W.R. Grace Building

Identification

Map

Structure in general

Usage

Facts

• One of two large Midtown skyscrapers with a facade that slopes up from the base; the other is the Solow Building. This is no coincidence, as Gordon Bunshaft used the first, rejected plans for that building in his design for the W.R. Grace Building.
• The outcome of the 50-storey facade is here of more conventional nature, with a white grid-like pattern of white travertine filling the space between the darkened windows and defining the structural arrangement.
• The tower was built in 1974 for the W.R. Grace chemical company to 42nd Street as the company relocated from Downtown Manhattan, replacing the Stern Brothers department store.
• The building's plaza on the 43rd Street side extends to the Sixth Avenue corner. It, as well as the sidewalk on the 42nd Street side of the building, is clad in the same white travertine as used on the building's facades.