City’s plan to demolish & replace SOM-designed 270 Park Avenue sparks criticism

Earlier today, news broke that the De Blasio administration has hashed out a deal with JPMorgan Chase to demolish its existing headquarters at 270 Park Avenue, and replace the structure with a shiny new 70-story building. The deal was negotiated in the wake of the Midtown East rezoning, which loosened zoning regulations for the area in exchange for developers providing street-level and infrastructure improvements.

But lost in the coverage was any mention of the building’s historic importance: It’s one of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s many midcentury commissions (including Lever House, which is just a few blocks away from the Chase HQ), but one of few designed by a woman working in the male-dominated world of architecture. SOM’s Natalie de Blois was, by all accounts, the driving force behind 270 Park Avenue, despite Gordon Bunshaft getting the credit as the design partner.

Or, as Beverly Willis, who works to raise awareness of female architects, put it in a New York Times column celebrating De Blois’s work, “Natalie and Gordon Bunshaft were a team. He took all the credit and she did all the work.”

Naturally, architecture buffs and critics are up in arms over the decision to demolish the building. A release from the city noted that the new building would move forward only when “the project’s approvals are granted,” but 270 Park is not a New York City landmark, which means it is essentially unprotected from demolition. In 2013, the LPC told the Historic Districts Council that 270 Park Avenue “may merit designation,” according to HDC executive director Simeon Bankoff—and doubled down on that in 2016—but it has not begun the process of landmarking.

In a statement to Curbed, a spokesperson for the Landmarks Preservation Commission said the following:

“Prior to the rezoning, the Commission evaluated many buildings in the district including this one. As a result, we prioritized and designated 12 iconic buildings as individual landmarks, but JPMorgan Chase building was not among them. LPC found that other buildings from this era and architect had already been represented by great landmarks, including the Manufacturers Trust Company building in East Midtown and the former One Chase Manhattan Plaza in lower Manhattan. The 12 designations in East Midtown brought the number of designated individual landmarks in the area to 50 that include International style masterpieces of this era such as the Seagram Building and Lever House.”

When the Midtown East rezoning was being negotiated, 11 buildings in the area were named landmarks in one fell swoop—but nearly all of those were prewar structures, aside from the Citicorp Building on Lexington Avenue.

What can be done to save the building is, at this point, unclear. For a recent example of what can happen when the Landmarks Preservation Commission doesn’t act quickly on buildings with historic merit, look to 550 Madison Avenue: The LPC has begun the process of landmarking Philip Johnson’s postmodern icon, and preservationists have lobbied for both its interior and exterior to be preserved. However, its lobby has already been razed, meaning any protections would essentially extend only to its exterior.

Demolition permits have yet to be filed for 270 Park Avenue, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on what happens. But all eyes will likely be on the LPC in the interim:

And in the meantime, it’s a good chance to familiarize yourself with De Blois’s work:

• Midtown East rezoning’s first major project is 70-story HQ for JPMorgan Chase [Curbed]