design
speaks to Richards’s call for being honest craftsmen; what is seen on
the outside also serves as the building’s internal structural system. As an
architectural firm, GBQC often took advantage of innovative technologies
and building techniques during the 1960s. In the case of the PPHQ, the
architects wanted to fully exploit the capabilities that Schokbeton allowed.
This desire to explore materials and form paralleled the nation’s enthusiasm
for mass production and drive for continuous technological advancement.
As such, the PPHQ is significant for its association with this moment
in architectural design of the post-war years that created significant,
unprecedented forms and structural systems.
Figure 6: Interior view of the lobby of the
Philadelphia Police Headquarters, showing the
Historic Context: The Philadelphia Police Headquarters & precast concrete panels (Source: Allee Davis,
Modernism September 2012)
GBQC designed the PPHQ in the Expressionist style, a style that falls under the umbrella of architectural Modernism.
Modernist styles, like Expressionism, were used in conjunction with many other buildings constructed in the midst
of urban revitalization efforts; these can be found in Philadelphia and other cities throughout the United States.
Furthermore, it is the second building in the United States to use the Schokbeton system to manufacture the building’s
character-defining precast concrete panels. These panels integrate the mechanical, electrical, and structural systems.
38  Gelernter, A History of American Architecture, 274.
39  J. M. Richards, An Introduction to Modern Architecture (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1940 and 1962), 28.

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As Modernism pervaded all aspects of society, architecture did well to visually translate what the United States was
thinking during the 1950s and 1960s. Transcending the bounds of traditional, historic styles, architects began to
explore new materials, technologies, and forms with which to build.40 Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
continue to be considered two of the most influential architects during this time, influencing the appearance of
new construction across the states. Being the most appropriate expression of a new age for the nation following
World War II, Modernism was found to be rational, efficient, and confident in expressing power and wealth, as well
as expressive of the individual.41 Often found to have been achieved primarily through these Modern architectural
styles: the International Style, Brutalism, Formalism, and Expressionism.

The International Style was first introduced with Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock’s publication, The
International Style. This was written in 1932 to accompany an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. In considering
the work of Mies van der Rohe, his buildings did not focus on social aspects, rather, they focused on the technical
and visual problems the architect believed needed to be solved through design.42 His famous “Less is more” motto
stripped architecture to its fundamental essence; buildings are to be simple, rational, based on a geometric grid,
and austere.43 Architecture across the United States took note of these ideals and emulated them in a number of
building types including shopping centers, schools, office parks, corporate headquarters, apartment buildings, and
government buildings.44 Mies van der Rohe provided a form of building that consisted of a rational structural frame
with nothing more than a thin curtain wall cladding.

Le Corbusier helped to propagate the style of Brutalism that is today both praised and hated. The word originates
from the French phrase béton brut, which translates into “raw concrete.” Buildings of this style celebrate rough
concrete due to its texture and aesthetics created from the casting process. Due to the extensive use of concrete for
the PPHQ, the building is often categorized as a Brutalist-styled building; again, a common misnomer. Taking a closer
look at other Brutalist buildings, one will learn that the PPHQ is actually more in line with the Expressionist style of
Modern architecture. Examples of Brutalism include Paul Rudolph’s School of Art and Architecture Building (1959-
1963) at Yale University and, most famously, Boston City Hall (1963-1968) by Kallman, McKinnell, and Knowles.
In Philadelphia, the United States Mint (1965-1969) on Fifth Street between Race and Arch streets by Vincent Kling
& Associates and even Mitchell/Giurgola’s William Penn High School (1967-1975) at Fifteenth and Mount Vernon
streets are more representative of the Brutalist style than the PPHQ is often thought to be.

