500 Fifth Avenue Building vs 20 Exchange Place Building

Comparing the 500 Fifth Avenue Building and the 20 Exchange Place Building is interesting because they both stand in New York, NY, and were completed in the same year, 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 20 Exchange Place Building rises higher at 774ft (236m), while the 500 Fifth Avenue Building reaches 696ft (212m). However, the 500 Fifth Avenue Building accommodates more floors with 60 levels above ground, compared to 57 floors in the 20 Exchange Place Building.

This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The 20 Exchange Place Building has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 4.1m, while the 500 Fifth Avenue Building has more compact floors averaging around 3.5m 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 500 Fifth Avenue Building and the 20 Exchange Place 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 Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and Cross & Cross followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The 500 Fifth Avenue Building is primarily commercial, while the 20 Exchange Place Building is primarily residential.

Originally, the 20 Exchange Place Building was designed for commercial, but over time it was converted to residential. The 500 Fifth Avenue Building by contrast has maintained its original role.

The 20 Exchange Place Building offers 762 residential units.

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