1 Wall Street (also known as the Irving Trust Company Building, the Bank of New York Building, and the BNY Mellon Building) is a skyscraper in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City, on the eastern side of Broadway between Wall Street and Exchange Place. 1 Wall Street, designed in the Art Deco style, is 654 feet (199 m) tall and consists of two sections. The original 50-story building was designed by Ralph Thomas Walker of the firm Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker and constructed between 1929 and 1931, while a 36-story annex to the south was designed by successor firm Voorhees, Walker Smith Smith & Haines and built from 1963 to 1965.
The facade, made of limestone, contains slight inwardly-curved bays with fluting to resemble curtains. On the lower stories are narrow windows with mullions, as well as ornate entrances. The massing of 1 Wall Street incorporates numerous small setbacks, and the top of the original building consists of a freestanding tower. The corners of the original building consist of chamfers, while the top of the tower has fluted windowless bays. The facade of the annex is designed in a style evocative of the original structure. Inside is an ornate main lobby with colored mosaics.
1 Wall Street had been constructed for Irving Trust, one of the larger banks in New York City in the early 20th century. At the time of its construction, the building occupied what was then considered one of the most valuable plots in the city. The building replaced three previous structures, including the Manhattan Life Insurance Building, once the world’s tallest building. After Irving Trust was acquired by The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) in 1988, 1 Wall Street subsequently served as BNY Mellon’s global headquarters through 2015. After the building was purchased by Harry Macklowe, it has been undergoing a renovation since 2018, which is converting the interior to residential use with some commercial space.
The building is regarded as one of New York City’s Art Deco landmarks, despite initially remaining ignored in favor of such buildings as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the original portion of the building as a city landmark in 2001. It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places district created in 2007.
. . . 1 Wall Street . . .
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 Church’s churchyard to the west; the American Surety Company Building to the north; 14 Wall Street to the northeast; the New York Stock Exchange Building to the east; and 52 Broadway to the south.[5] Entrances to the New York City Subway‘s Wall Street station, served by the 4 and 5 trains, are adjacent to the building.[6]
Because of the curves in the facade, the original structure does not completely occupy its full land lot, and some 180 square feet (17 m2) of the lot was used as sidewalk space. 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 main occupant Irving Trust embedded small metal plaques to assert the boundaries of its lot.[7][8]
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.[9][2][10] The original building reaches 50 stories and stands 654 feet (199 m) tall.[2][10][11] The southern annex was originally 28 stories tall with a height of about 391 feet (119 m),[12] but, starting in 2019, it was expanded to 36 stories[2][13] with a height of about 494 feet (151 m).[14]Dormer structures of up to two stories are located on the tops of both sections.[13]
Walker had designed other Art Deco buildings in the New York City area, mainly telecommunications structures. These included the Verizon Building (1927), New Jersey Bell Headquarters Building (1929), 60 Hudson Street (1930), and 32 Avenue of the Americas (1932), as well as telephone buildings in Upstate New York.[15]
. . . 1 Wall Street . . .