A common third style under the umbrella of Modernism is Formalism. Architects designing in this style opposed
austere designs, such as those found on Mies van der Rohe’s buildings, but shared the rational construction system.45
Formalism took the basic frame and box and paralleled it with traditional Classical ideals, and explored how the
building could be decorated with the intention of creating a more elegant and commanding presence.46 It is worth
mentioning this style within the discourse of the PPHQ since this form of architecture embraced new Modernist
vocabulary and materials through technological innovations. Philip Johnson’s Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery (1963)
in Lincoln, Nebraska is a great example of Formalist architecture with its hint of a Roman arcade synthesized with
Modernist design elements. Other examples can be found throughout the United States, but this particular style did
not proliferate as much as either the International or Brutalist styles

The Philadelphia Police Headquarters & Schokbeton

Several prominent engineers were involved in the construction of the PPHQ. David Bloom was the principal
engineer while August Komendant was responsible for the engineering of the precast concrete assembly (Figure
40  Gelernter, A History of American Architecture, 260.
41  Ibid., 263.
42  Ibid., 266.
43  Ibid.
44  Ibid.
45  Ibid., 269.
46  Ibid.
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7). The precast concrete components were designed to accommodate a fully
integrated set of building systems – the structural, mechanical, and electrical
systems – while achieving the dominant architectural finish of exposed
concrete inside and out. As previously noted, these panels were manufactured
using the Schokbeton process for precasting concrete. This process allowed
for the concave and convex forms that give the PPHQ its distinct curvilinear
character. Furthermore, these panels are a product of Komendant’s innovative
structural engineering expertise, particularly in the use of post tensioning.

Ninety (90) percent of the PPHQ consists of concrete that is either precast
or cast-in-place. Cast-in-place concrete is limited to the footings, foundations,
corridor floors, and the four elevator-stair cores (Figure 8). This creates the
structural formwork that acts as an anchor for the precast concrete panels. 47
The cast-in-place concrete of the elevator-stair cores contain special bearing
pockets into which the cast-in-place floor slabs and the precast panels key. 48

In addition to accommodating building systems in their interior surface, the Figure 7: Circa 1962 photograph of August
three-story wall panels carried the dead and live loads of the three floors Komendant [left] and Robert Geddes [left] on
site of the construction of the Philadelphia
and roof above, bearing on the post tensioned cantilevered and post-
Police Headquarters. (Source: Urban Archives,
tensioned, second-floor assembly. This was another daring engineering feat Temple University)
that distinguishes the exceptional importance of this building to mid-century
structural engineering.

Overseeing their production and installation, Komendant

post-tensioned the concrete—a technique of pre-stressing
and post tensioning—to capture the maximum potential
of the concrete for the PPHQ. As commonly understood,
concrete performs best in compression and has little
tensile strength, whereas steel performs best in tension.
Both concrete and steel share the same coefficient of
expansion (6.5 x 10-5), making steel reinforcing bars and
concrete ideal partners. Pre-tensioning and post-tensioning
are two techniques used to pre-stress concrete to ensure
that the structural concrete is in the necessary amount of
compression to counteract any tensile strength imposed on
the building during its service life.

Figure 8: Circa 1960 photograph of the construction of thePost-tensioning concrete requires that steel tubes be cast
into the concrete panels through which wire tendons are
Philadelphia Police Headquarters. (Source: Urban Archives, Temple
University) threaded. After the precast floor panels were brought to the
construction site and set in place, the wire tendons are then threaded through the aligned steel tubes in the multiple
pieces of precast to be joined by the tension wires. These wire tendons are then connected to portable jacks on either
end of the panel that administer more tensile strength than would typically be applied in the opposite direction. This
technique requires permanent anchors to be embedded to either end of the concrete unit that transmit the necessary
load. Once the post-tensioning process has been completed, the steel tubes are grouted to ensure that the wire
tendons remain in place and are protected from corrosion.

47  Komendant, “Precasting Makes New Strides,” 189.

48  “Pioneering,” Engineering News Record, October 13, 1960, 60.

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For the PPHQ, the first-floor framing was subjected to this process with high-strength reinforcing bars that have
a reported ultimate strength of 150,000 psi. In the top of the ribbed floor panels, eight tendons were placed and
carried through to the interior span of the floor panels. Threaded through the innermost third of the span are six
tendons to resist the moment of the cantilever over the exterior columns; the floor panels cantilever a total of 12
feet. This form of pre-stressing, at the behest of Komendant, is what is largely responsible for the PPHQ’s excellent,
continued structural performance.

