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Site |
1 Wall Street occupies the entire block in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, bounded by Broadway to the west, Wall Street to the north, New Street to the east, and Exchange Place to the south. 1 Wall Street is adjacent to the Adams Express Building, 65 Broadway, the Empire Building, Trinity Church, and Trinity... |
Because of the curves in the facade, the original structure does not completely occupy its full land lot; instead, 180 square feet (17 m2) is used as a sidewalk. At the chamfered corners of the building, the facade is recessed by up to 7.5 feet (2.3 m) from the lot line. Consequently, when 1 Wall Street was built, its ... |
Architecture |
The original building was designed by Ralph Walker of the Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker in the Art Deco style. The annex was designed by Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker's successor firm Voorhees, Walker Smith Smith & Haines.[11][2][12] Everett Meeks, the dean of the Yale School of Art, was the building's design consultant.[1... |
Although author Daniel Abramson said 1 Wall Street was "Art Deco in many respects",[18] historian Anthony Robins characterized the building as being "Gothic Modern—a skyscraper reflection of Trinity Church".[19] Walker had designed other Art Deco buildings in the New York City area, mainly telecommunications structures... |
Form and facade |
1 Wall Street's facade is made primarily of limestone.[21][22][23] This contrasts with the brick facades of Walker's telecommunications buildings, the use of which was likely influenced by Dutch and German Expressionism.[21][24] At the time of 1 Wall Street's construction, limestone was a relatively expensive material ... |
Original building |
The original 1931 building is on the northern portion of the site. The first twenty stories occupy almost the entire site.[25][28] The building contains a series of small setbacks starting at the 21st story[11][16][29] and continuing until the 35th story, above which a slender tower rises.[11][16] The setbacks on the B... |
Walker emphasized the design of the building's facade, rather than the massing, as was done for other early-20th-century skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan.[14] The facade contains several decorative elements that make it appear as an organic design, rather than a machine-produced design.[21] The facade has indented vertic... |
The base of the original building is composed of the lowest three stories. The section of the base along Wall Street is eight bays wide, with a double-width entrance in the middle of the Wall Street facade, which is reached by a short flight of stairs and leads to the main lobby.[40] The entryway is framed by a jagged ... |
Annex |
The southern annex, completed in 1965, is also mostly made of limestone.[11] On the New Street side, there are setbacks above the 5th and 10th floors; the building then rises as a slender slab with setbacks on the 29th, 34th, and 35th floors.[16] Along Broadway, the facade of the annex was originally recessed behind th... |
In 2018, an entrance to the retail space was constructed in front of the annex;[43] the entrance is clad with glass.[43][44] The entrance structure ranges between one and seven stories high. The facade of the 2018 addition projects forward to the facade of the original structure.[16] Five to six stories were also built... |
Features |
The building contains 10 elevators as of 2019,[47][48] compared with 43 elevators and 14 escalators prior to the residential conversion.[2] When built, 1 Wall Street contained 29 elevators,[11][49] some of which were near the building's exterior walls.[48] Irving Trust had six private elevators,[49] accessed from Wall ... |
There is 1,165,645 sq ft (108,292 m2) of interior space,[1] of which the original building had 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2) of floor space.[9][51][55] The original building's first through 21st stories each contained 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2).[9] There are also five basement levels under the original structure, ... |
Red Room and lobby |
At ground level is the Red Room, a large space with a ceiling stretching 33 feet (10 m)[64] or 37 feet (11 m) high.[40] The Red Room measures 100 feet (30 m) long, stretching between the western and eastern facades, and 40 feet (12 m) wide.[13][51] Walker and his associate Perry Coke Smith designed the room, while Hild... |
The floor is made of red terrazzo tiles.[28][37] Walker and Smith personally supervised the creation of the floor tiles in Berlin.[37] The walls and ceilings are decorated with 8,911 square feet (827.9 m2) of mosaics designed by Meiere and manufactured by the Ravenna Mosaic Company in Long Island City and in Berlin.[55... |
Just inside the Wall Street entrance is a foyer that runs between Broadway and New Street, with two polygonal piers.[66] The foyer in turn connected directly to the building's elevators.[50] The Broadway and New Street lobby had walls made of Pyrenees black marble.[61] When the annex was built, the expanded lobby floor... |
Upper floors |
As with other early-20th-century skyscrapers in the Financial District, the lower stories had large floor areas for the building's primary tenant, Irving Trust, while the upper stories were smaller and were rented to other companies.[70] Irving Trust occupied the first ten stories,[11] using their large floor areas to ... |
Irving Trust's dining room was on the 46th floor. The directors' room, on the 47th floor, contained 18-foot-high (5.5 m) wooden wainscoting, as well as directors' chairs arranged in a semicircle.[49] The stories above it had dining spaces and a three-story observation lounge; these spaces contained Art Deco furnishings... |
After 1 Wall Street's residential conversion, there have been 566 condominium apartments, of which 304 are studios and one-bedroom units. Forty-seven of the condominiums have private decks.[47][48][64] The upper three floors were converted into a three-story penthouse apartment with 12,965 square feet (1,204.5 m2), fou... |
Vault |
Irving Trust's bank vault, weighing 5,000 short tons (4,500 long tons; 4,500 t),[61] was located 69 to 72 feet (21 to 22 m) below ground level. At the time of the building's 1931 completion, the vault was the second-largest in the city and third-largest in the world, behind those of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York... |
History |
Previous structures |
Northern portion |
