120 Wall Street Building vs 2 Park Avenue Building

Comparing the 120 Wall Street Building and the 2 Park Avenue Building is especially interesting because they share much in common. Both rise in New York, NY both were designed by Buchanan & Kahn Architects, and they were completed within 2 years of each other.

This overlap gives us a unique opportunity to understand how Buchanan & Kahn Architects approached different commissions in the same urban context and historical context during a short period.

The 120 Wall Street Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 446ft (136m) with 33 floors above ground, while the 2 Park Avenue Building reaches 361ft (110m) with 28 floors above ground.

Of course, each project may have faced different briefs or regulatory constraints, which we don't really know about and could also explain the outcome.

Both the 120 Wall Street Building and the 2 Park Avenue Building were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Art Deco style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So Buchanan & Kahn Architects followed what was in many ways expected at the time, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms rather, than breaking with convention.

Both the 120 Wall Street Building and the 2 Park Avenue Building were designed to serve as commercial towers, and that has remained their main use since their completion, serving similar roles in the urban fabric.

These two towers illustrate the many possible ways to combine structure and enclosure in skyscraper design.