Lever House. Photos © Florian Holzherr
Lever House, designed by Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) in the international style, completed in 1952, was one of the very first modernist colossuses to rise in New York City. Built to be gazed upon as a structure and to be inhabited by the employees of Lever Brothers, the iconic building balances a tall, vertical volume with one that is horizontal, features open interior spaces, and attains, through engineering, visual weightlessness—all of which creates an elegant, airy and comfortable place to work, dine and socialize.
Archtober visited Lever House on Sunday for a tour led by technical architect Sam O’Meara of SOM.