The Cunard Building, also known as the Standard & Poors Building, is a 22-story office building located at 25
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
, across from
Bowling Green Park in the
Financial District
A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...
of
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The Cunard Building was designed in the
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
style by
Benjamin Wistar Morris, in conjunction with consultants
Carrère & Hastings
Carrère (; oc, Carrèra) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.
See also
*Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department
The following is a list of the 546 communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques ...
.
The Cunard Building's main facade, on Broadway, is made of limestone and consists of three horizontal sections. The design employs
setbacks and open "
light courts" as mandated by the
1916 Zoning Resolution. The structure was designed around an irregular street grid and is located directly above a
subway line that crosses the building site diagonally. The first floor interior contains an elaborately decorated lobby, as well as a similarly opulent Great Hall, which extends with a dome. The remaining floors contain various offices and school spaces.
The Cunard Building was erected for the New York City office of British-American steamship operator
Cunard Line
Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...
; construction started in 1920 and the building was completed the next year. Upon completion, the Cunard Building was almost fully leased to tenants of various industries. The Twenty-five Broadway Corporation, a Cunard Line affiliate, owned the building until the 1960s. The Great Hall was vacated after the Cunard Line moved out in 1968; the
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...
occupied the Great Hall from 1974 until 2000, and
Cipriani S.A.
Cipriani S.A. is an Italian hotel and leisure company domiciled in Luxembourg that owns and operates luxury restaurants and clubs around the world including Harry's Bar in Venice and formerly the Rainbow Room in New York City. It specialises ...
started using the space in 2014. The upper floors continued to host offices and various educational facilities.
Upon completion, the Cunard Building's exterior and interior designs received critical acclaim. The Cunard Building's facade and principal first-floor interior spaces were designated as
landmarks
A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances.
In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...
by the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
in 1995. The building is also a contributing property to the
Wall Street Historic District, a
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
district created in 2007.
Site
The Cunard Building is a 22-story building,
bounded by the
Bowling Green Offices Building
The Bowling Green Offices Building (also known as the Bowling Green Building, Bowling Green Offices, or 11 Broadway) is an office building located at 11 Broadway, across from Bowling Green park in the Financial District of Manhattan i ...
(11 Broadway) to the south,
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
to the east,
Greenwich Street
Greenwich Street is a north–south street in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. It extends from the intersection of Ninth Avenue (Manhattan), Ninth Avenue and Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District, Manhat ...
to the west, and Morris Street to the north.
It is located across from
Bowling Green Park to the southeast, and
26 Broadway and the ''
Charging Bull
''Charging Bull'', sometimes referred to as the ''Bull of Wall Street'' or the ''Bowling Green Bull'', is a bronze sculpture that stands on Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway just north of Bowling Green (New York City), Bowling Green in the Finan ...
'' sculpture to the east.
While 25 Broadway is considered to be its primary address, it is also known as 13–27 Broadway, 13–39 Greenwich Street, and 1–9 Morris Street.
The Cunard Building has a
frontage
Frontage is the boundary between a plot of land or a building and the road onto which the plot or building fronts. Frontage may also refer to the full length of this boundary. This length is considered especially important for certain types of ...
of along Broadway, along Greenwich Street, and along Morris Street.
Due to the irregular street grid of the area, none of its corners are at right angles.
Architecture
The Cunard Building was largely designed by
Benjamin Wistar Morris.
The
massing
Massing is a term in architecture which refers to the perception of the general shape and form as well as size of a building.
Massing in architectural theory
Massing refers to the structure in three dimensions (form), not just its outline from ...
and
facade were devised by
Carrère and Hastings
Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère ( ; November 9, 1858 – March 1, 1911) and Thomas Hastings (architect), Thomas Hastings (March 11, 1860 – October 22, 1929), was one of the outstanding American Beaux-Arts architecture, Be ...
, while exterior detail was created by Rochette & Parzini.
The structure was laid out so that ancillary structures such as smoke stacks, penthouses, and storage tanks could not be seen from the side. Its location near ferry slips, the
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
, elevated
Interborough Rapid Transit
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the private operator of New York City's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT w ...
lines, and the
Hudson & Manhattan Railroad
Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) is a rapid transit system in the northeastern New Jersey cities of Newark, Harrison, Jersey City, and Hoboken, as well as Lower and Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is operated as a wholly owned sub ...