What makes the post tensioning exceptional is that it connected two floor panels with a 12-foot cantilever at the
second-floor level of the PPHQ that, in turn, supported the three-story exterior architectural and structural wall
panels that carried the full dead and live loads of the top three floors of the building. Post tensioning had been used
before, even load-bearing exterior architectural wall panels had been used before, in Europe, but not in the United
States of America; however, the combination of the two in a cantilever configuration was a first internationally.

Criterion E: Is the work of a designer, architect, landscape architect or designer, or engineer whose work has
significantly influenced the historical, architectural, economic, social, or cultural development of the City,
Commonwealth, or Nation.

This section will consist of two parts, one devoted to Geddes, Brecher, Qualls, and Cunningham (GBQC) and their
design for the Philadelphia Police Headquarters (PPHQ). The second section will be devoted to August Komendant,
the building’s structural engineer.

Geddes, Brecher, Qualls and Cunningham, Architects (1959-present)

The PPHQ is the work of Geddes, Brecher, Qualls and Cunningham (GBQC), the celebrated architectural firm,
formed in 1959, that designed many civic institutions in Philadelphia and the surrounding area, as well as internationally.
GBQC was awarded the American Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal Award for Best Philadelphia Architecture in
1963 for their design of the PPHQ.49

Relevant to the PPHQ is the Geddes Brecher entry into the Sydney (Australia) Opera House competition in 1953.
Recently graduated from the Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Geddes’ thesis was a round form as
the core of an urban center in Providence, Rhode Island. The Geddes Brecher scheme, a nautilus-shaped structure
illustrated to most logically be architectural precast concrete won second place in the competition. This competition
was one of the most significant international competition of the twentieth century.

During the early 1970s, the firm won first prize for both the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Design Competition
and the Vienna South International Town Planning Competition.50 In 1979, the American Institute of Architects
honored the firm with the highest professional honor awarding them the Architectural Firm Award.51 This is only a
small representation of the actual number of competitions the in which the firm engaged and the awards the firm
received. Despite the fact that none of the founding architects are actively working there, GBQC Architects is still an
active firm continuing the legacy of its founding principles with an office located in downtown Philadelphia.

Robert Geddes and Melvin Brecher (1924-2008) met as classmates at Harvard University’s Graduate School of
Design where the two earned Master of Architecture degrees in 1950. Three years later, Geddes and Brecher formed
a practice that was soon succeeded by Geddes, Brecher, and Qualls in 1956. Prior to the creation of this firm, Geddes
and Brecher were the runners-up for the Sydney Opera House competition in 1955. Warren Cunningham joined the
group in 1958 specifically to collaborate with the firm on alterations to the Moore School Pender Laboratory (1909,

49  “Police Building Wins Awards of Architects.”

50  “Geddes Brecher Qualls Cunningham,” Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania, accessed October 21, 2012, http://www.
design.upenn.edu/archives/majorcollections/gbqc.html.
51  “Robert Geddes, FAIA,” Faculty, Princeton University School of Architecture, accessed October 21, 2012, http://soa.princeton.edu/02fac/
fac_frame.html?geddes.html.
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built; alterations 1957-1960 and 1966) for the University of Pennsylvania (Penn).52 GBQC officially formed when
Mayor Richardson Dilworth (1898-1974) commissioned the architects to design a building for the Philadelphia Police
in 1959, the firm’s first public building.53 At the time, the police department was housed in a cramped space in City
Hall, which prevented the department from functioning efficiently. Headquartered in Philadelphia, GBQC was at
the frontline of a changing city undergoing vast redevelopment projects. Philadelphia was vigorously restructuring
the way it interacted with the public and soon became a hotbed of innovative architecture during the mid-twentieth-
century.