Since the settlement of New Amsterdam in the 17th century, only three buildings on the northern portion of the current skyscraper's site had carried the address 1 Wall Street. The first was a 17th-century stone house, and the second was built in the 19th century.[91][92] The third such structure was an 18-story office ... |
Adjoining the Chimney Building were five other structures: a 20-story building at 74 Broadway, the 15-story Union Trust Building at 80 Broadway, and three other buildings of between 10 and 12 stories. The oldest of these was the Union Trust Building, which was erected in 1889 and had 8-foot-thick (2.4 m) masonry walls ... |
Southern portion |
The southern half of the block contained two structures: the Manhattan Life Insurance Building on the north and the Knickerbocker Trust Company Building to the south. The 18-story Manhattan Life Building, completed in 1894, was located in the middle of the block at 64 Broadway.[105] The Manhattan Life Building was slig... |
The Knickerbocker Trust Company bought the land immediately south of the Manhattan Life Building in early 1906,[107] and finalized building plans the next year.[108] The 22-story Knickerbocker Trust building at 60 Broadway was completed in 1909[109] and contained a ground-floor banking room, a private penthouse restaur... |
Development |
The idea for the current skyscraper was attributed to Irving Trust president Harry Ward.[112] Irving Trust, founded in 1851, had merged with numerous other banks in preceding years,[113] and had outgrown its offices in 60 Broadway, the Equitable Building, and the Woolworth Building.[114] At the time of the proposal, th... |
Planning |
By April 1928, the Central Union Trust Company controlled the buildings from 64 to 80 Broadway, and reportedly planned to build a 36-story structure at the site of the Chimney Building.[119] The following month, American Exchange Irving Trust bought the Chimney Building along with three adjacent structures at 7 Wall St... |
Immediately after the purchase, Irving Trust announced it would erect an office building on the site.[121][122] This announcement occurred amid an increase in the number of large banks in New York City.[122] The company's board of directors founded a sub-committee for construction oversight, and several Irving Trust em... |
An August 1928 memorandum between the architects and Irving Trust prompted several changes to the plans. Among those were separate elevators for bank employees and rental tenants; the removal of retail spaces and luncheon clubs; and the addition of a common reception lobby.[125] In October 1928, local newspapers report... |
Construction |
Construction on the site of 1 Wall Street began in May 1929[98][128][56] with the demolition of the four buildings on the northern portion of the site.[98] Several engineering professors from Columbia University were hired as consultants for the demolition process.[129] Work was complicated by the fact that one of the ... |
The frame involved the installation of 250,000 rivets and was completed within five months of the groundbreaking without any serious incidents.[135][136] During December 1929, Ward sent engraved letters to 500 nearby property owners, apologizing for the noise created during the riveting process; this generated positive... |
Irving Trust use |
By December 1930, Irving Trust announced that 80 percent of the space had been leased in the nearly-completed building.[60] Tenants started moving into 1 Wall Street by mid-March 1931, before its formal opening. Among the tenants were several members of the New York Stock Exchange and Curb Exchange.[138] The Irving Tru... |
The original building soon became too small to accommodate the operations of Irving Trust and its tenants. Accordingly, in 1961, Irving Trust purchased the three buildings at 60, 62, and 70 Broadway from Hanover Bank, thereby giving Irving Trust control of the entire block between Broadway, Wall Street, New Street, and... |
By 1980, Irving Trust had decided to relocate its operations center to another building near the World Trade Center.[104] Between 1987 and 1988, Irving Trust was negotiating to merge with the Bank of New York, which at the time was headquartered nearby at 48 Wall Street.[42] Irving Trust initially rejected buy-out offe... |
BNY Mellon opened a museum on the 10th floor in 1998, which was dedicated to the history of both banks. During the same time, BNY Mellon hired Hoffmann Architects to conduct mortar repair and window replacements.[53] While 1 Wall Street was not damaged following the September 11 attacks at the nearby World Trade Center... |
Sale and conversion |
By January 2014, BNY Mellon was looking to sell its headquarters, as it was moving to a location with less space.[165] In May 2014, BNY Mellon sold the building to a joint venture led by Harry B. Macklowe's Macklowe Properties for $585 million,[166][167][168] though BNY Mellon continued to occupy the building until Sep... |
As part of the renovation, 34 elevators and 16 escalators were removed.[174] The original layout of the building included elevators near the perimeter wall, but this took up usable space near windows. As such, Macklowe removed 20 of the elevators that served upper floors and added 10 new elevators in the building core;... |
Whole Foods Market leased a 44,000-square-foot (4,100 m2) storefront in 2016,[177][178] and Life Time Fitness signed a 74,000-square-foot (6,900 m2) lease for a gym on the lowest four floors in 2019.[179] The residential units, the Red Room, and Whole Foods were then all planned to open in 2021.[170][180] Macklowe had... |
The Whole Foods opened in January 2023.[191][192] The first residents were scheduled to move into the building that March,[193] and construction was officially completed that month.[84][81] Macklowe received a $300 million inventory loan for the building in October 2023 after sales underperformed expectations.[194][195... |
Impact |
Critical reception |
1 Wall Street received an accolade from the Broadway Association in 1931; the association designated the building as the "most worthy of civic endorsement" out of all structures erected around Broadway in 1930.[196][197] A writer for the New York Evening Post called Meiere's lobby mural "one of the most costly and beau... |
Architectural critics of the mid-20th century generally ignored the building in favor of more widely renowned structures, such as the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and 40 Wall Street.[53] Lewis Mumford criticized 1 Wall Street's facade for not accurately representing its internal design, saying: "Chaste... |
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