's
Hudson Terminal
Hudson Terminal was a rapid transit station and office-tower complex in the Radio Row neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Opened during 1908 and 1909, it was composed of a terminal station for the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad (H&M), ...
made the Cunard Building desirable to tenants.
In the 1970s, the Cunard Building became known as the Standard & Poors Building, after its tenant
Standard & Poor's
S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is con ...
,
though the name also came to refer to nearby structures.
Form
![Bowling Green NYC Feb 2020 78 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Bowling_Green_NYC_Feb_2020_78_%28cropped%29.jpg)
The building is H-shaped, with "light courts" facing north toward Morris Street and south toward the Bowling Green Building.
The "light courts" are located above the base. The placement of these courts allowed light to enter the Great Hall, located on the first floor.
According to Morris, the irregular street grid of the neighborhood made it difficult to determine the orientation of the building; he finally decided on its current north–south alignment since, at the time, it would have been possible to see the
North River (now the
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
) to the south.
At the time of the Cunard Building's construction, large buildings in New York City were being erected in a "C" or "H" shape to maximize illumination of the interior space.
Additionally, the
1916 Zoning Resolution necessitated the inclusion of
setbacks on buildings in New York City that were above a certain height. The Cunard Building was the first large structure built in the city after the end of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, and set an example for compliance to the 1916 law.
Because of the presence of large intersections on either side of the building (Bowling Green to the east and the intersection of Greenwich Street and
Trinity Place
Church Street and Trinity Place form a single north–south roadway in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Its northern end is at Canal Street and its southern end is at Morris Street, where Trinity Place merges with Greenwich Street. The dividing ...
to the west), the required setback under the 1916 zoning law was minimal.
Foundation
The New York City Subway's
BMT Broadway Line
The BMT Broadway Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan. , it is served by four services, all colored : the on the express tracks and the on the local tracks during weekdays (the N and Q trains ...
(carrying the ) crosses diagonally underneath the Cunard Building from northwest to southeast. Two additional subway lines, the
IRT Lexington Avenue Line
The IRT Lexington Avenue Line (also known as the IRT East Side Line and the IRT Lexington–Fourth Avenue Line) is one of the lines of the A Division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Lower Manhattan north to 125th Street in East H ...
() and the
IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line
The IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (also known as the IRT Seventh Avenue Line or the IRT West Side Line) is a New York City Subway line. It is one of several lines that serves the A Division, stretching from South Ferry in Lower Manhatta ...
(), run adjacent to the western and eastern boundaries of the building, respectively.
The Lexington Avenue Line's
Bowling Green station
The Bowling Green station is a metro station, station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway, located at Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway and Battery Place (at Bowling Green (New York City), Bowling Green), in the Financial ...
is located directly under the building's boundary, while the Broadway Line's
Whitehall Street station is located one block south.
Because of the confluence of subway tunnels in the area, the Cunard Building's foundation was built around the subway.
During construction, the engineers considered and rejected an idea for placing the Cunard Building's
girder
A girder () is a support beam used in construction. It is the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams. Girders often have an I-beam cross section composed of two load-bearing ''flanges'' separated by a stabilizing ' ...
s on the roof of the Broadway Line tunnel, since that would have resulted in vibrations every time a subway train passed by.
Furthermore, the subway tunnel was designed to support the weight of several small buildings and might not have been able to support one large building.
Instead, engineers decided to place the building's foundation columns on either side of the subway tunnel, and then erect girders for the building above the tunnel's roof. The foundation columns were placed as close to the subway tunnel as possible, in order to reduce the length of the trusses, which would have had to carry heavy loads. All of the foundation columns were sunk to the depth of the rock underneath.
A
cofferdam
A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out. This pumping creates a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. Cofferdams are commonly used for construction or re ...
was then built on the eastern border of the site, and on part of the northern border. The rock surface underneath the building site was closer to the ground on the western side of the lot, requiring extensive excavation. On the eastern side of the lot, the rock surface sloped below the elevation of the subway tunnel. A wall was built on the southern boundary of the Cunard lot, of which a width was located under the Bowling Green Offices Building. The wall served several purposes: it closed the cofferdam, underpinned the subway, and provided support for the columns on the southern side of the Cunard Building.
