90 West Street (previously known as the West Street Building and the Brady Building) is a 23-story residential building 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 ...
. Located on
West Street
The Joe DiMaggio Highway, commonly called the West Side Highway and formerly the Miller Highway, is a mostly surface section of New York State Route 9A (NY 9A), running from West 72nd Street along the Hudson River to the southern t ...
just south of 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 ...
, the building was designed by
Cass Gilbert
Cass Gilbert (November 24, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was an American architect. An early proponent of skyscrapers, his works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minnesota, Arkansas and We ...
, with
Gunvald Aus
Gunvald Aus, also written Aas (May 30, 1851 – May 27, 1950) was a Norwegian-American engineer. He is most associated with the engineering of the Woolworth Building in New York City.
Background
He was born the son of Gabriel Godfrey Aas and So ...
and Burt Harrison as structural engineers, and John Peirce as general contractor. It was erected for the West Street Improvement Corporation, led by transportation magnate Howard Carroll.
The
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
styling and ornamentation of 90 West Street served to emphasize its height. The design combined elements of the three-section "
classical column" arrangement of 19th-century buildings with the "romantic tower" of Gilbert's later structures such as the
Woolworth Building
The Woolworth Building is an early skyscraper, early American skyscraper designed by architect Cass Gilbert located at 233 Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was the tallest building in ...
. Its waterfront site necessitated the installation of
pilings
A deep foundation is a type of foundation that transfers building loads to the earth farther down from the surface than a shallow foundation does to a subsurface layer or a range of depths. A pile or piling is a vertical structural element ...
deep into the ground. Other features included a
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
facade with
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
at the two-story base, as well as terracotta fireproofing inside the building. The building's design was widely praised when it was originally completed. The building is a
New York City designated landmark
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 ...
and listed on the
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 ...
.
90 West Street was built in 1905–1907 as an office building called the West Street Building. "The Garret Restaurant", on the structure's top floors, was marketed as the highest restaurant in the world. The building underwent numerous ownership changes in the 20th century, and was known after its long-term owner, Brady Security and Realty Corporation, during the middle of the century. Following the
collapse
Collapse or its variants may refer to:
Concepts
* Collapse (structural)
* Collapse (topology), a mathematical concept
* Collapsing manifold
* Collapse, the action of collapsing or telescoping objects
* Collapsing user interface elements
** ...
of the adjacent
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 ...
in the
September 11, 2001, 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 commerc ...
, the West Street Building was severely damaged. The building was subsequently extensively refurbished and it reopened as a residential building called 90 West in 2005.
Site
90 West Street is located on a plot facing
West Street
The Joe DiMaggio Highway, commonly called the West Side Highway and formerly the Miller Highway, is a mostly surface section of New York State Route 9A (NY 9A), running from West 72nd Street along the Hudson River to the southern t ...
to the west,
Cedar Street and 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 ...
to the north, and
Albany Street
Albany Street is a road in London running from Marylebone Road to Gloucester Gate following the east side of Regent's Park. It is about three-quarters of a mile in length.
History
The street was laid out during the 1820s, and takes its name ...
to the south. The lot is roughly parallelogram-shaped.
The building shares its block with
130 Cedar Street,
a 19-story hotel. The building carries the address numbers 87–95 West Street, inclusive,
as well as odd address numbers 21–25 Albany Street and even address numbers 136–140 Cedar Street.
When built, the West Street Building overlooked the
North River (now
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 west.
Until the construction of 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 ...
in the 1970s, the West Street Building was one of the tallest buildings on Lower Manhattan's Hudson River shoreline.
By the 1980s,
Battery Park City
Battery Park City is a mainly residential planned community and neighborhood on the west side of the southern tip of the island of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by the Hudson River on the west, the Hudson River shoreline on the north ...
was built on filled land along the shore of the river, cutting off the West Street Building from a view of the waterfront.
Architecture
The West Street Building is tall and contains 23 above-ground floors.
It was designed by
Cass Gilbert
Cass Gilbert (November 24, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was an American architect. An early proponent of skyscrapers, his works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minnesota, Arkansas and We ...
, who had designed numerous public structures and government buildings in the
Beaux Arts style.
From the start, Gilbert intended the West Street Building as "a machine that makes the land pay".
In an article for the ''
Engineering News-Record
''Engineering News-Record'' (widely known as ''ENR'') is an American weekly magazine that provides news, analysis, data and opinion for the construction industry worldwide. It is widely regarded as one of the construction industry's most authori ...
