Two New York Plaza (New York City, New York)

 office building, skyscraper, 1971_construction, Modern (architecture)

505-foot, 40-story modernist office building completed in 1971. Designed by Carson Lundin & Shaw and Kahn & Jacobs, it is strikingly different in cladding than its neighbor to the west, One New York Plaza. It has a black-and-white striped facade, with the white piers projecting slightly out from the base - alternating piers extend all the way to the ground or angle into the facade above the ground floor. Halfway up the each of the three main facades (the lower half of the north elevation is attached to 4 New York Plaza), alternating piers angle in from the bottom and top to the mechanical floors housing HVAC and other equipment. The vertical areas between the piers are filled by slightly recessed dark-tinted windows and black spandrel panels. The building's four corners are notched, with narrow metal mullions separating the windows in place of the much larger piers. The piers that angle at the base and mid-section end just short of the top floor, while the alternating ones extend up to the roof line. A white, set-back mechanical penthouse tops the roof.

The building's lobby is clad in white marble and granite, and granite is also used on the plaza's arrangement of benches and a waterfall. An underground parking garage is accessed from South Street. Although completed in 1971, the building was not issued an occupancy permit until 1976.