Facade
Broadway elevation
![Bowling Green-Battery Pk 03 - Cunard](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Bowling_Green-Battery_Pk_03_-_Cunard.jpg)
The facade at the Broadway
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...
is made of
Indiana Limestone
Indiana limestone — also known as Bedford limestone in the building trade — has long been an economically important building material, particularly for monumental public structures. Indiana limestone is a more common term for Salem Limestone, ...
, making the Cunard Building part of a masonry "canyon" on lower Broadway.
It is divided into three horizontal sections on the western and eastern facades. The outermost portions of these facades consist of pavilions that project outward, while the central pavilion is set back .
The projecting "side pavilions" rise to the maximum height allowed under the 1916 law.
On the Broadway facade, the side pavilions are wide, while the central pavilion is about wide.
The Broadway facade contains decorative elements that signify the area's historic connections with the maritime industry, including "nautically-inspired sculpted elements", decorative
keystones
A keystone (or capstone) is the wedge-shaped stone at the apex of a masonry arch or typically round-shaped one at the apex of a vault. In both cases it is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allo ...
above the first-floor arches, decorative ship-themed
roundel
A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of differ ...
s above the third-floor loggia, and carvings of seahorses with their riders above the pavilions' setbacks.
Within the four-story base, the central section is recessed slightly. The first floor contains five double-height arches, set within
rusticated masonry, facing east toward Broadway.
The center three arches, within the recessed central pavilion, lead to the Great Hall; the southernmost arch leads to the elevator lobby for the office space above; and the northernmost arch led to a banking area on the north side of the building.
All the arches contain doors and windows with bronze frames.
The third and fourth floors contain an Ionic-style
loggia
In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...
structure supported by
Tuscan-style column pairs. Above the base, the facade is mostly composed of smooth limestone, except for rustication around the fifth story windows. The columns of windows around the central pavilion, which is recessed further, are also set within a rusticated facade. The outer pavilions are set back beyond the 18th story to comply with the 1916 Zoning Resolution. The central pavilion contains a loggia between the 19th and 21st stories, also supported by Tuscan-style column pairs, and includes a
mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...
above the 22nd story. The roofs of the outer pavilions, above the 22nd story, are flat.
Other elevations
On Morris Street, the first and second stories are faced with limestone, while the basement is faced with a
water table
The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated.
T ...
made of granite. Above the second story is a light court. The facade of the eastern wing (facing Broadway) is limestone, while the rest of the Morris Street facade is made of tan brick. There are also numerous glazed doors with bronze frames, as well as glazed paneled windows with metal frames. The remaining windows on Morris Street are
sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...
s.
On Greenwich Street, the basement is faced with granite and the remaining stories are faced with tan brick. The basement contains service doors, a garage door, and metal window openings. Above the garage door is a large triple-height arched window on the first through third floors, with balconies on the second and third floors; the window is recessed at an angle. The remaining windows on Greenwich Street are sash windows. There is a
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
of stone above the 22nd floor. The southernmost section of the Greenwich Street facade only goes to the third floor to allow light to enter the light court within the southern side of the building.
The gray brick at both Morris and Greenwich Streets was designed to "harmoniz
closely with the limestone".
The south elevation consists of a brick facade with sash windows. The light court faces south toward the Bowling Green Offices Building.
Interior
At opening, the Cunard Building featured over of space, of which was made available for tenants when it opened. A basement in the building contained a safe-deposit vault.
The structure also included a fireproof internal structure.
According to data collected by ''
The Real Deal'' magazine, the precise floor area of the Cunard Building is .
The building also contained 36 elevators: 33 for passengers and 3 for freight.
Of the passenger elevators, 28 were "high-speed" elevators for general use and the remaining 5 were private cabs.
Twenty of the "high-speed" elevators were local and express elevators, accessible from the elevator lobby at the southern end of the Broadway facade. The other eight were located at the building's northwest corner, near Greenwich and Morris Streets.
Lobby and Great Hall
The main entrance is from Broadway, through the three center arches, each of which contains a small entrance vestibule inside. The vestibules and the two outer arches all lead to the building's main lobby.
The lobby contains a ceiling of five
groin vault
A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: L ...
s, each of which correspond to one of the arches on the Broadway facade. The floors are made of
travertine
Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a pro ...
with
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...
trim and contain maritime-themed bronze medallions. The walls are also made of travertine; there is a fireplace on the southern wall and a roll-down gate and doors on the northern wall.
