Rochester Times Square Building

skyscraper
art-deco
NY
Rochester

About the Rochester Times Square Building in Rochester
Architect and team
Architectureal style
Spaces and uses
Structure and materials

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.

Building's timeline

Construction begins

1929

Genesee Valley Trust

1930

Times Square Building

1955

years ago

2024

Architect and team

Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker was in charge of the architectural design, however, architecture is a complex discipline, which usually involves 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.

Architectural Style

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

The Art Deco movement flourished during the 1920s and 1930s, with many historians marking the outbreak of World War II as its final decline. Even though a couple of decades might not seem as much, the Art Deco movement had a great impact on architecture, and it's widely represented in many American cities due to the development boom that happened during that time.

Art Deco marked the abandonment of traditional historicism and the embracement of modern living and the age of the machine. In architecture, that meant leaving behind the ornaments of Beux-Arts and Neo-Gothic buildings and instead favoring simplicity and visual impact through geometric shapes, clean lines, and symmetrical designs. Ornaments were still an important part of the design, but they became bold and lavish, and were often inspired by ancient cultures or industrial imagery, instead of nature.

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.

Spaces & Uses

The Rochester Times Square Building reaches an architectural height of 259ft (79m). It has a total of 15 floors, 14 above ground and 1 basements. In total, it has a built-up area of 110,997 sqf (10,312m²) offering 95,002 sqf (8,826m²) of usable space.

Ever since opening its doors to the public in 1930, the Rochester Times Square Building has mainly been used as Commercial space.

Materials & Structure

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.

Bas-relief stone carvings flank the main entrance with glass doors and verdigris color metal frames above which rise four tall glass panels. Three central bays of windows framed by vertical pillars that rise from the spandrels of the third floor emphasize its height.

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.