The Tallest Building in The South

Postcard depicting The tallest building in the South, to be located in Memphis, Tennessee. The postcard calls the skyscraper ‘Proposed’, however no other drawings exist for it.

To hell with context. The artist behind the postcard above must have been thinking something similar when conjuring up the fantasy that was to be The tallest building in the South. I use the term artist, rather than architect or designer, because the building depicted hasn’t been designed, but rather imagined. It’s a non-functional idea for a tall building, rather than an actual building proposal. Still, what a wild image it makes. I love fantastical building ideas like this, because they bring to light different aspects of the built environment that many of us take for granted. I also can’t resist critiquing ideas like this because it makes for interesting banter.

At first glance, it’s clear the artist is using verticality to make a statement about the building. It’s not enough for the building to just be tall. It must be the tallest. And oh boy, it’s the tallest and then some. It destroys any sense of fitting in that one hopes for in the design of a skyscraper. The surrounding city is ignored to the point of irrelevance, being included at the bottom of the image, as a humble afterthought next to the power of the skyscraper. A tower such as this is meant to be a landmark, visible for miles in any direction, in order to signal the superiority of Memphis to the world. As such, I suppose a building like this, had it actually been built, would have put Memphis ‘on the map’ in the conversation about skyscrapers.

Edited detail of the original photograph, removing everything above the first main cornice line. Up to this cornice, the building does well to mix in with its surroundings, but the sheer height of the tower above kills any relation to its context.

One curious detail is that the base of the building, on its own, would make a pretty nice addition to the cityscape. I’ve edited the original image here to show what I mean. By cutting off the tower at its first cornice line, it fits in rather well to the buildings surrounding it. What a difference a bit of context can make.