One Chase Plaza. Image credit: LPC

Project would alter the solid black-granite base to create retail storefronts, and make for a more inviting and accessible plaza. On May 5, 2015, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on potential alterations to the individually landmarked One Chase Manhattan Plaza at 16 Liberty Street in Lower Manhattan. The designated site consists of a 60-story tower and associated two-and-a-half-acre plaza, designed by the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The project was led by partner Gordon Bunschaft, the same team behind other City landmarks, including the Lever House and the Manufacturer’s Trust Building. The project was completed in 1964 as the headquarters for Chase Manhattan Bank, recently formed by a merger of Chase Bank and the Bank of Manhattan. (read more…)

The Marine Midland Bank building. Image Credit: LPC.

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Preservationists turned out to support designation of mid-century modern bank building. On April 2, 2013 and May 14, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission heard testimony on the potential designation of the Marine Midland Bank building at 140 Broadway in Manhattan’s Financial District. The building was designed by the Gordon Bunshaft-helmed firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and exemplifies mid-century modernism in its unadorned curtain walls of black aluminum and bronze-tinted glass, and trapezoidal form. The building is offset by a sculpture by artist Isamu Noguchi, a 28-foot-tall red cube balanced on a corner. The building primarily housed financial-services industry offices, and was named for one of its principal tenants, the Marine Midland Grace Trust Company. As of 2010, the primary building tenant is Brown Brothers Harriman. The 49-story structure was calendared by Landmarks on November 20, 2012. (See CityLand coverage here).

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140 Broadway. Image Courtesy: Cushman & Wakefield.

Gordon Bunshaft-designed Mid-century Modernist office tower on trapezoidal site enters process towards designation. On November 20, 2012, Landmarks voted to calendar the Marine Midland Bank building, at 140 Broadway in Lower Manhattan’s Financial District, as potential individual City landmark. The building was designed by Gordon Bunshaft, partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Other individual landmarks in the City designed by Bunshaft include the Manufacturer’s Company Trust Building, and Modernist icon, the Lever House. The Marine Midland Bank building opened in 1967 and the tenants have primarily been in bank and other financial-services industries.

The 49-story Marine Midland Bank is an example of mid-century Modernism, with a minimalist curtain wall of black aluminum and bronze-tinted glass. The building occupies a trapezoidal site, covering an entire block, leading to an imposing free-standing form. The building’s ground floor maintained the structure’s stark simplicity, with no signage or retail space. Sculptor Isamu Noguchi’s 28-foot-tall “Red Cube” stands in the building’s plaza, facing Broadway. The building has undergone changes since its construction, including modifications to the entrances in 2000, but it retains most of its original fabric, as well as its character.

The commissioners voted unanimously to calendar the property, with Chair Robert B. Tierney stating that he was “looking forward” to considering its significance further. No date has been set for a hearing on the potential designation.

LPC: Marine Midland Bank, 140 Broadway, Manhattan (LP-2530) (November 20, 2012).

Vornado proposed dividing building’s recently landmarked interior into two retail spaces. On March 15, 2011, Landmarks considered Vornado Realty Trust’s proposal to renovate the interior of the Manufacturers Trust Company Building at 510 Fifth Avenue and 43rd Street. The 1954 modernist, glass-walled building designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill is an individual City landmark. Landmarks recently designated the first two floors of the building as an interior landmark in February 2011. At Landmarks’ hearing on the designation, a representative of Vornado testified in support, but explained that “sensitive interventions” would be required to convert the building to an economically viable retail use. 8 CityLand 28 (March 15, 2011).

Attorney Meredith Kane testified that Vornado planned to renovate the building in order to accommodate two retail tenants. The Canadian retailer Joe Fresh would occupy a portion of the building’s ground floor and the cantilevered second floor. Vornado had not yet identified a second retail tenant. Vornado hired Skidmore Owings & Merrill to design the overall renovation plans, and Joe Fresh hired Callison LLC to renovate its retail space. (read more…)

Mid-century International Style tower designated. On February 10, 2009, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate One Chase Manhattan Plaza as an individual City landmark. Designed by Gordon Bunschaft and Jacques E. Guiton of Skidmore Owings & Merrill, the site consists of a 60-story tower, a six-story base, and a 2.5 acre plaza that incorporates an Isamu Noguchi-designed sunken garden.

The tower was planned after the merger between Chase National Bank and the Bank of Manhattan Company, and became the new home for all 8,700 bank employees. David Rockefeller, bank vice president, was instrumental in the tower’s construction, convincing Chase to remain downtown even though few buildings had been constructed there since the 1930s. At the June 24, 2008 hearing at Landmarks, Chase received support from the complex’s owner, JP Morgan Chase, and from Council Member Alan J. Gerson and U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler. 5 CityLand 94 (July 15, 2008). (read more…)

John Jay faced the largest space deficit in the CUNY system. On January 5, 2005, the Planning Commission approved the 513,500 sq.ft. expansion plan for John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which, with its link to John Jay’s Haaren Hall along Tenth Avenue between West 58th and West 59th Streets, will create a unified urban campus occupying the full city block from Tenth to Eleventh Avenues between West 58th and West 59th Streets.

In addition to John Jay’s Haaren Hall along Tenth Avenue, the 160,700 sq.ft. city block contains a 320,000 sq.ft. warehouse, housing a newspaper distribution center, a general contractor’s office and two parking lots, and a below-grade rail line for Amtrak’s Empire Line. The manufacturing building would be demolished and a small 6,580 sq.ft. development platform constructed over the Amtrak rail line for the expansion. (read more…)