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notes
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Weiskopf
& Pickworth LLP, Associate Structural Engineer.
Turner Construction Company, Contractor.
Chase Manhattan Bank, Developer and Current Owner.
"...When seen from a distance, the
bank looks bulky among the slender towers of pre- Depression skyscrapers.
Its surface can also appear obtrusive because the earlier building
surfaces of brick and stone absorb light while Chase's aluminum and glass
reflect it. Seen from ground level, especially from its principal plaza,
the building is a commanding presence."Chase's tall rectangle is
asymmetrical in plan, with the elevator and service core shifted off
center to allow a 45-foot-wide clerical pool on the south and individual
offices and a corridor 29 feet wide on the north. These broad spaces are
uninterrupted by columns, adding to the cost but producing about 6 percent
more continuous space for desks."
—from Carol Herselle Krinsky. Gordon
Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. p72-74, 76.
Details
"The building is an enormous
steel-framed rectangle, 813 feet high, containing about 1.8 million square
feet above ground level, with another 600,000 square feet below grade for
a truck entrance, mechanical equipment rooms, vaults, a branch bank, and a
cafeteria. On the facade are anodized aluminum panels, mulllions, and
column cladding. Aluminum was chosen because it was cheaper than stainless
steel, and the manu- facturer offered a long performance guarantee. The
columns, nearly 3 x 5 feet in size, stand 29 feet apart on the long axis
and project from the long façades of the building; on the short sides,
floors are cantilevered beyond the columns."
—from Carol Herselle Krinsky. Gordon
Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. |