'', he wrote that in general, "architectural beauty, judged even from an economic standpoint, has an income-bearing value".
The West Street Building was one of the first skyscrapers to consistently use
neo-Gothic
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
-style decoration.
At the time, it was still relatively rare for a steel-skeleton skyscraper to contain
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
cladding, as the West Street Building did.
The decoration was inspired by the
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It e ...
of Belgium, using religious models such as the
St. Rumbold's Cathedral
St. Rumbold's Cathedral ( nl, Sint-Romboutskathedraal, french: Cathédrale Saint-Rombaut) is the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, Roman Catholic metropolitan archiepiscopal cathedral in Mechelen, Belgium, dedicated to Rumbold of ...
in
Mechelen
Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...
, as well as secular models such as
Brussels Town Hall
The Town Hall (french: Hôtel de Ville, Dutch: ) of the City of Brussels is a landmark building and the seat of the City of Brussels municipality of Brussels, Belgium. It is located on the south side of the famous Grand-Place/Grote Markt (Brus ...
.
Furthermore, in his initial plans, Gilbert wanted to create a five-story tower that rose from the center of the structure, topping the height of the
Flatiron Building
The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a triangular 22-story, steel-framed landmarked building at 175 Fifth Avenue in the eponymous Flatiron District neighborhood of the Boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New ...
.
This five-story tower was canceled by Carroll, presumably to save money,
but the idea inspired the seven-story upper section of the building, topped by 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 ...
.
Form and facade
At the time of the West Street Building's construction, the facades of many 19th-century
early skyscrapers
The earliest stage of skyscraper design encompasses buildings built between 1884 and 1945, predominantly in the American cities of New York and Chicago. Cities in the United States were traditionally made up of low-rise buildings, but significan ...
consisted of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a
column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...
, namely a base, shaft, and
capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
.
This contrasted with Gilbert's later skyscraper designs, which tended toward a "romantic tower" style.
The West Street Building was one of four important Gilbert skyscrapers in the early 20th century, the others being the
Second Brazer Building (1896), the
Broadway–Chambers Building
The Broadway–Chambers Building is an 18-story office building at 277 Broadway, on the northwest corner with Chambers Street, in the Civic Center and Tribeca neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. Completed by 1900 to designs by architec ...
(1900), and the
Woolworth Building
The Woolworth Building is an early skyscraper, early American skyscraper designed by architect Cass Gilbert located at 233 Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was the tallest building in ...
(1913). The West Street Building used a reduced version of the
tripartite
Tripartite means composed of or split into three parts, or refers to three parties. Specifically, it may also refer to any of the following:
* 3 (number)
* Tripartite language
* Tripartite motto
* Tripartite System in British education
* Triparti ...
facade layout; compared to previous commissions, the "base" was scaled down, the shaft was emphasized by tall vertical
piers Piers may refer to:
* Pier, a raised structure over a body of water
* Pier (architecture), an architectural support
* Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name)
* Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...
, and the capital was emphasized by its Gothic-style mansard roof.
The West Street Building contains a base clad with granite. On the upper stories, the facade consists mostly of beige terracotta tiles manufactured by the
Atlantic Terra Cotta Company
The Atlantic Terra Cotta Company, established in 1846 as A. Hall and Sons Terra Cotta, was founded in Perth Amboy, New Jersey due to Perth Amboy's rich supplies of clay. It was one of the first successful terra cotta companies in the United Stat ...
.
The terracotta facade is highlighted by red, green, blue, and gold tiles.
To comply with the building laws of the 1900s, which required buildings over to be able to withstand of wind pressure, the West Street Building's steel superstructure was braced to protect against wind gusts. The
curtain walls on the exterior were reinforced by hollow brick, while portal bracing was used for the steel frame.
The lower floors occupy the whole parallelogram-shaped lot, while the upper floors contain a "C"-shaped floor plan, with a small "
light court
In architecture, a lightwell,light well, light-well sky-well,skywell, sky well or air shaft is an unroofed or roofed external space provided within the volume of a large building to allow light and air to reach what would otherwise be a dark or ...
" facing east toward the middle of the block.
[; ] There are seven
bays
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...
on the Cedar Street
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 ...
, nine bays along West Street, and six bays on Albany Street. The upper portion of the eastern elevation is divided by the light court into two wings: the northern wing contains four bays and the southern wing contains two bays.
