Rochester Times Square Building vs Reynolds Arcade Building

Comparing the Rochester Times Square Building and the Reynolds Arcade Building is interesting because they both stand in Rochester, NY, and were completed within 3 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.

The Rochester Times Square Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 259ft (79m) with 14 floors above ground, while the Reynolds Arcade Building reaches 0ft (m) with 11 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 Rochester Times Square Building and the Reynolds Arcade 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 Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker and Gordon & Kaelber followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

Both the Rochester Times Square Building and the Reynolds Arcade 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.