Beekman Tower Building vs 2 Park Avenue Building

Comparing the Beekman Tower Building and the 2 Park Avenue 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.

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 Beekman Tower Building reaches 285ft (87m) with 26 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 Beekman Tower 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 both Jonh Mead Howells and Buchanan & Kahn Architects followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The Beekman Tower Building is primarily hotel, while the 2 Park Avenue Building is primarily commercial.

Originally, the Beekman Tower Building was designed for residencial, but over time it was converted to hotel. The 2 Park Avenue Building by contrast has maintained its original role.

The Beekman Tower Building incorporates a 3-star hotel with 173 rooms. More information is available at the official website.

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