The eastern elevation is mostly concealed from view, but the visible portions contain a similar design treatment to the three other elevations.
[; ]
Base
![World Trade Center Towers, 90 West St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/World_Trade_Center_Towers%2C_90_West_St._building_12460v.jpg)
The base is three stories tall and clad with Fox Island granite. There are segmental arches at ground level,
and 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 ...
runs above the second story.
At West Street, there are single-width arches within the outermost bays and double-width arches in all the other bays.
The center bay consists of a double-height arched entrance flanked by red marble columns,
foliated bosses with
tracery
Tracery is an architecture, architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of Molding (decorative), moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the s ...
, and a sign saying .
The Albany and Cedar Street facades are largely set up similarly at the base, with single-width arches in the outer bays and double-width arches in the inner bays.
[; ] The Cedar Street side has an offset arched entrance that is similar to the West Street entrance, with signage saying ,
while the Albany Street side has a driveway that leads down into a basement garage.
On all three sides, the remaining arches are double-height and contain wood, aluminum, or cast-iron storefronts.
[; ]
The third story is designed as a transitional story with a cornice above the top. Between the window openings in each bay, there are granite panels, as well as foliated bosses at each corner of the window openings. The outermost bays contain one window each and are framed by more elaborate surrounds, while all the other bays contain two windows each. There are marble panels below the cornice, and single-story
engaged column
In architecture, an engaged column is a column embedded in a wall and partly projecting from the surface of the wall, sometimes defined as semi- or three-quarter detached. Engaged columns are rarely found in classical Greek architecture, and then ...
s at each corner of the building.
Some of the granite
lintel
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...
s are
spall
Spall are fragments of a material that are broken off a larger solid body. It can be produced by a variety of mechanisms, including as a result of projectile impact, corrosion, weathering, cavitation, or excessive rolling pressure (as in a ball ...
ed because they had been burned in the September 11 attacks.
Upper stories
The shaft comprises the fourth through sixteenth stories. As with the base, the outer window bays consist of one window per floor, and the inner bays contain two windows per floor.
Between each floor are terracotta
spandrel
A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...
s, which are recessed behind the piers.
Each bay is separated by three-quarter piers that rise from the fourth to the fifteenth stories.
There are iron balconies on the 14th floor. At the 15th floor, the piers end in foliated capitals, and the tops of the windows end in elaborate arches.
The 16th floor serves as another "transitional story" and its windows are surrounded by complex ornamentation.
[; ] A cornice runs above the 16th floor.
![West Street Building (29149137660)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/West_Street_Building_%2829149137660%29.jpg)
The crown comprises the 17th through 20th floors. The 17th through 19th floors are designed as a triple-height
arcade
Arcade most often refers to:
* Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware
** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board
* Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games
* ...
. The spandrels between the floors are decorated with multicolored floral motifs, while there is another ornate cornice above the 19th floor.
On the 20th floor, there are groupings of two windows in the outer bays and three windows in the inner bays, with an elaborate
colonette A colonnette is a small slender column, usually decorative, which supports a beam or lintel. Colonettes have also been used to refer to a feature of furnishings such as a dressing table and case clock, and even studied by archeologists in Roman ce ...
. There are figures of
griffin
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...
s separating each window bay.
[; ]
The top three stories consist of a copper-clad mansard roof.
There are
dormer
A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window.
Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...
screens containing small balconies on the 21st floor, while the 22nd and 23rd floors contain dormer windows. These windows are covered by polygonal dormer roofs.
Above the 23rd floor is an
asphalt
Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
roof surface containing mechanical equipment as well as
bulkheads.
The dormers, as well as decorative
tourelles, added to the aesthetic of the building when it was originally viewed from the waterfront.
Foundation
The site was difficult to develop, as the
bedrock
In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet.
Definition
Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...
layer was an average of below the ground level of the site.
The ground above the bedrock was composed of of clay directly above, then a layer of sand, and finally of mud and silt at ground level. Construction was further hindered by the difficulties in constructing
caissons due to the frequent fires and air-pressure-related injuries associated with such structures.
Gunvald Aus
Gunvald Aus, also written Aas (May 30, 1851 – May 27, 1950) was a Norwegian-American engineer. He is most associated with the engineering of the Woolworth Building in New York City.
Background
He was born the son of Gabriel Godfrey Aas and So ...
