Metropolitan Life North Building vs 20 Exchange Place Building

Comparing the Metropolitan Life North Building and the 20 Exchange Place Building is interesting because they both rise in New York, NY, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Harvey Wiley Corbett and Cross & Cross, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than a decade 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 20 Exchange Place Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 774ft (236m) with 57 floors above ground, while the Metropolitan Life North Building reaches 449ft (137m) with 31 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 20 Exchange Place 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 20 Exchange Place Building style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the 20 Exchange Place Building was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

The Metropolitan Life North 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 Metropolitan Life North 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.