Metropolitan Life North Building vs 2 Park Avenue Building

Comparing the Metropolitan Life North 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, Harvey Wiley Corbett and Buchanan & Kahn Architects, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished over two decades 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 Metropolitan Life North Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 449ft (137m) with 31 floors above ground, while the 2 Park Avenue Building reaches 361ft (110m) with 28 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 Metropolitan Life North Building and the 2 Park Avenue Building were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Art Deco style.

The Metropolitan Life North Building was designed at a moment when the Art Deco style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the 2 Park Avenue Building style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the 2 Park Avenue Building was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

Both the Metropolitan Life North 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.