, the structural engineer, dismissed the original plans for the foundation, which called for the usage of pneumatic caissons so that the foundation would be deep inside the rock. Instead, he decided to use
pilings
A deep foundation is a type of foundation that transfers building loads to the earth farther down from the surface than a shallow foundation does to a subsurface layer or a range of depths. A pile or piling is a vertical structural element ...
because he felt that it was sufficient for the layers of rock and
hardpan
In soil science, agriculture and gardening, hardpan or soil pan is a dense layer of soil, usually found below the uppermost topsoil layer. There are different types of hardpan, all sharing the general characteristic of being a distinct soil layer ...
to be immediately adjacent. Pilings had been previously used in two other Lower Manhattan buildings: the
New York Produce Exchange
The New York Produce Exchange was a commodities exchange headquartered in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It served a network of produce and commodities dealers across the United States. Founded in 1861 as the New Yo ...
and the
Havemeyer Building.
The foundation consisted of pilings that descended at least , except at the boiler room where they descended .
A layer of concrete, approximately thick, was then placed atop the pilings. The
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, wi ...
, the
underwriter
Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liabilit ...
for general contractor John Peirce, initially did not insure the project because of concerns that the foundation would settle unevenly. Metropolitan Life finally agreed to insure the project after Aus performed a test, which found that a pile would settle when loaded with of
pig iron
Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...
.
Seventy-four columns were drilled down to the rock. Due to the varying loads carried by each column, their sizes ranged from square, composed of clusters of between 4 and 25 piles. Additionally, in the layer of concrete above the piles, there was a series of
I-beam
An I-beam, also known as H-beam (for universal column, UC), w-beam (for "wide flange"), universal beam (UB), rolled steel joist (RSJ), or double-T (especially in Polish language, Polish, Bulgarian language, Bulgarian, Spanish language, Spanish ...
s that was encased in the concrete. Since the boundaries of the lot did not intersect at right angles, the columns carried varying weight distributions.
The foundation work proceeded at an average depth of below the Hudson River's
mean high water
A chart datum is the water level surface serving as origin of depths displayed on a nautical chart. A chart datum is generally derived from some tidal phase, in which case it is also known as a tidal datum. Common chart datums are ''lowest ast ...
, requiring extensive waterproofing. This contract was outsourced to the Sicilian Asphalt Paving Company, one of Carroll's companies.
Features
The lobby contains two corridors arranged in a "T" shape. One leads south from the Cedar Street entrance while the other extends east from the main entrance on West Street, terminating at the north-south corridor.
A
mailroom
A mailroom (US) or post room (UK) is a room in which incoming and outgoing mail is processed and sorted. Mailrooms are commonly found in schools, offices, apartment buildings, and the generic post office. A person who works in a mailroom is known a ...
is located on the southern side of the lobby section leading from Cedar Street, while a concierge desk is located on the southern side of the section from West Street. Within the lobby, there are now-closed arches leading to the ground-floor retail spaces.
The retail areas themselves were configured with entrances to the street and to the lobby, but did not have interior partitions.
As built, there were nine "
plunger elevators", five of which could operate at the same time.
All elevators served the upper stories.
The upper floors contained of leasable office space, with an average of per floor.
The floors could be arranged to allow a myriad of office layouts.
The National Fireproofing Company manufactured the interior terracotta fireproofing.
Following a 2005 renovation, the building has five elevators on the east wall of the lobby, opposite the West Street entrance, and are arranged in an arc.
The renovation added a floor made of marble tile as well as plaster
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 on the ceiling.
While the retail spaces' original finishes were burned and removed after the September 11 attacks, they received new concrete floors and
gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...
ceilings and wall panels during the 2005 renovation. Furthermore, the offices were converted into residential apartments, and gypsum paneling was installed on the walls. A fitness center was installed at the bottom of the light court on the second floor.
The West Street Building's small footprint and waterside location meant that there was little room for the building's mechanical equipment, the layout of which had been designed mostly by Burt Harrison.
On one basement level, there were four boilers, six power generators, elevator equipment, and rooms in which of coal could be stored.
Radiators were placed underneath each window, with heat provided by a system of low-pressure exhaust pipes, since the site could be subject to heat losses on windy days. Originally, there was no artificial ventilation except in part of the basement.
