Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building, also known as 33 Liberty Street, is a building in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City, which serves as the headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The building occupies the full block between Liberty, William, and Nassau Streets and Maiden Lane; it narrows at its east end, following the footprint of the block.
The Federal Reserve Building has fourteen above-ground stories and five basement levels, designed by York and Sawyer with decorative ironwork by Samuel Yellin of Philadelphia. Its facade is separated horizontally into three sections: a base, midsection, and top section. The stone exterior is reminiscent of early Italian Renaissance palaces such as Florence's Palazzo Strozzi and Palazzo Vecchio. The horizontal and vertical joints of the facade's stones are deeply rusticated. The Federal Reserve Building's gold vault rests on Manhattan's bedrock, below street level and below sea level. The vault contains the largest known monetary-gold reserve in the world, with about in storage as of 2024.
The building was erected from 1919 to 1924, with an eastward extension built in 1935. The Federal Reserve Building's design and scale was largely praised upon its completion. The building was designated a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1966 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It is a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, an NRHP district created in 2007.
Site
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building is in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. It occupies the entire block bounded by Nassau Street to the west, Liberty Street to the south, William Street to the east, and Maiden Lane to the north. The Federal Reserve Building is surrounded by numerous other structures, including the John Street Methodist Church, Home Insurance Plaza, and 63 Nassau Street to the north; 28 Liberty Street to the south; 140 Broadway to the southwest; and the Liberty Tower and the Chamber of Commerce Building to the west.The building's land lot has a total area of. The site slopes downward from southwest to northeast. The Liberty Street facade contains a gradual slope, with the western end being about higher than the eastern end. There is also a steeper slope downward along Nassau Street from Liberty Street northward to Maiden Lane. Much of the Maiden Lane side faces the building's raised basement.
The Federal Reserve Building's lot has a frontage of on Liberty Street and extends deep. The building narrows at its east end, following the footprint of the block. As built, the Federal Reserve Building occupied all except the east end of the block, with frontage of on Liberty Street, on Maiden Lane, and on Nassau Street. The annex at the east end of the block has of frontage on Liberty Street, of frontage on William Street, and on Maiden Lane.
33 Maiden Lane
In addition to the main building, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York occupies a neighboring structure immediately to the north at 33 Maiden Lane, also known as 2 Federal Plaza. The New York Fed had acquired the site, at Maiden Lane and Nassau Street, in the 1960s, with plans to build an annex designed by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates, but canceled the plans in 1976. The site was then sold to Park Tower Realty in 1980.The building at 33 Maiden Lane, designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, was completed in 1986. It is 27 stories tall, with of floor area. The facade is made of tan brick, with an arcade of columns at ground level and turrets on the roofline to match the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building's design. The building contains a privately owned public space. From 1988 to 1992, the building held a branch of the Whitney Museum of American Art, designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. The New York Fed purchased 33 Maiden Lane for $208 million in 2012.
Architecture
The Federal Reserve Building is where the monetary policy of the United States is executed by trading United States dollars and United States Treasury securities. The original 1924 building and its 1935 annex were both designed for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York by York and Sawyer in the neo-Renaissance style. Marc Eidlitz & Son was the main contractor for both structures. Numerous other engineers and contractors were involved in the building's construction.The building has fourteen above-ground stories and five basement levels. Because the design was intended to accommodate up to 4,000 employees, the placement of elevators and entrances was a main consideration. Since Nassau Street was such a busy street, and because the slope was so steep, the architects decided to place the main entrance at Liberty Street instead, with the service entrance along the raised basement at Maiden Lane. The facade and interior contain ironwork manufactured by Samuel Yellin of Philadelphia. The iron decorations, which weigh a collective, depict animal heads and unusual motifs such as smileys.
The design is reminiscent of early Italian Renaissance palaces such as Florence's Palazzo Strozzi and Palazzo Vecchio, which was deliberately intended to inspire trust and confidence in the institution within. The building's Italian Renaissance-style motifs were also designed to fit the building to its irregular land lot. Further enhancing the building's sense of scale was that, prior to the construction of 28 Liberty Street to the south, the Federal Reserve Building could only be viewed at an irregular angle due to the presence of other nearby buildings. Upon its completion in 1924, the Federal Reserve Building was one of the largest bank buildings in the world.
