W. R. Grace Building vs One Chase Manhattan Plaza Building

Comparing the W. R. Grace Building and the One Chase Manhattan Plaza Building is particularly interesting because they share the same skyline in New York, NY, and were both designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. However, they were completed more than 13 years apart.

This offers a unique perspective on how the architect's style and the city's architecture evolved over time.

The One Chase Manhattan Plaza Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 814ft (248m) with 60 floors above ground, while the W. R. Grace Building reaches 630ft (192m) with 50 floors above ground.

One Chase Manhattan Plaza Building also offers more total built-up area, a total fo 2,240,000 sqf (208,103m²), which is about 761,471 sqf (70,743m²) more than what the W. R. Grace Building offers.

By contrast, the One Chase Manhattan Plaza Building sits on a site with a lower floor area ratio.

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 W. R. Grace Building and the One Chase Manhattan Plaza Building were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the International Style style.

The W. R. Grace Building was designed at a moment when the International Style style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the One Chase Manhattan Plaza Building style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the One Chase Manhattan Plaza Building was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

Both the W. R. Grace Building and the One Chase Manhattan Plaza 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.

The W. R. Grace Building also provides 185 parking spaces.

The two towers rely on different structural systems, reflecting distinct engineering strategies.

The W. R. Grace Building uses a Frame structural system, which relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight, while the One Chase Manhattan Plaza Building uses a Framed Tube In Tube system, that combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns.

Yet, when it comes to their facade, they both employed the same solution, a Curtain Wall facade.

A curtain wall is a non-load-bearing facade hung from the structural frame. It is anchored to floor slabs and transfers only its own weight and wind loads, allowing for sleek, glassy exteriors.