In an effort to rebuild architectural education in Philadelphia, George Holmes Perkins (1904-2004), the new dean of
Penn’s School of Fine Arts beginning in 1951, restructured the faculty through the inclusion of prominent architects
and planners, including both Geddes and Qualls. Inadvertently, Perkins laid the foundations for what would come to
known as the Philadelphia School, a group of architects and engineers whose beliefs centered on a style that worked
to serve the needs of older, pedestrian-scaled cities. Geddes would remain at Penn until 1965, when he would go on
to become the new dean of Princeton University’s School of Design through to 1982.54 Qualls stayed with Penn into
the 1990s.55

GBQC, alongside Louis I. Kahn (1901-1974), Vincent Kling (1916-2013), Romaldo Giurgola (1920-2016), and others,
worked to reshape the city of Philadelphia at the behest of Mayor Dilworth and Edmund Bacon. The resulting
architecture represented the city’s desires to expand and adapt to an urban environment that is often largely defined
by brick. Mid-century architecture was employed by Philadelphia to erase blight, as well as to implement a series of
planning initiatives that set the direction for redevelopment and growth.56 The PPHQ is one of the many structures
built as part of this effort.

Following the construction of the PPHQ, GBQC embarked on an ambitious career designing for both civic and
educational institutions. The firm embraced large-scale projects that would serve a significant number of people.
In 1965, GBQC was commissioned to design the United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. Here, the building
acquiesced to the landscape by respecting the site and commanding scale of the surrounding terrain.57 The complex
was completed in 1979.

The same year the firm began the Embassy, they began to design the Rodney Complex, a new dormitory for the
University of Delaware. The dormitory was completed in 1967 and accommodated both the private and communal
needs of students in a campus setting.58 Following the Pender Laboratory and dormitory project, GBQC would go
on to design for many other colleges and universities. This includes an academic building at Beaver College Science
in Glenside, Pennsylvania (1971), the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (1971), New Jersey, and Stockton
State College (1968-1983) in Pomona, New Jersey. GBQC’s designs for these projects embody spaces organized and
oriented towards specific functions customized to each given program. The material of choice was concrete, often
accented by other materials, and was used in various ways to facilitate a sense of human-scale in their buildings.

As for civic entities, GBQC’s projects incorporated widespread planning in addition to architectural design. The
commission for the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center in Alabama was the result of a national design competition

52  Robert Geddes, “Principles and Precedents: Geddes Brecher Qualls Cunningham,” Process Architecture 62 (October 1985): 5.
53  Ibid.
54  Emily T. Cooperman, “Geddes, Robert Louis (b. 1923),” Philadelphia Architects and Buildings, accessed October 4, 2012, http://www.
philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/23846.
55  Emily T. Cooperman, “Qualls, George Wyckoff (1923-2001),” Philadelphia Architects and Buildings, accessed October 4, 2012, http://www.
philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/23412.
56  Clendenin, “Thematic Context Statement.”
57  Geddes, “Principles and Precedents,” Process Architecture, 21.
58  Ibid., 24.

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held in 1966. The plan comprises four entertainment and cultural facilities around a civic plaza.59 In the wake of
an expanding downtown development, this civic center created a new focal point for the community.60 Following
the completion of this complex in 1976, GBQC began the design for Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey.
This project commenced in 1979 and was the state’s first urban state park and a catalyst for renewing the Hudson
River waterfront.61 One of the larger designs the firm pursued was the Vienna South International Town Planning
Competition in 1971. This design was for a new community of 70,000 people along a 2,500-acre area of land
extending four miles south of the city’s historic core.62 GBQC won first prize “on the basis of the jury’s assessment
of its rational distribution of movement and activity systems and flexibility for change and growth, its balanced
monumental and human-scaled landscapes, and its varied buildings and open spaces.”63

Other notable buildings by GBQC include the Architects Housing Company (1979) in Trenton, New Jersey, the
Mobil Environmental and Health Science Laboratory (1983) in Hopewell, New Jersey, and the south wing addition to
the J. B. Speed Art Museum (1983) in Louisville, Kentucky. Each of these three buildings thoughtfully accommodates
and responds to different programmatic needs.