History
Development
![West Street building LCCN2003676567 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/West_Street_building_LCCN2003676567_%28cropped%29.jpg)
The formation of the
City of Greater New York
The City of Greater New York was the term used by many politicians and scholars for the expanded City of New York created on January 1, 1898, by consolidating the existing City of New York with Brooklyn, western Queens County, and Staten Is ...
in 1898 resulted in a sharp increase in the number of buildings being erected 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 ...
, and by the first decade of the 20th century, the neighborhood had forty new office buildings.
These included the
United States Express Building (2 Rector Street), the
Singer Building
The Singer Building (also known as the Singer Tower) was an office building and early skyscraper in Manhattan, New York City. The headquarters of the Singer Manufacturing Company, it was at the northwestern corner of Liberty Street and Broadw ...
, and the
Old New York Evening Post Building
The Old ''New York Evening Post'' Building is the former office and printing plant of the ''New York Evening Post'' newspaper located at 20 Vesey Street between Church Street and Broadway in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. ...
, which were under construction in the middle of that decade.
Among the interested developers was the West Street Improvement Company, a collection of businesspersons in Lower Manhattan. The company, headquartered in the
Broadway–Chambers Building
The Broadway–Chambers Building is an 18-story office building at 277 Broadway, on the northwest corner with Chambers Street, in the Civic Center and Tribeca neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. Completed by 1900 to designs by architec ...
, was led by Howard Carroll
and co-founded by John Peirce, Walter Roberts, and Judge S. P. McConnell.
The West Street Improvement Company sought to erect an office structure particularly for the shipping interests along the Hudson River, the shoreline of which was located at West Street during the early 1900s.
They selected a site between Albany and Cedar Streets with a lot length of facing West Street.
The adjacent buildings on West Street contained warehouses and other facilities dedicated toward the railroad and steamship industries.
Furthermore, the future site of the West Street Building was directly across West Street from ferry piers and docks, which in turn led to major ferry and rail terminals on the other side of the Hudson River.
Carroll hired Gilbert to create a design in April 1905.
Gunvald Aus and Burt Harrison were commissioned as the structural engineers while John Peirce was retained as the general contractor.
The same year, the West Street Improvement Company and Gilbert submitted documents to 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 ...
, proposing a 23-to-28 story office building that would cost about $2 million to build.
Architecture professor Sharon Irish identified "fourteen preliminary sketches that include plans, elevations, and perspectives" for the building, varying in their level of detail.
The design had to attract the more than 100,000 ferry passengers that traveled between New Jersey and New York each day, many of whom would visit the building's rooftop.
The building's construction started in April 1906 and the structure was finished the next year.
20th-century use
According to a pamphlet for the West Street Building, "the building commends itself particularly to railroads, engineers, dock builders, contractors, lawyers, shippers, and machinery and electrical trades".
The main tenant was the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...
, which operated both the nearby
Cortlandt Street Ferry Depot
Cortlandt Street Ferry Depot was the main ferry terminal of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the West Shore Railroad on the North River (Hudson River) in lower Manhattan. The railroads operated ferries to their terminal stations on the Hudson River ...
as well as
Hoboken Terminal
Hoboken Terminal is a commuter-oriented intermodal passenger station in Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, it is served by nine NJ Transit (NJT) commuter rail lines, one Metr ...
across the Hudson River.
This led to the building being nicknamed the "Railroad and Iron Exchange Building"
and alternatively as the "Coal and Iron Building".
The top floor was occupied by Garret's Restaurant, which was touted as the "world's highest restaurant"
and was later characterized as the forerunner to World Trade Center's
Windows on the World
Windows on the World was a complex of dining, meeting, and entertainment venues on the top floors (106th and 107th) of the North Tower (Building One) of the original World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan.
It included a restaurant called ...
restaurant.
Other tenants included West Street Improvement Company's own members, including Carroll's firm Sicilian Asphalt Paving Company as well as the John Peirce Company.
The
American Sugar Refining Company
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
(ASR) bought the West Street Building from the West Street Improvement Company in 1913 for $2.3 million, as part of a larger real-estate transaction worth $4.5 million.
As partial payment, ASR sold some property in the
Long Island City
Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...
neighborhood of
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
,
as well as some property in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
.
The ASR held the West Street Building as an investment, occupying a small portion of the structure. By 1920 the West Street Building was estimated to be worth $3.5 million, though ASR initially refused to sell.
In 1923, the Brady Security and Realty Corporation bought the building from ASR,
and the West Street Building subsequently became the Brady Building.
