Chanin Building vs 1 Wall Street Building

Comparing the Chanin Building and the 1 Wall Street Building is interesting because they both stand in New York, NY, and were completed within 2 years of each other, 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 1 Wall Street Building rises higher at 653ft (199m), while the Chanin Building reaches 650ft (198m). However, the Chanin Building accommodates more floors with 56 levels above ground, compared to 50 floors in the 1 Wall Street Building.

This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The 1 Wall Street Building has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 4m, while the Chanin 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 Chanin Building and the 1 Wall 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 Sloan & Robertson and Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The Chanin Building is primarily commercial, while the 1 Wall Street Building is primarily residential.

Originally, the 1 Wall Street Building was designed for commercial, but over time it was converted to residential. The Chanin Building by contrast has maintained its original role.

The 1 Wall Street Building offers 566 residential units.

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