MODERN LANDMARKS

Times/Union 11/17/69 D&C 12/5/71Times/Union 05/22/69

In the late 1960's the leaders of the Lincoln-Rochester Trust Company proposed building a new headquarters in downtown Rochester

The soaring tower would be the centerpiece of a plan to showcase their commitment to downtown’s future…

Times/Union 05/22/69

CHASE TOWER

“LINCOLN ROCHESTER TRUST TOWER”

Architect - John Graham and Company (Jack Follette, New York Office)

- $18,000,000 : Estimated Cost of Construction - May 26, 1969 : Groundbreaking

- June 8, 1971 : Structural Steel "Topped Off"

- 1973 : Tower Officially Completed

- $26,000,000 : Final Cost of Construction

The chosen site was a 3.9 acre plot at the south-west corner of Main St. and Clinton Ave.

Enos Stone's first house in the area, a log cabin, once occupied this corner of downtown

Rochester

At the time of planning, the site was home to Three Sister's, McFarlin's Clothing, and F.W.

Woolworth stores

Down's Alley, a crossway on the site, was removed and the land was condensed into one

blockTimes/Union 05/22/69

Times/Union 05/22/69

In addition to the tower, the plan included a plaza/shopping concourse and a pedestrian-bridge link to Midtown Plaza

Future plans included additional towers on the site; with the demolition of the Lincoln-Alliance Building of 1926 likely if its Main St. location was desired by a developer for a new building

D&C 09/26/69

One Clinton Square, a Palladian ziggurat with “Chicago-style”

windows, was completed behind Chase Tower on the Broad St. side of the complex in 1990

The Alliance Building was not demolished and retains its prominent position on the

corner of Main and Stone

StructureChase Tower employs a Tube in Tube structural system - popularized in the 1960’s

In this system, a concrete service core is tied to exterior support columns by the floor plates

The Tube in Tube structural system provides a larger useable floor area with few, or no, interior columnsTimes/Union 02/22/71

Chase Tower's design

required only

seven structur

al columns

per side…

…This may be the result of using

a robust floor design of interlocking steel beams as

a stiffening agent

Times/Union 05/1970

Times/Union 06/08/71

The core provides resistance to the

lateral loads on the building, while 24 exterior columns bear

the brunt of the tower's weight

Times/Union 11/17/69D&C 09/26/69

D&C 03/15/84

As a result, Chase Tower’s windows do not suffer from the "mail-slot " effect that is a common drawback of bearing wall design

One half (24) of the exterior columns do not function as structural supports

However, they do perform other functions

They provide scale to the façade and enhance the sculptural effect of the flaring and radiating shape of the tower

These “decorative” columns carry the tower’s utility lines to each floor

The tower contained an automated "Telelift" system of

self-propelled carts

The carts ran along a system of tracks that were installed in the

tower's service core

The system was used to facilitate the inter-office

correspondence of the bank

D&C 05/05/72

14,000 sq.ft. Per-Floor Average

396,000 sq.ft. Rentable Space

1,200 Windows

27 Floors 392' Height to Roof 398' Structural Height (top of exterior columns)

1" Thickness of Original Carrara Marble Panels

1.5" Specified Panel Thickness

$18,000,000 Cost to Replace 17,000 Panels of Warping Marble with Panels of Enamel-Coated Aluminum (1984)

D&C c.1983

1993 - Name Changed from First Lincoln Tower

to Chase Tower

2006 - Chase Renovates Tower Cost: $30,000,000

Statistics: 1967-2006 Rochester Times Union /Democrat and

Chronicle

This presentation and all illustrationsherein not otherwise credited copyright © 2007, 2008 by Daniel J. Palmer