The Architectural Beauty Of Park Avenue's Buildings

In architecture, the wedding-cake style is an informal term for buildings with distinct tiers, each set back from the one below, resembling a wedding cake. This style is prominent in New York City due to the 1916 Zoning Resolution, which mandated buildings to reduce their shadows at street level by using setbacks, resulting in a ziggurat profile. This design became a defining feature of Art Deco buildings worldwide, and many iconic structures in New York, such as the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, and 30 Rockefeller Plaza, showcase this aesthetic.

The 1916 Zoning Resolution

The resolution's key features included dividing land into districts based on their "use": commercial, residential, and unrestricted (industrial). It also regulated the shapes of tall buildings, introducing five different "height" zones and setback formulas. These formulas specified a maximum vertical height above the sidewalk, after which the building had to incorporate a setback, resulting in the distinctive stepped-pyramid shape of New York's skyscrapers.

The resolution remained in effect until the mid-20th century when new measures were introduced to accommodate modern architectural styles. However, its legacy is evident in the unique skyline of New York City and the influence it had on international urban development, with the setback skyscraper style spreading to cities like Chicago and Shanghai.

Art Deco architecture

The Art Deco movement received global attention at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, where it got its name. The movement was influenced by bold geometric forms, bright colours, and exotic styles from around the world.

In the United States, the Art Deco style is particularly associated with New York City, where the 1916 Zoning Resolution influenced the design of many iconic buildings. The resolution required buildings to employ setbacks, resulting in a ziggurat profile that became known as the "wedding cake" style. This style subsequently became common among Art Deco buildings around the world. Notable examples of Art Deco architecture in New York City include the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, and Rockefeller Center.

Stalinist architecture

The wedding-cake style, characterised by buildings with many distinct tiers, each set back from the one below, resulting in a shape like a wedding cake, is often associated with Stalinist architecture. This style, supercharged with boldly scaled classical detailing, was a typical feature of Stalinist architecture in Russia. The most representative example is the group of buildings called Vysotki or Stalinsky Vysotki, also known as the Seven Sisters. These include the main building of Moscow State University, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, and the Leningradskaya Hotel, among others.

American cities vs. socialist cities

The "wedding cake" shape is a common feature of buildings in American cities, particularly in New York, due to the 1916 Zoning Resolution. This resolution was passed to curb the effects of multiple skyscrapers sprouting up across the city, which blocked out sunlight and created dark caverns on city streets. The resolution mandated that architects incorporate setbacks into buildings at certain heights, resulting in skyscrapers that were tall but didn't feel bulky. This led to the wedding cake-style buildings, with multiple distinct tiers, each set back from the one below.

In contrast, cities that developed under socialist economies or heavily regulated land-use policies, such as Moscow and Beijing, tend to have different urban shapes. In these cities, the government heavily plans and directs growth, resulting in shapes other than the traditional wedding cake model. For example, in Moscow, population densities grow as you move away from the city centre due to the absence of land prices and incentives to redevelop built-up areas. This results in a more spread-out city with lower population densities closer to the centre.

Beijing, on the other hand, has very strict building height restrictions, especially in its central areas, due to its rich history and cultural traditions. As a result, Beijing is one of the few cities in the world with an inverse density curve, with rising density as you move away from the centre. This planned, non-wedding cake shape has consequences for welfare, with valuable land being underused and commuting distances being lengthened due to inefficient land use patterns.

While American cities tend to have a more organic growth pattern driven by market forces, socialist cities are more heavily planned and directed by the government, resulting in different urban forms and infrastructure networks.

The Empire State Building

The building's design was influenced by the 1916 Zoning Resolution, which was enacted to curb the effect of multiple skyscrapers sprouting up across the city. Before the resolution, buildings could be built as high as technology allowed, resulting in dark caverns on city streets. The 1916 resolution demanded that architects create setbacks on buildings at certain heights, leading to skyscrapers that were tall but less bulky.

The wedding cake shape is most obvious in cities like New York and Chicago but can also be seen in more "planned" cities like Paris. It is the result of market forces that shaped most Western cities, with high demand in urban centres pushing up land prices and encouraging developers to build taller and denser structures.

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