
The J.P. Morgan Chase headquarters at 270 Park Avenue will be demolished to make room for their new supertall skyscraper.
Taking down an enormous building in the heart of one of the busiest metropolises in the world is no easy feat. This month, J.P. Morgan filed for permits to begin the demolition process on their current 707-foot building in Midtown. The building was designed and completed in the 1960s by Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The skyscraper held a 50-year record for the tallest building to be designed by a woman.
The bank announced their plans to move forward with the demolition last year along with their hopes to erect a new, 70 story building in its place. The new building is meant to accommodate 15,000 potential employees, a substantial increase from the current building which stands at 52-floors and is the nine-to-five home of 6,000 employees.
Once the process is approved and completed, the Park Avenue building will become the tallest building in the world to be intentionally demolished. The next runner up was another NYC building; the 612-foot-tall Singer Building which was demolished in 1968.
The rendering below ranks the top 10 tallest demolished buildings in the world to date. Three of them were in New York.
In a statement, J.P. Morgan explained that the demolition is necessary because the building is outdated and was originally only meant to house 3,500 employees. They expect to complete the demolition process by the end of 2020. According to CityReality, the project will create more than 8,000 construction jobs in New York City. The entire project should be complete by 2024, making the new skyscraper (designed by Foster & Partners) one of the tallest in the hemisphere.
Featured image: MikePScott via Flickr