[techsquare1]

This building is generally considered one of Philip Johnson's better postmodern towers, and it shows you just how much of an architecture nerd he was. At bottom, this building is a combination of the shaft of the Tribune Tower in Chicago (Raymond Hood) and the crown of the Trinity Church in Boston (H. H. Richardson). While both are famous buildings in their own right, the combination of these two design references creates something unique. That's probably why this building has aged so well compared to other postmodern towers of similar vintage and cost (see, e.g., most of Johnson Burgee's late '80s work).

A similar combo is visible in the 191 Peachtree tower. Johnson used a similar window pattern for the shaft of the tower (stone spandrels every three floors), but instead joined two shafts together, and topped them both off with adapted versions of the crowns of the Blenheim Palace corner pavilions (John Vanbrugh). At the base, he added a glass-roofed atrium with copies of the egg-shaped chandeliers from Grand Central Terminal in New York (Warren and Wetmore). Again, he's clearly stealing from others, but the result is a building that looks like nothing else. That's art.