30 Rockefeller Plaza Buiding vs McGraw Hill Building

Comparing the 30 Rockefeller Plaza Buiding and the McGraw Hill Building is especially interesting because they share much in common. Both rise in New York, NY both were designed by Howells & Hood, and they were completed within 2 years of each other.

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

The 30 Rockefeller Plaza Buiding is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 853ft (260m) with 70 floors above ground, while the McGraw Hill Building reaches 486ft (148m) with 35 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 30 Rockefeller Plaza Buiding and the McGraw Hill 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 Howells & Hood 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 30 Rockefeller Plaza Buiding and the McGraw Hill 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.