The elevators, first-floor interior, office space and mechanical systems were refurbished during the early 1930s. During the renovation, the original first-floor interior's arches and groin vaults were removed, and the facade received some modifications.
Further modifications in the mid-20th century resulted in the renovation of the entrances and storefronts, as well as the addition of exterior nighttime lighting and air-conditioning grilles.
Brady sold the building in 1952 to Louis Schleifer for $2.7 million.
The "Brady Building" name persisted over several years, despite being sold multiple times through the end of the 20th century. The lobby was renovated in the 1960s and 1980s, which led to the removal of many of the original finishes.
The building's exterior was designated an architectural
landmark
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 city's
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 1998.
However, the interior was not similarly designated, which left it open to future modification.
21st century
September 11 attacks
![The Ground Zero Area - panoramio (11)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/The_Ground_Zero_Area_-_panoramio_%2811%29.jpg)
The building was severely damaged 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 ...
in 2001, when the
South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed to the north. Scaffolding, which had been erected on the facade for renovation work, failed to prevent debris from falling onto the building. Debris tore a number of large gashes in its northern facade,
including one gap between the third and 11th floors.
Two office workers were killed when they were trapped in an elevator by falling debris.
Several remains of 9/11 victims landed on the northern scaffolding and were not retrieved until 2003.
A
firestorm
A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires and wildfires. Although the term has been used ...
continued for several days; the interior light court functioned as a chimney, causing further damage to the interior.
The West Street Building's heavy building materials and extensive use of
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
may have helped serve as fireproofing and protected it from further damage and collapse.
This contrasted with the more modern skyscraper at
7 World Trade Center
7 World Trade Center (7 WTC, WTC-7, or Tower 7) refers to two buildings that have existed at the same location within the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The original structure, part of the original World Trade Cent ...
, which suffered similar damage and collapsed on the afternoon of September 11.
Nevertheless, falling steel from the World Trade Center resulted in the destruction of the ground-floor
Morton's The Steakhouse
Morton's The Steakhouse is a chain of steak restaurants with locations in the United States and franchised abroad, founded in Chicago in 1978. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Landry's.
History
Morton's was co-founded in 1978 by Arnold J. Mor ...
franchise.
Following the attacks, a large American flag was flown outside the West Street Building, which became a "symbol of hope" for 9/11 rescuers.
Renovation and residential use
The building was sold in January 2003 to Brack Capital Real Estate, which wished to turn 90 West Street into a residential building.
Brack Capital formed a
limited liability company
A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...
, Brack 90 West Street, to oversee the conversion, then sold a half-share in the company to
BD Hotels and the
Kibel Company. Because of the scale of the destruction, the inner floors were completely renovated, and plastic sheeting was placed across the north facade to cover the damage. The
December 2003 nor'easter tore open a portion of the sheeting, which was then removed.
The developers were subsequently given $106.5 million in federal
bonds to renovate the building. Restoration of the lobby revealed some of Gilbert's original terracotta work that had been covered over during an earlier modernization project. During this restoration, the copper roof was replaced for $4 million; the granite base was restored for $5 million; replacement gargoyles were added; and over 7,000 replica terracotta tiles were added.
A parking garage was also built in the building's basement.
The interior was converted into apartments and reopened in mid-2005 as 90 West Street, a 410-unit residential building.
The next year, it received a National Preservation Honor Award from the
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...
.
90 West Street was listed on the
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 ...
on January 25, 2007.
The designation included the exterior and part of the interior.
The building was slightly damaged in November 2007, when a large sewer pipe from the
World Trade Center site
The World Trade Center site, often referred to as "Ground zero#World Trade Center, Ground Zero" or "the Pile" immediately after the September 11 attacks, is a 14.6-acre (5.9 ha) area in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The site is bounde ...
burst open and flooded the basement,
causing a two-week evacuation of the building. The operators of the
National September 11 Memorial & Museum
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum in New York City commemorating the September 11 attacks of 2001, which killed 2,977 people, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombi ...
proposed in 2011 to use 90 West Street as a security screening site for museum visitors, which was controversial among the building's residents. Despite this, 90 West Street ended up being utilized as a visitors' center for people traveling to the memorial.
During residential conversion, the building had received a 421-g
tax exemption
Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...
