32 Avenue of the Americas Building vs 21 West Street Building

Comparing the 32 Avenue of the Americas Building and the 21 West Street Building is interesting because they both stand in New York, NY, and were completed just one year apart, but they were designed by different architects.

This offers a unique glimpse at how rival designers approached projects in the same city during the same era.

These two towers present an interesting contrast in their proportions. The 32 Avenue of the Americas Building rises higher at 430ft (131m), while the 21 West Street Building reaches 374ft (114m). However, the 21 West Street Building accommodates more floors with 31 levels above ground, compared to 28 floors in the 32 Avenue of the Americas Building.

This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The 32 Avenue of the Americas Building has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 4.7m, while the 21 West Street Building has more compact floors averaging around 3.7m each. The taller building's more generous floor heights might indicate grander interior spaces, higher ceilings, or different programmatic requirements.

These different proportions likely reflect the specific needs each building was designed to serve, whether driven by zoning regulations, client requirements, or the intended use of the spaces within. The contrast shows how architects can achieve different spatial experiences even when working with similar overall building scales.

Both the 32 Avenue of the Americas Building and the 21 West Street 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 both Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker and Starrett & van Vleck followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The 32 Avenue of the Americas Building is primarily commercial, while the 21 West Street Building is primarily residential.

Originally, the 21 West Street Building was designed for commercial, but over time it was converted to residential. The 32 Avenue of the Americas Building by contrast has maintained its original role.

The 21 West Street Building offers 293 residential units.

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