Facade
The facade is made of limestone and sandstone, which serve as cladding for the steel interior superstructure. It is separated horizontally into three sections: a two-story base, seven-story midsection, and five-story top section. The stones of the facade are rusticated, with deep horizontal and vertical grooves separating each block. The far eastern end of the building is topped by a round tower.The lowest two stories of the facade comprise the building's base and are deeply rusticated. The main entrance is through a double-height arch on the Liberty Street elevation, flanked by wrought-iron lanterns. This entrance, about east of Nassau Street, was intended for bank officers and visitors. A smaller entrance on Maiden Lane provided an entrance for most employees, and a truck driveway on Maiden Lane allowed the delivery of large shipments of money. The other windows at the first story contain round arches covered by wrought iron window grilles. The second story contains rectangular window openings.
The third story is surrounded by a balcony with a stone balustrade. At the third through ninth stories, each vertical bay generally contains two windows per story, with round-arched window openings at the third story and rectangular windows on the other stories. Near the extreme ends of each side are vertical bays that contain one rectangular window per story.
The tenth story contains smaller arched windows set between the corbels of a cornice that runs atop that story. The upper floors are above the cornice. The eleventh floor contains a single rectangular window corresponding to each of the vertical bays on the lower stories. The twelfth and thirteenth floors are contained within an arched loggia that runs around the exterior. These stories are slightly set back behind a balcony running around the building. The roof is clad in quarry tile.
Interior
The main entrance arch on Liberty Street leads to a large entrance hall with a vaulted ceiling as well as walls clad with stone. On the west side of the main hall, perpendicular to the entrance hall, is a corridor with doorways to the bank directors' offices and conference rooms. These doorways are made of ironwork and are closed to the public. A reception room, measuring wide by long, runs west of the entrance hall. A tellers' room, with a vaulted ceiling and ornamental tellers' cages, is east of the entrance hall. The vaulted ceilings were made in Guastavino tile. The other portions of the ground floor contained numerous public departments such as the cash and collections department. By the 21st century, the interior contained a security checkpoint, and the ground floor also had an exhibition space that displayed numismatic artifacts.Most of the remaining interior was described as being of "standard office building construction", according to The Wall Street Journal. The structure was designed with just over of office space. Numerous corridors were built on the second floor, connecting to the offices there, and a conference room originally occupied one side of the second floor. The third through twelfth floors contained loft working spaces that could accommodate several thousand employees. Each of these stories originally contained. The tenth floor contained the officers' quarters. Recreational facilities for employees were placed on the top floors. The thirteenth and fourteenth floors contained cafeterias, which were originally separate facilities for women, men, and bank officers. There was also an employee's hospital and a gymnasium.
In the basement are six vaults that store money and securities. The gold vault and two other vaults are guarded by doors and frames, while the remaining vaults are guarded by smaller doors and frames. Also in the basement were the building's mechanical equipment, which included electric generators and ventilation systems. The vaults are also protected by armed security forces, who have their own firing range in the building.
Gold vault
The Federal Reserve Building's three-story gold vault is toward the western end of the site, adjoining Nassau Street. The vault rests on Manhattan's bedrock, below street level and below sea level, and contains the largest known monetary-gold storage reserve in the world., the vault housed approximately 507,000 bars of gold, weighing about. The Fed serves as a guardian for the gold and does not own it outright. Nearly 98 percent of the building's gold is owned by the central banks of 36 foreign nations. The remaining two percent is owned by the United States and international organizations such as the IMF., the building's vault holds of gold bullion and $3 million in gold coins for the United States, just over 5 percent of the United States' total gold reserve.The vault is below and away from the nearest New York City Subway tunnels. The foundations of the Federal Reserve Building were constructed to withstand the weight of the gold vault and its contents, which would have exceeded the weight limits of almost any other foundation. Ninety-nine concrete piers, extending to the underlying bedrock, were poured to support the weight of the building. The vault walls consist of steel layers reinforced with concrete. The eastern wall of the vault is about thick while the other three walls are about thick. The only entrance is a circular door inside a frame; when closed, the vault door forms a complete hermetic seal. The vault is additionally secured by listening devices, motion sensors, and cameras. , there has never been a successful break-in attempt, though a fictional robbery of the vault was depicted in the 1995 film Die Hard with a Vengeance.Inside the vault are 122 gold compartments, each containing the deposits of one account holder, as well as various shelves for smaller account holders. The account holders are identified by numbers for anonymity. Gold bars are weighed and tested for purity whenever they are deposited.
The Fed charges $1.75 to move each bar of gold. Gold bars are moved between the compartments whenever one account holder pays another. Staff wear steel-toe footwear to protect their feet in case they drop one of the gold bars, each of which weighs. Every time the compartments are opened or gold is moved, three Fed staff members are required to oversee the transaction. Each compartment is further locked behind a padlock, two combination locks, and the seal of the Fed's auditor. While the Fed does conduct public tours of the vault, visitors are only allowed to see a display sample of gold.