There are lots of buildings in NYC that have both the 'streetwall' and plaza. This is due to some unique zoning that awards extra floor area ratio for buildings that do have plazas. These building take on interesting shapes where there is often odd cantelivers that one would think to be impossible.

Here is an extreme example:
http://www.aviewoncities.com/nyc/citigroupcenter.htm

The architect in this rendering is proposing something like the Rockefeller Center. This area is very pedestrian orientated and inviting. It certainly fits its surroundings even though it ruins the streetwall that is made up of Saks Fifth Avenue and St Patrick's Cathedral.

In Chicago similar treatments were used to give the City Daley Plaza.

My point is keep open to the new or different. If we kept things the way they were in 1950, we would not have Campus Martius or the River would still be covered with smokestacks.