, meant for developers converting Lower Manhattan buildings to residential use, and as such, some of the residential units were
rent-stabilized. Tenants of 90 West Street filed a lawsuit in the mid-2010s, stating that the building's owner, the Kibel Company, had wrongfully eliminated rent regulation for the building's residential units. In 2019, the
New York Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...
ruled in the tenants' favor, since the owner had received benefits under the 421-g tax incentive program, and was thus bound to provide stabilized leases for the tenants. The next year, the New York Supreme Court ruled that Kibel only owed rent-stabilized tenants four years of back rent, instead of the six years provided in the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019.
Critical reception
![The Ground Zero Area - panoramio (5)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/The_Ground_Zero_Area_-_panoramio_%285%29.jpg)
Upon its opening, the West Street Building was lauded by other architects and artists.
The architectural critic
Montgomery Schuyler
Montgomery Schuyler AIA, (August 19, 1843, Ithaca, New York – July 16, 1914, New Rochelle, New York) was a highly influential critic, journalist and editorial writer in New York City who wrote about and influenced art, literature, music ...
, in a 1919 ''
Scribner's Magazine
''Scribner's Magazine'' was an American periodical published by the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons from January 1887 to May 1939. ''Scribner's Magazine'' was the second magazine out of the Scribner's firm, after the publication of ' ...
'' article, noted that the West Street Building was uncommon in that it was praised by both the public and by architectural critics.
John Merven Carrère
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
, a partner in the architectural firm
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 ...
, said to Gilbert that "I think it is the most successful building of its class."
Edwin Blashfield
Edwin Howland Blashfield (December 5, 1848October 12, 1936) was an American painter and muralist, most known for painting the murals on the dome of the Library of Congress Main Reading Room in Washington, DC.
Biography
Blashfield was born in ...
, a painter, wrote a letter to Gilbert to tell him "what a splendid impression your West Street Building makes on one, as one comes up the harbor on the way back from the other side of the Atlantic."
Architectural critics approved of the building's design as well. An anonymous writer for the ''
Architectural Record
''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. "The Record," as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important historical record of the unfolding debates in a ...
'', possibly Schuyler,
said that he appreciated the upper stories, as well as the design of the vertical piers and the Gothic ornamentation. Another writer for the ''Architectural Record'' stated in 1909 that the structure was "an aesthetic and technical triumph" and "the work of a master mind."
In 1912, a writer for the ''
Architectural Review
''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism †...
'' said that the use of ornament and the expression of the building's design "account for the excellence of effect of the West Street Building."
An unnamed critic in
''Architecture'' magazine praised 90 West Street and the
Liberty Tower for the use of "a high sloping roof to complete the structure", saying that "this is a more desirable termination than a plain flat deck".
Further, ''The New York Times'' praised the use of multicolored ornamentation on 90 West Street's facade.
Praise for the West Street Building continued even through later years, such as a 1934 article which called the structure among the city's "most satisfying buildings."
Ada Louise Huxtable
Ada Louise Huxtable (née Landman; March 14, 1921 – January 7, 2013) was an architecture critic and writer on architecture. Huxtable established architecture and urban design journalism in North America and raised the public's awareness of the ...
, speaking about a proposed Lower Manhattan development district in 1970, said that the area "contains a few gems of substance such as Cass Gilbert's Beaux-Arts Brady Building on West Street."
Herbert Muschamp
Herbert Mitchell Muschamp (November 28, 1947 – October 2, 2007) was an American architecture critic.
Early years
Born in Philadelphia, Muschamp described his childhood home life as follows: "The living room was a secret. A forbidden zone. ...
wrote in 1998 that, after the much taller World Trade Center was completed in the 1970s, "Contemporary critics evidently found it painful to praise Gilbert's West Street Building" but that the "wedding cake top" of the mansard roof "looks edible".
The
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
, in its 2007 historic-designation report, stated that in addition to 90 West Street's importance as one of the first skyscrapers to consistently use of Gothic detailing, the structure "acquired additional historical importance as a witness to and survivor of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001."
See also
*
*
*
Verizon Building
The Verizon Building (also known as 100 Barclay, the Barclay–Vesey Building, and the New York Telephone Company Building) is an office and residential building at 140 West Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The 32-story building was d ...
, another nearby building damaged in the 9/11 attacks
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{Authority control
Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan
Cass Gilbert buildings
Financial District, Manhattan
National Historic Landmarks in New York City
New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan
Office buildings completed in 1907
Skyscraper office buildings in Manhattan
West Side Highway
Buildings with mansard roofs