Architecture, Advertising and Corporations, 1929-1959 contributes to a larger, ongoing project that complicates twentieth century modernism, one that overturns the myth that American modern architecture was imported from Europe with the 1932 MOMA exhibition, Modern Architecture. This dissertation is based on a more inclusive history of American modern architecture; one that developed out of the late nineteenth-century aftermath of the Civil War when a modern American nation emerged vastly industrialized with the rise of corporations, the growth of media, and a burgeoning consumer culture—all of which directly affected modern architecture, and were factors in the four case studies of this dissertation.

The specific contribution of this dissertation is the explication of the role of the corporate client in defining American modern architecture. How each client significantly affected their building designs, as well as explications of the architects' contributions to modernism are consistent themes of the four case studies. The four case studies of buildings, clients, and architects are: The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society and the partnership of George Howe and William Lescaze; The S.C. Johnson & Son Administration Building in Racine Wisconsin, and Frank Lloyd Wright; Lever House in New York and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; and Reynolds Metals Great Lakes Sales Headquarters in Southfield, Michigan and Minoru Yamasaki.

This dissertation differs from past studies of corporate modern architecture in its cross-disciplinary nature, as a combination of business and architectural histories. The clients of these four buildings brought business perspectives to architecture, reflected most visibly in the company's advertising. Archival research and analysis revealed several kinds of advertising activity that was achieved through architecture: these are the use of signage, the architect's fame, an image of efficiency, a display of the company's material product, and a display of civic responsibility. Architecture, advertising, and corporate culture are interwoven in the story of American corporate architecture of the twentieth century, fulfilling the visions of both their clients and their architects.