text: Sculptor Isamu Noguchi, a frequent collaborator of Bunshaft's, was consulted for the design of the plaza. Original plans in 1956 called for square or rectangular recesses in the plaza, accessed by a spiral staircase, but the final 1957 design called for a circular recess, accessed from the concourse. The recess is about  below the plaza and measures  across. Noguchi created a sunken Japanese rock garden in the recess, similar to one at Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, as part of a series of contemporary artworks collected or commissioned by Chase. Seven large dark basalt rocks from Japan were used in the garden, placed atop a surface of 27,000 white granite blocks, each measuring  square. Additionally, the garden incorporated three fountains fed by 45 pipes, which drained into a trough that circumscribed the rock garden. Originally, the rock garden had a pool with goldfish; after they died of copper poisoning when people threw pennies into the pool, the goldfish were removed in 1964.
  In 1970, Chase commissioned a monumental sculpture entitled Group of Four Trees by French artist Jean Dubuffet; it was installed in 1972. The sculpture is made of several fiberglass "leaves" and painted with polyurethane in hues of black and white. At the time, the -tall sculpture was the largest outdoor public artwork in New York City, beating out Pablo Picasso's "Bust of Sylvette" by . Other features of the plaza include planters and benches.
  History
  Two established banks in Lower Manhattan, the Chase National Bank and the Manhattan Company, merged to create the Chase Manhattan Bank in 1955. Chase had been the largest bank in the U.S. until the early 20th century, and the merger made the Chase Manhattan Bank the second-largest bank in the United States. The combined company was at 20 Pine Street. At the time, the Financial District had languished after many corporations had moved uptown. Few large buildings and structures had been erected in the neighborhood since the 1930s, except for transit infrastructure such as the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel and office towers at 99 Church Street and 161 William Street.
  Planning and construction