American Stock Exchange Building vs 2 Park Avenue Building

Comparing the American Stock Exchange Building and the 2 Park Avenue Building is interesting because they both rise in New York, NY, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Starrett & van Vleck and Buchanan & Kahn Architects, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than 7 years apart.

This contrast within the same city allows us to see how different creative minds interpreted the evolving needs of New York across time.

Let's take a closer look!

The 2 Park Avenue Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 361ft (110m) with 28 floors above ground, while the American Stock Exchange Building reaches 210ft (64m) with 14 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 American Stock Exchange Building and the 2 Park Avenue Building were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Art Deco style.

Back then, theArt Deco was still an emerging movement, so both giving it a pioneering role. By contrast, the 2 Park Avenue Building came later, when the style was already more established.

Both the American Stock Exchange 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.