August E. Komendant, Engineer (1906-1992)

The structural prowess of the PPHQ is the work of
August E. Komendant, a significant structural engineer
hired by GBQC to oversee the design, production,
and installation of the precast concrete panels used
for the PPHQ (Figure 9). His expertise in structural
engineering was highly influential in the emerging
field of precast concrete engineering during the mid-
twentieth-century. Komendant was brazen in his efforts
to make feasible the designs set forth by the architects
with which he collaborated. He did this by using
innovative techniques and materials that Jack Pyburn,
the Harrison Associates Visiting Scholar in Historic
Preservation at the Georgia Institute of Technology,
calls him a “structural engineering cowboy” for doing
so.64 Komendant, along with another engineer, Robert Figure 9: Circa 1960 photograph of the construction of the Philadelphia
Le Ricolais, was included in the Philadelphia School. Police Headquarters. (Source: Urban Archives, Temple University)

Born in Estonia on October 2, 1906, Komendant later moved to Germany where he would earn a doctorate from
the Technical University in Dresden.65 Interned by the United States Army during World War II, Komendant’s
engineering expertise was uncovered by General George Patten who employed his skills in determining the stability
of bridges prior to allowing troops to cross. 66 This led to Komendant’s recruiting to assist the United States Army in
rebuilding war-damaged bridges across Europe. By 1950, he immigrated to the United States where he would form
a consulting practice in Montclair, New Jersey. 67 Based on Komendant’s experience with concrete material while
rebuilding war-damaged bridges, he published Prestressed Concrete Structures in 1952.68 Contemporary Concrete Structures
was published in 1972.
59  Ibid., 48.
60  Ibid., 48.
61  Ibid., 59.
62  Ibid., 134.
63  Ibid., 134.
64  August E. Komendant, 18 years with architect Louis I. Kahn, (Englewood, NJ: Aloray, 1975), 1.
65  “A. E. Komendant, 85, A Structural Engineer,” New York Times, September 18, 1992, accessed October 8, 2012, ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
66  Carter Wiseman, Louis I. Kahn: Beyond Time and Style (New York: Norton, 2007), 96.
67  “Komendant, 85.”
68  August E. Komendant, Prestressed Concrete Structures (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1952).
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From 1959 to 1974, Komendant was a professor of architecture and taught courses in structural engineering at Penn.
During his tenure, he established a relationship with Louis I. Kahn. The two men met in 1956 and bonded over their
Estonian heritage. Kahn admired Komendant for pursing designs that other structural engineers were, Kahn felt,
too cowardly to consider. Komendant was commissioned by Kahn for Richards Medical Laboratories (1957-1960;
1962-1965) where post-tensioning was used for the building’s concrete beams. The two men remained friends until
Kahn’s death in 1974.69

Criterion F: Contains elements of design, detail, materials or craftsmanship which represent a significant
innovation.

The precast concrete panels that define the structure, form, and mass
of the Philadelphia Police Headquarters (PPHQ) were manufactured
using the innovative process of Schokbeton (Figure 10). These panels
integrate the structural, mechanical, and electrical systems creating a fully
integrated building system. The Schokbeton process was first created in
Holland and subsequently patented by 1932. When translated from Dutch
it means “shocked concrete.” The idea for this particular process is said
to have begun from observations of a worker moving a wheelbarrow full
of concrete over a rough road. The worker took notice of the effects the
rough road had on the concrete.70 After years of research and testing, the
Schokbeton process resulted in the optimal water-to-cement ratios, the
creative construction of molds, and calibrated shocking (vibration) of the
cement during placement.71 Also important to note is that glass-making
equipment was used instead of typical concrete making equipment. This
resulted in a more precise and higher quality product.

The first product to be made using Schokbeton was for the windows of a
barn built in the Netherlands during the 1930s. This barn was assembled
Figure 10: Circa 1960 photograph of the using all pre-cast concrete. The structure was in a honeycomb form that
construction of the Philadelphia Police allowed for the precast units to be easily, and quickly, inserted. Building
Headquarters. (Source: Architectural Archives, in this manner led the Dutch to experiment with housing, considering
University of Pennsylvania) assembly was proving to be an efficient process. Subsequently, seeing the
potential of the Schokbeton process, the Dutch were quick to export this precasting system internationally resulting
in a vast number of structures utilizing this form of concrete.

