JP Morgan Chase World Headquarters
New York, USA

HEIGHT: 215m/707 feet
FLOORS: 52 floors
COMPLETION: 1960
ARCHITECT: Skidmore, Owings & Merril (SOM)

was built in 1958-1960 for the Union Carbide chemical company.
The plans for the building on the full-block site between Madison and Park Avenues were announced in August 1955. The final plans for the skyscraper boasted eleven more storeys than proposed in the first studies in 1952, thus making this 215.5 m tall, 52-storey tower of steel-framed grey glass the tallest new skyscraper in New York City since the RCA Building had been erected in 1933. The Chase Manhattan Bank in Downtown Manhattan was the next tall skyscraper, completed a year later.

As a predecessor of the zoning revision, the massive soaring height of the building was produced by setting it back 17 meters from the Park Avenue side building line and eight from the bordering streets, thus producing a moderately-sized plaza and fulfilling the "light and air" requirement, and by building a 13-storey wing to the Madison side to allow the office tower more height.

Vanderbilt Avenue extends to the mid-block corridor part between the building portions, thus also making the building accessible from four directions. Due to the building's location on top of the Grand Central Terminal railway tracks, the entrance lobby with its elevators is located above the street level, reached from the street by escalators. (For the same reason, the columns of the 6.1 x 12.2 m frame were situated on top of the supports between the tracks, thus removing the need for beamwork to transfer the structural loads to the underground supports.)

The elevated lobby by Bunschaft's co-designers, Natalie de Blois and Jack G. Dunbar has a generous height of eight meters for various exhibitions, but the remoteness of the space from the street has not the least helped its popularity. The street level lobby is a plain open space dominated by the crispy red wall of the tower portion's elevator bank, flanked by the escalators. The paving is of gray granite, with a ceiling of white plastic. All in all, the building incorporates 111,500 m² of space.

The original sidewalk paving of pink terrazzo was removed after Union Carbide sold the building to the Manufacturers Hanover Trust bank in the 1980s, with the building undergoing also other remodelling. At the southeast corner was added J. Seward Johnson's Taxi (1983), a lifelike bronze statue of a man hailing a taxi.

The building is now the headquarters of the new Chase Manhattan bank, formed in 1996 as a merger of Chase and the Chemical Bank from opposite the street. (Another transaction merged Chase with J.P. Morgan of 60 Wall Street in 2001.)

http://photo.starblvd.net/RateOurTalls/2-4-4-1078006035?m=1&pg=1&ro=3&co=3

http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC_Images/816.jpg

http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v156/AtlanticaC5/JP.jpg

The base:
http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v156/AtlanticaC5/JP2.jpg

http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC_Images/817.jpg

6.5/10 i'm not a fan of boxes, but it looks ok to me

6.5/10

Hmm..I like the reflectivity of the facade.

Mwah it is ok.A simple box and the facade looks also simple and not that beautiful.. 6.0

a typical box...5/10

Box, but it's shiney. :) 5.5/10

oohh i want it in bogota 9/10

7/10
I like the base, but the rest's quite plain.

8/10.

By the way, how much office space does the building have? After all' it takes up a whole block.

Originally posted by Agglomeration

8/10.

By the way, how much office space does the building have? After all' it takes up a whole block.

Approx. 560 000 m3 by volume. Thats the only data I could find.

beautiful box! 10

5/10

5.5/10 - A typical, bland box - the facade does a fair job of catching the light, but the tower is simply too bulky and boxy, and it looks like it's showing its age a bit.

This reminds me of the Seagram building in its general design, but the Seagram pulls it off so much better....

I actually like boxes, but this building doesn't do anything for me.
5/10

It's a box, but the facade is simple and OK. 7/10

6

Its kinda blank...

Originally posted by Liz L This reminds me of the Seagram building in its general design, but the Seagram pulls it off so much better.... Agreed Liz L.

The Seagram building completed 2 years earlier in 1958 is one of van der Rohe's best buildings
with its clear linear construction and is ageless with its sharp lines.

To quote van der Rohe "Less is more".

Chase W.H. is obviously from the school of N.Y.C.'s SOM
as opposed to Chicago's school of SOM.

JP Morgan Chase W.H. is remiscent of Melbourne's 140 William Street ex BHP Builidng
(BHP is a mining company in Australia),
@ 152m/500ft and was completed in 1972 but was
obviously on the drawing boards in the latter part of the 1960s:

http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/pictures/0/0/2/im/pi002046.jpg


**BTW JP Morgan Chase W.H. gets a score of 9 from me :)

box box box -1
some facade elements thats it.

Sigh.....this design of boxes always makes them look grey and dull. 5/10.

boxes werent meant to stand out...this one does..mistake.
7/10

9/10. Very nice box. SOM in it best days.

just an ordinary boring box 5/10

a nicer box :)

4.5/10 ! :)

6/10

7.5/10


a nice box

A nice epitome of its era's architecture. I hope the interior has remained as original as can be....

8/10

6/10

the facade actually look quite shiny for a '60s box, but building is too big for it to be of any big help. i prefer almost any box buildings in nyc (even metlife) over this one.

6

its ok, loos younger than it is 6/10

I've seen better boxes. 6

Boring box. 6.5/10

Nice box 7.0

Classic NYC...good lines, stylish and good architecture for its year. 8/10

I quite like it. The sheer size, height and volume of the building is very impressive.

