Rochester Times Square Building

The Rochester Times Square Building is an Art-deco skyscraper designed by Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker , and built between 1929 and 1930, for a reported $1.50 million dollars, in Rochester, NY.

Rochester Times Square 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 building has changed names several times over the years, and is also known as:

• Genesee Valley Trust between 1930 and 1955.
• Times Square Building from 1955 until this day.

Its precise street address is 45 Exchange Street, Rochester, NY. You can also find it on the map here.

Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker 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 at the very least we know that there was one other part involved, that was Leo Friedlander as the collaborating Artist.

The Rochester Times Square Building can be categorized as an Art-deco building.

The Rochester Times Square Building was completed in 1930, right when the Art Deco movement was at its peak, so it kind of went with the trend at that time.

The vertical elements of the steel's structure, which transmit all loads vertically until the foudnations, are made out of steel, whreas the horizontal elements that make up each floor are made out of concrete.

The facade in this case is non-load bearing, which means that it does not serve as a structural element, and therefore the architects had total freedom to work on its design without worrying about the support of the building.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features limestone rising over a low granite plinth.

At the top of the building, four 13-meter-high aluminum wings, “Wings of Progress,” unfold over a support of Indiana limestone and a podium of perforated metal screens, making this building one of the most iconic images of the American Art Deco movement.

Another material found at the Rochester Times Square Building is marble, found on the main level's walls. This particular marble is of a veined red color, and was brought in from Spain and Italy.