A passageway runs along the western wall of the lobby, connecting the northern four bays to the Great Hall to the west.
The building's original owners had decided against putting "miscellaneous minor business adventures" in the lobby, such as newsstands, shoe-shine stands, and cigar shops.
The Great Hall, extending from east to west,
was described as "the largest of its kind" within the United States when completed, and was compared to the waiting rooms of railroad terminals.
It includes three separate vaults. The central vault is tall with a diameter of .
There are large arched windows or "luminary squares" at the ends of its diagonal axes, under which are Ionic columns.
Flanking the main dome are two spaces with rectangular
rib vault
A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic ...
s, which extend the hall to the west and east.
There are additional arched openings through the west and east walls of the Great Hall: the former leads to a window facing Greenwich Street, while the latter leads to the lobby.
As built, the hall was overlooked by wrought-iron balconies on the east wall, designed by
Samuel Yellin.
The features are reminiscent of
Roman bathhouses and the treatment of the artwork resembles that at the
Villa Madama
Villa Madama is a Renaissance-style rural palace (villa) located on Via di Villa Madama #250 in Rome, Italy. Located west of the city center and a few miles north of the Vatican, and just south of the Foro Olimpico Stadium. Even though incomplete, ...
's loggia in Italy.
The north side of the Cunard Building's first floor contained a banking area, which had a private elevator to the fourth floor and a basement-level bank vault.
This was initially occupied by a branch of the
Mechanics and Metals National Bank
The Mechanics and Metals National Bank (MMNB) was a bank in New York City, founded in 1810 as the Mechanics National Bank. In 1910 it merged with National Copper Bank and took the Mechanics and Metals National Bank name. After a number of mergers a ...
.
The first floor contains numerous elaborate works of art.
The lobby ceiling was painted by
Ezra Winter
Ezra Augustus Winter (March 10, 1886 – April 6, 1949) was a prominent American muralist.
Biography
Winter was born in Traverse City, Michigan, trained at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts in 1908, and the American Academy in Rome in 1914. Wint ...
and sculpted by
Carl Jennewein, and contains decorations of marine animals and children.
The lobby's end bays also contain
bas-relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
s carved by Jennewein. Wrought-iron screens topped by
lunette
A lunette (French ''lunette'', "little moon") is a half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void.
A lunette may also be segmental, and the arch may be an arc take ...
grilles, designed by Yellin, separate the passageway from both the lobby to the east and the Great Hall to the west.
The ceiling of the Great Hall contains maritime-themed frescoes, which Winter painted using the
fresco-secco
Fresco-secco (or a secco or fresco finto) is a wall painting technique where pigments mixed with an organic binder and/or lime are applied onto a dry plaster. The paints used can e.g. be casein paint, tempera, oil paint, silicate mineral paint. I ...
method,
which depicted maritime activity.
Barry Faulkner
Barry Faulkner (full name: Francis Barrett Faulkner; July 12, 1881 – October 27, 1966) was an American artist primarily known for his murals. During World War I, he and sculptor Sherry Edmundson Fry organized artists for training as camouflage s ...
painted murals of maps into the walls of the Great Hall's niches.
The
pendentive
In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to points ...
s of the Great Hall's dome include depictions of oceanic explorers
Leif Erikson
Leif Erikson, Leiv Eiriksson, or Leif Ericson, ; Modern Icelandic: ; Norwegian: ''Leiv Eiriksson'' also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to have set foot on continental North ...
,
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
,
Sebastian Cabot, and
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...
.
On the Great Hall's floor is a marble compass surrounded by a bronze frieze, designed by
John Gregory as an "allegory of the sea".
Upper stories
Each of the office floors consisted of about of space,
though the actual rentable space on each floor ranged from .
Because of the "H"-shaped design, all offices had access to windows.
The top four floors have since been converted for use by the
Léman Manhattan Preparatory School
Léman Manhattan Preparatory School is a private school located in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. The school serves students from early childhood (age 24 months) through 12th grade at two campuses in Lower Manhattan. Founded ...
, which uses a side entrance at 1 Morris Street. The school space contains a cafeteria; 30 classrooms; a library; a 400-seat auditorium; and a athletic complex with a gym, swimming pool, and rock climbing wall.
