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The midsection begins at the sixth story and rises through the 26th story. It is mostly faced in buff-colored granite.[41][42][43] Each bay contains two windows.[41][43] There are slightly projecting vertical piers separating each bay, except at the corners, which have grooves that make them appear as though they were ... |
The 27th through 31st stories are decorated with engaged Ionic columns in antis.[31] On the 27th through 29th stories, the north, east, and south facades are set back behind colonnades, while the west facade extends outward to the columns of the colonnade.[43] Trowbridge and Livingston had wanted the colonnade on the 2... |
Annex |
The annex's facade is made of granite at the base and limestone on the upper stories.[30][35] It was designed to defer to the "solid and robust architecture" of the original building.[46] The facade of the annex is arranged in two styles. The Wall Street facade contains setbacks at lower stories, and the window arrange... |
The Pine Street and Nassau Street facades are more modern in design, with motifs in the Modern Classic and Art Deco styles. Due to variations in the lot lines on the annex's site, the annex projects 16 feet (4.9 m) further onto the street than did the original building.[6] In addition to an entrance at the center of th... |
Structural features |
For the foundation of 14 Wall Street, caissons were sunk around the site's perimeter, reaching to the layer of rock 65 feet (20 m) below the street. Concrete was then poured in between these caissons to create a watertight cofferdam[14][49] measuring 6 to 7 feet (1.8 to 2.1 m) thick.[45][50] The membrane was needed bec... |
The superstructure contains more than 8,000 short tons (7,100 long tons; 7,300 t) of steel.[24][37][39] The second floor does not contain any columns because of the elaborate network of heavy trusses used to support the outer walls.[24][37][51] "Unusually heavy bracing" is used to support the fourth floor.[24][52] Ther... |
Interior |
The builders ensured that 14 Wall Street would be constructed with fireproof material. Metal was used in place of the wood trim that was used for decoration in other buildings, and a sprinkler system was placed in the roof.[21][14][44] |
Bankers Trust offices |
Bankers Trust's offices occupied basement levels A and B, as well as the first, second, and fourth stories.[53][54][a] The offices housed the banking, trust, and foreign departments of Bankers Trust.[22] These offices were designed "in a pure classic style"; the metalwork in the offices was a light-colored bronze, whil... |
The second floor contained the main banking room, with tellers' windows, trust departments, and other banking departments.[54] The main banking room was designed in a Greek style[56] and had 27-foot-high (8.2 m) ceilings;[57] the walls were clad in Tavernelle marble for their full height.[45] The tellers' counters ori... |
At the center of the Wall Street side, a wide staircase led to the first floor. Initially, this was the main entrance to the Bankers Trust offices.[44] The lobby contains a bronze gate with symbols of capitalist enterprises such as metallurgy, shipping, construction, power, agriculture, manufacturing, and mining.[41] A... |
Basements |
The building has four basement levels, two of which were occupied by Bankers Trust's safe-deposit vault.[36] Described by The Bankers Magazine as "the strongest vault in the world", the vault measured 28 by 32 feet (8.5 by 9.8 m) across.[59] The vault weighed 1,550 short tons (1,380 long tons; 1,410 t) and had 160 safe... |
When the building was completed, the basement also had a mail carriers' station, where couriers could collect packages and deliver them to tenants.[45] The third basement contained ventilation openings and fans, while the fourth and deepest basement contained the power and steam plants.[51] |
Upper stories |
The remaining stories were rented to various tenants.[62] The office stories contained floor surfaces made of concrete, as well as walls of marble, plaster, and terracotta.[44] As a fireproofing measure, the doors, window sash, and trim were made of metal; the trim was then finished to look like mahogany.[39][44] Each ... |
A system of eleven elevators connected the lobby to the rental floors, consisting of five "express" elevators, five "local" elevators, and one "relief" elevator.[44][36][65] The "express" elevators ran nonstop from the lobby to the 16th story and above.[54] The "local" elevators served the lower floors, and the "relief... |
The present-day 32nd floor, the highest story beneath the roof,[e] was supposed to have been an apartment, which J. P. Morgan had an option to occupy. He chose not to pursue the option due to antitrust proceedings ongoing against Bankers Trust at the time of the building's completion,[8][34] and the space was instead c... |
History |
Context and land acquisition |
Bankers Trust was founded in 1903 when a number of commercial banks needed a vehicle to enter the trusts and estates market.[8][72][73] The company originally was located at Liberty and Washington Streets, with eight staff working in two basement rooms.[74] The Bankers Trust ultimately acquired space in the Gillender B... |
During the latter part of the decade, financial institutions such as the Bank of Montreal, the Fourth National Bank, and the Germania Life Insurance Company acquired properties on Wall and Nassau Streets.[10] Bankers Trust started to negotiate the purchase of the Gillender Building in April 1909.[11] The bank first obt... |
In November, Bankers Trust finalized an agreement to buy the Gillender Building from Helen Gillender.[11] The next month, the Manhattan Trust Company acquired the Gillender Building for $1.5 million (equivalent to $50,867,000 in 2023), then a record amount for land in New York City.[11][78] Manhattan Trust then resold ... |
Construction and early use |
To maximize land utilization, Bankers Trust desired to build a structure taller than either the Gillender or Stevens buildings.[14][32] To "obtain the very best results" for the design, in 1909, Bankers Trust requested plans from four architects and architecture firms: Carrère and Hastings, Francis H. Kimball, Trowbri... |
