text: Initial planning In January 1955, Chase Manhattan president John J. McCloy hired David Rockefeller, patriarch of the Rockefeller family, as the company's executive vice president for redevelopment.  Rockefeller later recalled that he had persuaded McCloy to employ a "qualified outside firm" to conduct studies on what facilities Chase Manhattan needed. The firm, Ebasco Services Incorporated, conducted numerous studies and determined that the company should buy land for a single headquarters at one of two possible locations: the "Broad Street block" and the "Mutual Life block". The firm further recommended a "definitive and dramatic" design. Rockefeller worked closely with real estate developer William Zeckendorf, who suggested purchasing the Mutual Life block between Nassau, Liberty, William, and Pine streets. In February 1955, the Chase Manhattan Bank purchased the Mutual Life plot for $4.425 million to construct a new headquarters called One Chase Manhattan Plaza. Chase also obtained  from the Guaranty Trust Company on Liberty Street, adjacent to the other lots it had acquired. While Chase Manhattan claimed at the time that it had no plans to construct new headquarters, demolition began in May 1955.
  SOM was hired for the project in early 1955. Accounts vary on how SOM was selected: Rockefeller wrote that the firm had been recommended by his friend, the architect Wallace Harrison, though SOM partner Nathaniel Owings claimed that the firm had sought the commission of their own volition. SOM partner Edward Matthews had tasked Owings with the design, and Owings's team started preparing designs after meeting informally with Chase executives on June 10, 1955. The team had prepared a survey of the surrounding neighborhood by July 15, at which point Owings proposed combining the two blocks. Although The New York Times later said that Owings "claimed credit for the idea of placing a skyscraper on a small part of a downtown lot", Rockefeller said Zeckendorf was the person responsible for the tower-and-plaza scheme. According to Rockefeller, Zeckendorf had encouraged him to acquire the Mutual Life Insurance Building and the remaining buildings on the two blocks, then convince the city government to close Cedar Street.