Unique to this precasting method that differentiates it from others is the use of zero-slump concrete. The concrete
mixture uses only enough water to activate the chemical process of the cement.72 Using such a small amount of water
allows for the concrete to dry quickly, develop its strength early, and be removed from the mold so that other panels
can be made.73 Additionally, the Schokbeton process creates a concrete with high strength and a uniform finish due
to the mix and use of vibration. Using the maximum amount of stone in combination with zero-slump concrete
resulted in a desirable optimum finish and strength. Other advantages of the Schokbeton process include the resulting
water-resistant surface due to the required aggregate, sand, and cement ratio in addition to the compacting process. 74

69  Komendant, 18 years, 1.

70  Bernard P. Spring and Donald Canty, “Concrete: The material that can do almost anything,” Architectural Forum (1962), 92.
71  Pyburn, “The Role of Architectural Precast Concrete,” 115.
72  Komendant, “Precasting,” 189.
73  G. Husken, H. J. H. Brouwers, “On the early-age behavior of zero-slump concrete,” Cement and Concrete Research 42 (2012): 501, accessed
November 12, 2012, http://josbrouwers.bwk.tue.nl/publications/Journal80.pdf.
74  Spring and Canty, 92.

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To properly consolidate the concrete and avoid the inclusion of voids when using the Schokbeton process, a force
other than gravity is required. This is due to the low workability that zero-slump concrete creates. To achieve this, a
shocking table was invented that was carefully calibrated. Following the mixing inside upright drums with counter-
rotating paddles, the concrete is poured into custom-designed molds that rest on the steel-framed shocking table—
these upright drums are an example of some of the equipment used in making glass. For the PPHQ, the molds for
the panels measured 32.8 feet by 8.2 feet. Once the concrete has been poured into the apparatus, the table raises and
lowers the mold about a quarter of an inch in the air about 250 times per minute.75 Using the Schokbeton process,
panels can be cast as large as 12 feet by 40 feet without compromising its strength. Inversely, panels could be cast as
thin as two inches and still perform just as well as its larger counterparts. Compared to other precasting techniques
available during the mid-twentieth-century, Schokbeton was considered to be one of the more expensive processes.
This was largely due to the cost of the necessary equipment, such as the shocking table. However, this process
affords both great flexibility in design and the customization of color.

Emerson Cohen, Don Rothenhaus, and George Santry were responsible for introducing Schokbeton to the United
States.76 Cohen was responsible for marketing, Rothenhaus was the first licensee for the product, and Santry was
the owner of the rights to Schokbeton in the United States. In 1960, Rothenhaus, Cohen, and other colleagues,
established Eastern Schokbeton in New Jersey.77 The company’s first commission was for Philip Johnson’s Lake
Pavilion on his personal property in New Canaan, Connecticut. The commission for the PPHQ followed shortly
thereafter and was the company’s first large project. When Geddes, Brecher, Qualls, and Cunningham (GBQC)
decided that they were to use precast concrete panels for this building, they hired August Komendant to help design
the panels and their necessary molds.78

The use of Schokbeton for the PPHQ’s concrete panels is exemplar

of the marriage of craft and technology inherent in the pre-casting
process (Figure 11). GBQC wanted a white exterior for the building
via the panels. This required the use of white cement, white sand
from Maryland, and white quartz from Georgia. The coffered floor
slabs were also manufactured using the Schokbeton process, but
were made gray in color to differentiate from the structure’s exterior
design and appearance. There is a total of 144 exterior precast
concrete wall panels. These measure five feet by 35 feet in height
and contain web flanges that are two-and-a-quarter inches thick and
21 inches in depth. Again, these panels serve as the structural system
for the PPHQ and house the mechanical and electrical equipment,
eliminating the need for a suspended ceiling. 79

Creating the space for the piping, heating units, air conditioning
ducts, diffusers, and lighting fixtures required the design of several
different joint details. For instance, “ears” were molded into the Figure 11: Circa 1960 photograph of the construction
panels; these extend from the plane of the windows and act as points of the Philadelphia Police Headquarters. (Source:
of connection. There are narrow “ears” that house the heating pipes Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania)
and wider “ears” that house high-velocity air risers.80 Komendant and GBQC took great consideration in designing
how light would hit the panels in addition to how these panels would control both water runoff and the collection
of dirt.81
75  Pyburn, “The Role of Architectural Precast Concrete,” 115.
76  Ibid., 116.
77  Ibid., 116.
78  Ibid, 117-118.
79  “Pioneering in Precast Concrete,” 50.
80  Ibid.
81  Komendant, “Precasting,” 189.
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The Philadelphia Police Headquarters, 700-734 Race Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Criterion H: Owing to its unique location or singular physical characteristic, represents an established and
familiar visual feature of the neighborhood, community or City.