Initial building |
The first stage of construction commenced in April 1910 with the demolition of the Gillender Building,[12] which The New York Times claimed to be the first skyscraper that was demolished to make way for a taller skyscraper.[13] Demolition of the Stevens Building started the same month,[12] and both buildings had been d... |
The basements and the three lower floors were to contain the headquarters of Bankers Trust, although its main operations would be housed elsewhere in less expensive offices.[53] Most of the upper floors were slated to be rented to other companies.[62][87] By May 1911, The Wall Street Journal reported that "a large amou... |
14 Wall Street officially opened on May 1, 1912,[22] and Bankers Trust began moving into its offices on May 20.[91] Upon opening, the building was 85% rented.[87][91] J.P. Morgan & Co. had originally planned to move into 14 Wall Street, with Morgan occupying the 32nd-story apartment,[e] but these plans were canceled sh... |
Annex |
Bankers Trust began land acquisition in 1919, acquiring the Astor Building that June[92] and the building at 7 Pine Street two months later.[17][20] The Hanover Bank Building was not acquired until September 1929. By that time, Bankers Trust owned the eastern half of the block bounded by Broadway and Wall, Pine, and Na... |
Staff at 14 Wall Street were moved to a temporary location when work began in May 1931,[99][100] and the Hanover Bank, Astor, and 7 Pine Street buildings were being razed by the next month.[64][101][102] Workers used dynamite to clear the site of the annex. This damaged two nearby buildings near the intersection of Wal... |
Meanwhile, in November 1931, contractors began working in two five-hour shifts per day instead of one eight-hour shift, doubling the number of jobs as well as increasing daily productivity.[110] The 25-story annex was completed in 1932, and the staff moved back into 14 Wall Street.[99] The bank hired brokers Brown, Whe... |
Later use |
Bankers Trust occupancy |
The Bankers Trust Company had assets of $1 billion by 1935.[15] As a sign of the company's financial stability, in 1943, Bankers Trust bought the land under 14 Wall Street from the Sampson family, whose Stevens Building had been demolished to make way for the original tower.[115] The building was outfitted with a moder... |
Bankers Trust retained ownership of 14 Wall Street until 1987, when the building was sold to 14 Wall Street Associates, who subsequently sold the building to 14 Wall Street Realty in 1991 and to General Electric Investment in 1992.[15] After buying 14 Wall Street, General Electric Investment started to renovate the bui... |
Subsequent occupancy |
Boston Properties agreed to buy 14 Wall Street for $320 million in August 1997,[123] and the 32nd floor was converted into an upscale French restaurant called The 14 Wall Street that November.[70][124] The tenant of the annex's banking room, Chase Bank, donated the space to the Skyscraper Museum for one year starting i... |
Gluck had sole ownership of 14 Wall Street by 2004, and Leviev Boymelgreen bought the building from Gluck the next year for $215 million.[126] Initially, the new owners wanted to convert the entire building from offices into luxury condominiums but, in 2006, they dropped their plan for a residential conversion.[127] In... |
Carlyle and Capstone sold majority control of the building in 2012 to Alexander Rovt, a Ukrainian fertilizer tycoon, for $303 million in cash.[129][130] Rovt paid off the building's outstanding debt as part of the deal. At the time of the purchase, the building had 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) of vacant space, and t... |
Tenants |
Impact |
At the time of its completion, 14 Wall Street was the world's tallest bank building and the city's third- or fourth-tallest skyscraper.[14] 14 Wall Street and the nearby Singer Tower, as viewed from Manhattan's waterfront, resembled "the posts of the gigantic 'Gateway of New York.'"[14][65] Cassier's Magazine wrote tha... |
The iconography persisted even after the annex was constructed.[144] 14 Wall Street's likeness became synonymous with capitalism and Wall Street, having been shown in Berenice Abbott's photos as well as the 1921 documentary film Manhatta,[84] and Bankers Trust sent a miniature model of the building to the Panama–Pacifi... |
14 Wall Street's pyramidal roof inspired the design of several other buildings. Its completion was described as the "beginning of a vogue for the use of a temple or mausoleum" at the top of skyscrapers, utilizing enhanced details or a full depiction of a temple.[33][84] Architecture magazine projected that such a roof ... |
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 14 Wall Street as an official city landmark in January 1997.[3][148] In 2007, the building was designated as a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District,[149] a National Register of Historic Places district.[4] |
See also |
References |
Notes |
Citations |
Sources |
External links |
1501 Broadway |
1501 Broadway, also known as the Paramount Building, is a 33-story office building on Times Square between West 43rd and 44th Streets in the Theater District neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Rapp and Rapp, it was erected from 1925 to 1927 as the headquarters of Paramount Pictures. The building is... |
The facade is mostly designed with brick walls, though the first five stories are ornamented with limestone piers. The main entrance is on 43rd Street. There is also a five-story arch on Broadway, facing Times Square, which leads to a Hard Rock Cafe; it is an imitation of the former Paramount Theatre entrance. Atop the... |
Paramount predecessor Famous Players–Lasky proposed the theater in 1922, but Rapp and Rapp had revised the plans to include an office tower by 1924. The theater opened on November 19, 1926, though the offices did not open until the following year. The clock and globe on the roof were blacked out during World War II. A ... |
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