History
The site of the Cunard Building was occupied by Dutch houses after the colony of
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...
was founded in the 17th century. In 1846, the site became a hotel and restaurant operated by Joseph and Lorenzo Delmonico. This later became a hotel called the Stevens House, which was popular among shipping and mercantile industry figures.
By the 1900s and 1910s, the "Stevens House" name applied to two 5-story buildings at the corner of Broadway and Morris Street.
According to a 1910 photograph, the buildings on 13-27 Broadway were largely commercial and included a restaurant, art publishers, the
Anchor Line steamship company, hatters, and the Stevens House.
Meanwhile, the lots facing Greenwich and Morris Streets contained
Manhattan Railway Company
The Manhattan Railway Company was an elevated railway company in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City, United States. It operated four lines: the Second Avenue Line, Third Avenue Line, Sixth Avenue Line, and Ninth Avenue Line.
History
19 ...
's lost-property building and the late vice president
Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805. Burr's legacy is defined by his famous personal conflict with Alexand ...
's former house.
The
Cunard Line
Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...
, for whom the Cunard Building was constructed, was one of the preeminent British transatlantic
steamship
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
companies of the 19th century. Its New York City office, which opened in 1846, had always been situated in or around Bowling Green.
After moving several times, the Cunard Line sought "an adequate and permanent American headquarters" by the 1910s.
Benjamin Wistar Morris started planning for a new office building for the Cunard Line by August 1917, before the site had even been purchased. His preliminary plans called for a grandiose ticket lobby for Cunard's ticket offices and a smaller elevator lobby for tenants of the upper floors. Despite subsequent modifications to the draft, the two separate lobbies remained in the final plan.
The individual lots comprising the future Cunard Building were then purchased by the Irons & Todd real-estate firm, which then formed the Todd, Irons & Robertson, Inc. construction company. Irons & Todd eventually hoped to turn over the land to the Twenty-Five Broadway Corporation, a subsidiary headed by an official for the Cunard Line.
Construction
![Pilot lore; from sail to steam (1922) (14779091221)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Pilot_lore%3B_from_sail_to_steam_%281922%29_%2814779091221%29.jpg)
Plans for the Cunard Building were announced in February 1918. At the time, the building was supposed to be 26 stories and cost $10–15 million.
One ''New York Times'' writer lamented that the plans would involve the destruction of the Stevens House, described as "the last quaint landmark standing as an interesting connecting link between" historic New York City and the "owering structures of commercial industry." of the modern city Due to World War I, further planning was delayed until June 1919 when Morris was authorized to create "working drawings, specifications and contracts".
The demolition of the Stevens House began in July 1919, at which point the Cunard Building's final plans were publicized, showing that it was to comprise only 21 stories. Several details were revised in the final plans; for instance, a colonnade on the Broadway facade was replaced with arches.
The
New York City Department of Buildings
The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) is the department of the New York City government that enforces the city's building codes and zoning regulations, issues building permits, licenses, registers and disciplines certain construction tra ...
received the blueprints for the Cunard Building in August 1919 and approved the project the next January, allowing construction to begin right afterward.
Construction was hindered by the presence of
subway lines directly underneath the building site, as well as the irregular plot shape and "unknowable" costs.
During construction, the underground BMT Broadway Line was carried on a concrete bed held by
quicksand
Quicksand is a colloid consisting of fine granular material (such as sand, silt or clay) and water. It forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated. When water in the sand cannot escape, it creates a liquefied soil that los ...
above the bottom of the Cunard Building's excavation site, in order to dampen the noise. The presence of the subways, combined with the fact that the Cunard site had been assembled from numerous separate plots, made construction more difficult.
In one construction incident in February 1920, rock blasts from the building's excavation resulted in several subway passengers being injured. The designs of the interior artworks were devised off-site and then transferred to a studio within the Cunard Building. The paintings were then installed within the building in four months; the artists used scaffolds to paint the ceilings while the foundations were still being built beneath them.
The Cunard Building opened in May 1921
at a total cost of $15 million.
Despite increasing material costs at the end of World War I, the project had been completed on time, within 3% of its original budget.
The Cunard Building was one of several structures built on the lower section of Broadway in the early 20th century that would be affiliated with the maritime trade.