An architectural and engineering landmark of the mid-twentieth century, the Philadelphia Police Headquarters
(PPHQ)—the Roundhouse—represents an established and familiar visual feature of Franklin Square and the larger
City of Philadelphia. Recognized locally as one of Philadelphia’s “most iconic modern buildings,” this status is
achieved through its unique physical appearance as a rare surviving specimen of the Expressionist style, being of a
form and massing unlike any other public building in the Quaker City.82

“Owing to its unique location,” set on the south side of Franklin Square, the building was at the center of Urban
Renewal at the time of its construction between 1959 and 1962, making it a focal point of one of William Penn’s five
squares, as well as from the Vine Street Expressway and for those entering the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. For those
entering and leaving the eastern part of Center City via the Vine Street Expressway (I676) or Race Street, the PPHQ
is often the first and last physical reference point in Philadelphia. This visual distinction is further justified by the
building’s unique form and mass, creating a sharp contrast with the Philadelphia gridiron.

“Owing to its…single physical feature,” the bold, curvaceous form of the PPHQ has established this building as an
iconic, sculptural element integral to both the surrounding neighborhood and city. In addition to local news reports
and general public gatherings—known to use the Roundhouse as a meeting place—the building has also caught the
popular imagination of a wide range of local Philadelphians and visitors, being featured in articles by The Architects’
Newspaper, Changing Skyline, Curbed Philly, The Daily Pennsylvanian, Hidden City Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Inquirer,
PlanPhilly, Reddit, and various other online media sources and venues. As recently as 2013, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s
architecture critic, Inga Saffron, dedicated an entire column to the PPHQ. In addition to the building being the
distinctive built face of the Philadelphia Police Department, the overall Expressionist design—again often confused
with Brutalism—has landed it on lists like the “15 ugliest buildings in Philadelphia.”83 This wide range of publicity, as
well as varied public reaction, only further prove that the building is a familiar and established visual feature. Perhaps
best described as the modern version of the Furness Library—another once hated grand architectural gesture—the
PPHQ has become permanently embedded in Philadelphia’s built environment.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Oscar Beisert for his careful review, thoughtful input, and gracious assistance with finalizing this
nomination.

Additional thanks to Jack Pyburn for lending his expertise, continued encouragement, and generous contributions in
support of this nomination.

82  Merriman, Anna and Melissa Romero. “Philly’s 11 Most Iconic Modern Buildings,” Curbed Philadelphia, 10 April 2019. < https://philly.
curbed.com/maps/philadelphia-modern-architecture-buildings-iconic>
83  Romero, Melissa, “The 15 ugliest buildings in Philadelphia,” Curb Philadelphia, 23 August 2016.
< https://philly.curbed.com/maps/ugliest-buildings-philadelphia>

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8. Major Bibliographical References

“A. E. Komendant, 85, A Structural Engineer.” New York Times, September 18, 1992. Accessed October 8,
2012. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania. “Geddes Brecher Qualls Cunningham.” Accessed
October 21, 2012. http://www.design.upenn.edu/archives/majorcollections/gbqc.html.

“The Changing City.” The Evening Bulletin, February 27, 1958.

“Circling in the Square.” Architectural Forum 118 (1963): 120-125.

City of Philadelphia. “Dedication of Police Headquarters.” Monday, April 1, 1963. Pamphlet. Temple
University, Urban Archives. Philadelphia, PA

Clendenin, Malcolm with Introduction by Emily T. Cooperman. “Thematic Context Statement: Modernism:
1945-1980.” (2009). Available: Preserve Philadelphia, www.preservephiladelphia.org/wp-content/uploads/
HCSModernism.pdf.

Cohen, Madeline. “Postwar City Planning in Philadelphia: Edmund Bacon and the Design of Washington
Square East. PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1991.

