Combining Lescaze's experience with European modernism, Howe's Beaux-Arts background and the desire of Society President James M. Wilcox for a forward-thinking, tall building the skyscraper incorporated the main characteristics of an International style architecture.

The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society's offices and banking hall featured custom-designed furniture, including custom Cartier clocks on every floor.

[7] Completed in 1932 at a cost of $8 million, the PSFS Building was a modern departure from traditional bank architecture and other Philadelphia skyscrapers.

[6] The Carrier Engineering Corporation was contracted to install air conditioning inside the building,[10] making it only the second air-conditioned high-rise in the United States.

[11] The skyscraper was completed during the Great Depression,[12] and the neon initials of the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society were kept lit throughout the economic troubles to create a symbol of hope and consistency for the city.

[20][21] That same year, the Pennsylvania Convention Center opened one block away from the PSFS Building and numerous new hotels were appearing around the city.

Originally thinking of turning the PSFS Building into apartments, developer Carl Dranoff decided a hotel would be best after noticing a Marriott being built across the street.

A key part of attracting a political convention was the number of available hotel rooms in the host city, and completion of the PSFS Building on time was an important factor.

The year before completion, the Republican Party had decided to hold their 2000 National Convention in Philadelphia despite the earlier concerns of hotel space.

[5][6] The PSFS Building was built for the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society under direction of bank President James M. Wilcox.

Beaux-arts trained George Howe combined his experience with William Lescaze familiarity of modern European design.

The main characteristics of the style, focus on volume over mass, balance rather than preconceived symmetry, and the lack or ornamentation are all in the design of the skyscraper.

Wilcox was adamant about showing off the building's height and in the end vertical piers were added, along with emphasizing the horizontal space inside using the spandrels.

[5][8] The t-shaped tower was designed in a way to allow in the maximum amount of light on the office floors and to emphasize the banking portion in the base.

Located at the corner of 12th and Market Streets, the skyscraper contains 557,000 square feet (52,000 m2) in the original building, with more space provided by a modern addition.

Two-story-tall windows set in flat aluminum frames open into the banking hall area, curving with the rest of the base.

[5] At the time of construction, abbreviations were rarely used but architects Howe and Lescaze pushed for their use as the full name would have been illegible from the ground.

[4][27] When the Loews Hotel acquired the building, they acknowledged the regional significance of the sign, and agreed to keep the letters in place and illuminated.

Below the banking hall, on the ground and basement floors, was 28,755 square feet (2,700 m2) of retail space designed to be able to be altered as needed.

Last rented by Lerner's dress shop, the retail space originally featured display windows and store access in the subway station below.

The rental space spanned over 30 floors and attracted potential tenants by featuring radio outlets in every office, air conditioning and garage facilities.

The foyer had a chart listing the presidents and board members of the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society through the years and where they sat at the boardroom table.

[5] The four-story, concrete-framed, glass and aluminum addition houses a parking garage's entrance and exit, meeting spaces, hotel service facilities, a kitchen, and a room for mechanical equipment.

Located by the 12th Street entrance on the ground floor, the lobby is decorated by the original vault door from the third-floor mezzanine, the bronze ceiling from the safe deposit box area, and the tellers' counters from the banking hall.

Designed to mimic the building's original style, the lobby contains stainless-steel columns that replicate the ones found on the mezzanine, and the walls are of wood and marble.

The ground floor also contains the Bank & Bourbon (formerly Solefood) Restaurant, Bar, and Lounge and a street-level, glass-walled news studio for the NBC affiliate WCAU.

In the March 1931 issue of T-Square Club Journal Elbert Conover said, "The day will come when even in America, we will become skillful enough to meet economic pressure without forcing upon the community such ugliness and illogical designing.

Unlike the PSFS Building, the design of the other skyscraper—New York City's McGraw-Hill Building—was more due to necessity of publishing operations and zoning restrictions than following an architectural movement.

"[11][34] After the International style became popular in the 1950s, the PSFS Building was called one of the most important skyscrapers built in the United States in the first half of the 20th century.

"[8] Jordy also said, "Although it does epitomize the coming [to America] of the European functionalist style of the twenties, this event occurred so late as to make it seem more of a synthesis of previous developments than a herald of new departures.