7/10

8/10

i like this box

8/10

7.5/10

7/10.

A very nice box. I give it an 8.5/10. :D

nice 7

Meh, not a bad design, which is certainly very functional. The flashier use of stainless on the facade's finnials is a nice touch IMO. The lobby and outdoor spaces are miserably sterile though from what I've seen and heard. However, it's not so bad once the context of the challenges presented by the building's location above the subways tunnels.

7.0/10

8/10

Average box. 6.5.

7/10

Nice box, but a box after all
6.5/10

so this is the first box?, 6/10

box..6.5/10

8/10 i like this one.

This box is too fat and too dark. 6,5/10

Well its a box. That said for its time it was a nice box and somthing about it looks interesting 8.0

6/10

5/10

6.5/10

Just another generic box. Sadly, I accidentally voted a 9.5.

Boxes..Boxes..But this one's a better box. ;)

BTW, I gave it a 7.5/10

6/10

Not bad as far as boxes go....7.5/10

BOX, 5/10

Height, width proportion makes it look much taller than it is. Yet not delicate or fragile. For that 8

7/10.

7/10.

3,5/10

7/10

7/10

Pretty nice as far as boxes go.

It's a pretty good filler and I like the way it reflects the other buildings. The height is nice too, not too tall and not too short.

The windows look a bit cheap up close though and the building itself is a bit boring.

7.5/10

7/10

Looks OK 7.5

6/10

great box, 8.5/10

Height: 707 ft/ 215 m
Floors: 52
Year: 1960
Architect: SOM

was built in 1958-1960 for the Union Carbide chemical company.
The plans for the building on the full-block site between Madison and Park Avenues were announced in August 1955. The final plans for the skyscraper boasted eleven more storeys than proposed in the first studies in 1952, thus making this 215.5 m tall, 52-storey tower of steel-framed grey glass the tallest new skyscraper in New York City since the RCA Building had been erected in 1933. The Chase Manhattan Bank in Downtown Manhattan was the next tall skyscraper, completed a year later.

As a predecessor of the zoning revision, the massive soaring height of the building was produced by setting it back 17 meters from the Park Avenue side building line and eight from the bordering streets, thus producing a moderately-sized plaza and fulfilling the "light and air" requirement, and by building a 13-storey wing to the Madison side to allow the office tower more height.

Vanderbilt Avenue extends to the mid-block corridor part between the building portions, thus also making the building accessible from four directions. Due to the building's location on top of the Grand Central Terminal railway tracks, the entrance lobby with its elevators is located above the street level, reached from the street by escalators. (For the same reason, the columns of the 6.1 x 12.2 m frame were situated on top of the supports between the tracks, thus removing the need for beamwork to transfer the structural loads to the underground supports.)

The elevated lobby by Bunschaft's co-designers, Natalie de Blois and Jack G. Dunbar has a generous height of eight meters for various exhibitions, but the remoteness of the space from the street has not the least helped its popularity. The street level lobby is a plain open space dominated by the crispy red wall of the tower portion's elevator bank, flanked by the escalators. The paving is of gray granite, with a ceiling of white plastic. All in all, the building incorporates 111,500 m² of space.

The original sidewalk paving of pink terrazzo was removed after Union Carbide sold the building to the Manufacturers Hanover Trust bank in the 1980s, with the building undergoing also other remodelling. At the southeast corner was added J. Seward Johnson's Taxi (1983), a lifelike bronze statue of a man hailing a taxi.

The building is now the headquarters of the new Chase Manhattan bank, formed in 1996 as a merger of Chase and the Chemical Bank from opposite the street. (Another transaction merged Chase with J.P. Morgan of 60 Wall Street in 2001.)



There is something wrong here. The building in the pictures is indeed Chase Manhattan, but the building in the article is the MetLife Building, above Grand Central Terminal.

The Chase Headquarters site is formed by the following streets: William, Pine, Nassau, Liberty.

7.

7.5/10

this building should be replaced by something more respectful of Helmsley and MetLife. Just an awful building

3.5/10

8/10

6/10

6/10

7/10

4/10

6 / 10

5.5/10

8.5 boxy but it looks great.

5/10

7/10

... not bad considering it's built in the 1960's.

Elegant base but boring building.

7 for the base. 5 for the building. 6 overall.

6,5/10

6/10

A fairly nice box 7/10

A bit boring 5/5

Nice box though I can't say I like the base...

8/10.

like it.simple but elegant...9/10

6/10

6/10

7/10.

7/10

8/10

8/10

2/10

boxxxxyyyyyy.....

5/10.

10/10 :cheers:

with jp morgan's money they could do so much better. 4.5/10

I've seen better boxes, but this one is slightly above average. Some nice materials here. That's about it.
5.5/10

big and boxy !! ok

box 6

5/10

Box box!!

5/10

9/10

6.5/10

8/10

6.

8.5/10

7.5/10

9/10

good box, 7/10

7/10 Not really special, but ok to me. :)

boring and unadventorius

8/10

Massive!

9/10

It's a box, but a very nice and well-designed box.

Nice bottom... I love these kind of buildings at evening with lights opened... *.*
7.5/10

8,5/10

8/10

just good...

6.5/10

8. Good building. Regards.

8/10

7.5/10

10/10

9/10

6.5/10

6.5/10, but only because it's tall

6/10

8/10

8/10