Cunard Line use
At opening, the Great Hall was the home of Cunard and Anchor Lines, which occupied the Great Hall, lowest three stories, basement, and top floors.
The remaining floors housed numerous other tenants,
including
Atlas Portland Cement Company
The Atlas Portland Cement Company, based in Northampton, Pennsylvania, was one of the largest cement companies of the world. Founded in Northampton in 1895, Atlas operated there until 1982 when it was bought out. It manufactured Portland cement, ...
,
Anaconda Copper
The Anaconda Copper Mining Company, known as the Amalgamated Copper Company between 1899 to 1915, was an American mining company headquartered in Butte, Montana. It was one of the largest trusts of the early 20th century and one of the largest min ...
,
Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation
The Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation (abbreviated MSC) was an American corporation established in 1917 by railroad heir W. Averell Harriman to build merchant ships for the Allied war effort in World War I. The MSC operated two shipyards: the f ...
,
Consolidated Steel Corporation
Consolidated Steel Corporation (formed 18 December 1928) was an American steel and shipbuilding business. Consolidated built ships during World War II in two locations: Wilmington, California and Orange, Texas. It was created in 1929 by the merg ...
,
International Motor Truck Company, and Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Lines.
A branch of the
Mechanics and Metals National Bank
The Mechanics and Metals National Bank (MMNB) was a bank in New York City, founded in 1810 as the Mechanics National Bank. In 1910 it merged with National Copper Bank and took the Mechanics and Metals National Bank name. After a number of mergers a ...
was located at the first floor, within the retail space on the northeast corner.
Even before the Cunard Building's official opening, it was almost fully leased, with only remaining unused by April 1921.
Factors in the Cunard Building's near-complete occupancy included relatively low rents, the inclusion of 21-year leases, the timely completion of the project, and a shortage of available office space in the Financial District.
In later years, other industries moved into the Cunard Building as well, such as attorneys, railroad and steamship companies, shipbuilding companies, brokers, engineers, and raw materials companies.
These included the
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...
, which moved into the building in 1946.
To pay for the building's
mortgage
A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pu ...
, its owners were given a loan of $8 million in 1930, and another $2.82 million in 1944. In subsequent years, the assessed taxes for the Cunard Building was reduced multiple times. The New York Supreme Court gave the building's owners tax reprieves in 1946, 1948, and 1950. In 1955, the owners completed a $3 million project to add air conditioning to the Cunard Building, one of the largest such retrofits in an existing structure in the city. Ashforth, Todd & Company purchased the building in 1962. The Cunard Line continued to operate the ticket hall until 1968, when it moved to
555 Fifth Avenue;
the vacant space was then leased by brokerage company Francis I. duPont Co.
Later tenants
The building was sold again in 1971, this time to the Cementation Company of America, a subsidiary of
Trafalgar House Investment Group.
Initially, the owners had difficulty finding tenants for the Great Hall due to its vast size. The
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...
leased the Great Hall in 1974, intending to relocate its post office from the nearby
Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House (originally the New York Custom House) is a government building, museum, and former custom house at 1 Bowling Green, near the southern end of Manhattan in New York City, United States. Designed by Cas ...
two years later. By 1977, the USPS had moved into the Great Hall, and
Standard & Poor's
S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is con ...
had signed a 20-year lease for space at the Cunard Building.
The building was sold to Zev W. Wolfson for $15 million by 1979. The
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...
's Center For Worker Education was established on the seventh floor of the Cunard Building in 1981.
![Elizabeth Berger Plaza 78 - Léman Manhattan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Elizabeth_Berger_Plaza_78_-_L%C3%A9man_Manhattan.jpg)
In 1995, the exterior and the first floor interior of the Cunard Building, along with several other buildings on Bowling Green, were formally designated as New York City landmarks.
In 2007, the building was designated as a contributing property to the
Wall Street Historic District, a
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
district.
S&P vacated its spaces at the Cunard Building, as well as at
26 Broadway directly to the east, in 1997 when the company started leasing space at nearby
55 Water Street
55 Water Street is a skyscraper on the East River in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The 53-story, structure was completed in 1972. Designed by Emery Roth and Sons, the building was de ...