Coombs, Robert. “Philadelphia’s Phantom School.” Progressive Architecture 42 (April 1976): 58-71.

Geddes, Robert. “Possibilities in Architecture.” Architectural Record 108 (November 1977): 103-108.

----------. “Principles and Precedents: Geddes Brecher Qualls Cunningham.” Process Architecture 62 (October
1985): all.

Gelernter, Mark. A History of American Architecture: Buildings in their Cultural and Technological Context. Hanover,
NH: University of New England Press, 1999.

Husken, G. and H. J. H. Brouwers. “On the early-age behavior of zero-slump concrete.” Cement and Concrete
Research 42 (2012). Accessed November 12, 2012. http://josbrouwers.bwk.tue.nl/publications/Journal80.pdf.

Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage Books, 1992.

Komendant, August. “Precasting Makes New Strides.” Progressive Architecture (October 1960): 176-191.

----------. 18 years with architect Louis I. Kahn. Englewood, NJ: Aloray, 1975.

----------. Prestressed Concrete Structures. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1952.

Lewis, Maurice M. “Klein Views New Police Building: ‘Ugly, Cost too High, Overcrowded.’” The Evening
Bulletin, March 31, 1963.

Osborn, Michelle. “A Building That Invites Inspection.” The Evening Bulletin, December 10, 1965.

Nomination for the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places

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Pace, Valeria Sue Halverson. “Society Hill, Philadelphia: Historic Preservation and Urban Renewal in
Washington Square East.” Master’s Thesis, University of Minnesota, 1976.

Perkins, G. Holmes. “Part Four: Philadelphia Phoenix: Postwar Civic Renaissance and the Philadelphia
School.” In Drawing Toward Building: Philadelphia Architectural Graphics 1732-1986, edited by James F. O’Gorman,
Jeffrey A. Cohen, George E. Thomas and G. Holmes Perkins. Philadelphia, PA: Pennsylvania Academy of the
Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania, 1986.

Philadelphia Architects and Buildings. “Geddes, Robert Louis (b. 1923).” Accessed October 4, 2012.
http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/23846.

Philadelphia Architects and Buildings. “Qualls, Wyckoff (1923-2001).” Accessed October 4, 2012.
http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/23412.

Philadelphia City Planning Commission. “Amendment Unit Four.” Independence Mall: Center City Redevelopment
Area. Philadelphia: City Planning Commission, 1966.

“Pioneering in Precast Concrete.” Engineering News Record, October 13, 1960: 56-60.

“Police Building Wins Award of Architects.” The Evening Bulletin, April 1, 1963.

Princeton University School of Architecture. “Robert Geddes, FAIA.” Accessed October 21, 2012.
http://soa.princeton.edu/02fac/fac_frame.html?geddes.html.

Pyburn, Jack. “The Role of Architectural Precast Concrete Technology in the Internationalization of Postwar
Modernism.” In Eighth International Docomomo Conference: Postwar Modernism in an Expanding World, 1945-1975.
New York, 2004.

Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia. Market Street East General Neighborhood Renewal Plan.
October, 1966.

Richard, J.M. An Introduction to Modern Architecture. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1940.

Robin, John. Interview by Walter Philips Sr. February 11, 1978. Transcript. Philips Oral History Project. Temple
University, Urban Archives. Philadelphia, PA

Robinson & Associates, Inc., Judith H. Robinson and Stephanie S. Foell. United States General Services
Administration. Growth, Efficiency, and Modernism: GSA Buildings of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Center for Historic
Buildings, U.S. General Services Administration, March 2006. Available: http://www.gsa.gov/graphics/pbs/
GEMbook.pdf.

Rowan, Jan C. “Wanting to Be: The Philadelphia School.” Progressive Architecture 42 (April 1961): 130-163.

Smart, James. “In Our Town.” The Evening Bulletin, January 13, 1963.

Spring, Bernard P. and Donald Canty. “Concrete: The material that can do almost anything.” Architectural Forum
(September 1962): 78-96.

Wiseman, Carter. Louis I. Kahn: Beyond Time and Style. New York: Norton, 2007.

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