277 Park Avenue Building

The 277 Park Avenue Building is an International Style skyscraper designed by Emery Roth & Sons, and built between 1962 and 1964 in New York, NY.

277 Park Avenue Building is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The 277 Park Avenue Building is also known, or has been known as, Chemical Bank New York Trust Building, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Building, or DLJ Building.

Its precise street address is 277 Park Avenue, New York, NY. You can also find it on the map here.

The building underwent a major restoration in 2022. The architect commissioned to undertake this restoration was Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.

Emery Roth & Sons was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the 277 Park Avenue Building a reality:

• Stanley Stahl as the Main Developer
• Jaros Baum & Bolles in charge of MEP Engineering

The 277 Park Avenue Building can be categorized as an International Style building.

The 277 Park Avenue Building was completed in 1964. By 1964 the International Style movement had already left its early days behind and could be considered a mature movement, which does not mean it was loved and accepted by everyone, on the contrary. The International Style was accepted by the architecture community way before it was by the general public, and it is therefore likely that the 277 Park Avenue Building was not well received by everyone at the time.

The 277 Park Avenue Building uses a frame structure made of steel columns and concrete and steel slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade uses a non-load bearing curtain wall system. This means the curtain wall modules are anchored to the building's structural frame, typically by being attached to the edge of the floor slabs. The curtain wall system connects to the slabs using brackets, anchors, and mullions, which transfer the loads imposed by wind and temperature changes, to the building's primary structural elements.

This setup allows the curtain wall to accommodate differential movement between the facade and the structural frame, such as thermal expansion, floor deflection, or sway from wind forces. This system's integration with the slab edges also allows for continuous insulation and weatherproofing layers.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features

clear glass panels separated by metallic spandrels. The spandrels between the windows are clad in black metal, while the slender vertical mullions are made of silver metal.

Originally, the ground-floor columns were clad in black granite, and the entrance pergola was composed of white panels with recessed lighting and dark metal frames. After the modernization carried out in 2022, the pergola was replaced with a glass and steel canopy, integrating new materials and advanced lighting techniques while respecting the original design. The columns were clad in light-colored materials.