. The post office closed in 2000. Afterward, the Great Hall went unused again for over a decade. ''The New York Times'' cited the hall's landmark status as a factor in the difficulty of leasing the space. The doors were locked, barring visitors from entering the Great Hall. During the mid-2000s, the
Sports Museum of America
The Sports Museum of America (SmA) was the United States' first national sports museum dedicated to the history and cultural significance of Sports in the United States, sports in America. It opened in May 2008 and closed less than nine months lat ...
considered opening within the Great Hall, but the museum ultimately opened in 2008 at 26 Broadway. In 2014, the Great Hall was leased to
Cipriani S.A.
Cipriani S.A. is an Italian hotel and leisure company domiciled in Luxembourg that owns and operates luxury restaurants and clubs around the world including Harry's Bar in Venice and formerly the Rainbow Room in New York City. It specialises ...
for the operation of an event venue.
The upper floors remained in use by multiple tenants, including school and college campuses. In 2002,
Deloitte
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...
leased three floors of the Cunard Building after its previous offices at the
World Trade Center
World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association.
World Trade Center may refer to:
Buildings
* List of World Trade Centers
* World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
were destroyed in the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
.
Léman Manhattan Preparatory School
Léman Manhattan Preparatory School is a private school located in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. The school serves students from early childhood (age 24 months) through 12th grade at two campuses in Lower Manhattan. Founded ...
moved to the Cunard Building in 2010,
occupying the top four floors for its middle and high school campuses.
Relay Graduate School of Education
Relay Graduate School of Education is a private graduate school for teachers in New York City and other cities across the nation. It was established in 2011 after being spun off from Hunter College's Teacher U program. It is the first stand-alon ...
, a private graduate school for teachers, moved into the building in 2019.
WeWork
WeWork Inc. is a provider of coworking spaces, including physical and virtual shared spaces, headquartered in New York City. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated of space, including in the United States and Canada, in 756 locatio ...
operated an
coworking
Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, a ...
space at 25 Broadway from 2013 to 2021,
after which Industrious and Wolfson Group leased for use as a coworking space in 2022.
Critical reception
Upon its opening, writers praised the Cunard Building's design. ''
Architectural Forum
''Architectural Forum'' was an American magazine that covered the homebuilding industry and architecture. Started in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1892 as ''The Brickbuilder'', it absorbed the magazine ''Architect's World'' in October 1938. Ownership ...
'' magazine published six pieces about the Cunard Building in its July 1921 volume alone.
In one such piece, art historian
Royal Cortissoz
Royal Cortissoz (; February 10, 1869 – October 17, 1948) was an American art historian and, from 1891 until his death, the art critic for the '' New York Herald Tribune''. During his tenure at the newspaper, he consistently championed tradit ...
described the external plan as "indeed organic architecture", writing that the "genuine architectural inspiration
prang
Prang may refer to:
Places
* Prang, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a town of Charsadda District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan
*Prang Besar, an old name for Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia
* Prang Ghar Tehsil or Pran Ghar Subdivision, a subdivisi ...
straight from the personality of the designer".
''Architecture and Building'' called the site "exceedingly well chosen",
and the ''New-York Tribune'' called the Cunard Building "one of the fine structures of the city".
Other critics praised the building's manner of construction, and how it had been built above the Broadway subway line.
The interior was similarly regarded. In a piece for ''American Architect and Architecture'' in 1928, C.H. Blackall described the building as having "a magnificent counting room", and that the domed ceiling had "individuality and a most charmingly successful decorative effect."
Henry Hope Reed Jr.
Henry Hope Reed Jr. (September 25, 1915 – May 1, 2013) was an American architecture critic known for his advocacy of classical architecture and his outspoken criticism of modernist architecture.
Life
Born in Manhattan, Reed earned a degre ...
, in 1964, called the lobby "the finest interior in the city". David Dunlap of ''The New York Times'' said in 1991 that the Great Hall was "one of New York's most magnificent—and least appreciated—public spaces".
The Landmarks Preservation Commission, in its 1995 landmark-designation report, called the hall "among New York's most impressive interiors".
See also
*
List of buildings and structures on Broadway in Manhattan
*
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
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{{Financial District, Manhattan
1921 establishments in New York City
Bowling Green (New York City)
Broadway (Manhattan)
Carrère and Hastings buildings
Cunard Line
Financial District, Manhattan
New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan
New York City interior landmarks
Office buildings completed in 1921
Historic district contributing properties in Manhattan