56 Beaver Street
56 Beaver Street is a structure in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, United States. Designed by James Brown Lord, the building was completed in 1891 as a location of the Delmonico's restaurant chain. The current building, commissioned by Delmonico's chief executive Charles Crist Delmonico, replaced Delmonico's first building on the site, which had been built in 1837. The building is a New York City designated landmark and a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places district.
The eight-story structure, clad in brick, brownstone, architectural terracotta, occupies a triangular lot at the western corner of the five-pointed intersection of William, South William, and Beaver Streets. The facade is articulated into three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a two-story base, a five-story shaft, and a one-story capital. The building contains a curved corner with a portico that provides access to the restaurant on the lower stories. Inside, there is a restaurant space in the basement and first story, while the upper floors contain 40 condominiums.
The current building opened on July 7, 1891, with the restaurant at the base and top floor, as well as office space on the third through seventh floors. After 56 Beaver Street was sold to the American Merchant Marine Insurance Company in 1917, the restaurant was closed, and the building became an office structure known as the Merchant Marine House. The building was then sold twice in the 1920s before the City Bank-Farmers Trust Company foreclosed on the building. In 1926 Oscar Tucci purchased the lower level and first floor, then opened a restaurant. Tucci eventually acquired the entire building; his family continued to run the restaurant until the 1980s. The building's upper stories were renovated in the early 1980s. From 1982 to 1993, under a licensing agreement with the Tuccis, Ed Huber operated Delmonico's at 56 Beaver Street. Time Equities acquired the building in 1995; converting the upper stories into apartments; the lower stories operated yet again as a restaurant from 1998 to 2020. Delmonico's is scheduled to reopen in late 2023.
Site
56 Beaver Street is in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The land lot is located at the western corner of the five-pointed intersection of William, South William, and Beaver Streets. It covers the eastern portion of the city block bounded by Broad Street to the west, Beaver Street to the north, and South William Street to the southeast. At the same intersection, the building abuts 1 William Street to the south, 15 William Street to the north, and 20 Exchange Place to the northeast. Other nearby structures include the Broad Exchange Building and 45 Broad Street to the northwest, as well as 1 Hanover Square to the southeast.The site covers, with a frontage of on Beaver Street and a depth of. The site originally measured wide along Beaver Street and wide along South William Street. By the early 20th century, the building had been extended to cover on South William Street and on Beaver Street.
Architecture
56 Beaver Street was designed by James Brown Lord for the Delmonico's restaurant chain. Lord may have been hired to design 56 Beaver Street because he had designed a Delmonico's branch at 341 Broadway in 1886. Architect and writer Robert A. M. Stern described the building as containing elements of the Richardsonian Romanesque and Renaissance Classicism styles. The original design complemented the headquarters of the New York Cotton Exchange directly across William and South William streets, at the southeast corner of the intersection.Facade
56 Beaver Street contains a facade of orange Roman brick, brownstone, and beige terracotta. The facade is articulated into three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, shaft, and capital. The two principal elevations on South William and Beaver streets are joined by a rounded corner on William Street, which is divided vertically into three bays. The Beaver Street elevation is divided into two wide bays and one narrow bay from west to east. The western portion of the South William Street elevation has two wide bays, while the eastern portion has three wide bays flanked by two narrow bays.Base
The lowest part of the two-story base contains a water table, which was originally made of brick and granite but was subsequently refaced in sandstone. Above the water table, the base is clad with Belleville brownstone. The restaurant's main entrance is beneath a portico at the rounded corner on William Street. Two Corinthian columns support a frieze with the name "Delmonico's" in all capital letters, above which runs a balustrade. This portico was preserved from the previous building on the site. Recessed behind the portico is the doorway, which is flanked by two columns. These columns, saved from the previous building, were reportedly imported from Pompeii, and patrons touched these columns for good luck. There is a marble cornice above the doorway, as well as wooden panels in the reveals of the doorway. The entrance itself is through a pair of wooden double doors with glass windows.On Beaver Street, a pink-granite stoop leads up to an archway, which leads to the building's residential stories. The archway occupies the westernmost bay of the facade and is surrounded by splayed jambs with classical motifs. The remainder of this bay is flanked by a pair of flat pilasters and is clad with stucco. The doors themselves are made of glass. Directly above the entrance are two windows on the second floor, which are flanked by reliefs that depict volutes. The address "56 Beaver Street" is printed on a plaque above those windows. To the west are four four-story brownstone structures at 48-54 Beaver Street, which dates from the late 19th century. Part of the commercial space extends into these structures, and the lot at 54 Beaver Street.
Near the western end of the South William Street elevation, a brownstone stoop leads up to the ground-level commercial space. The stoop is flanked by brownstone side walls with iron railings above them. The doorway contains stone carvings of Renaissance style motifs. The reveals of the doorway also contain wooden panels, and the door is topped by a transom bar and a window. The westernmost two bays on South William Street contain entrance doorways. The remaining bays contain simple window openings, which have canopies above them.
Upper stories
The third through seventh stories comprise the building's midsection. The curved corner contains two stacked colonnades, each with four double-height engaged columns, on the third to sixth floors. The curved corner's spandrel panels, above the windows on the third and fifth stories, contain foliate motifs. On the seventh story, the curved corner is decorated with brownstone panels that contain reliefs with arabesques. On South William and Beaver Streets, a brick arch spans the third through sixth stories in each bay. The arches are surrounded by terracotta quoins, which contain reliefs with checkerboard patterns. The remainders of both elevations are made of brick. Above these arches are terracotta panels with foliate motifs. A deep cornice with modillions runs above the seventh story.On all elevations, the eighth story is clad with brick. The windows on the eighth story are separated by pilasters with arabesques, above which is a small cornice. There was formerly a balustrade above the cornice. The roof contains brick chimneys on the southwestern and northeastern corners, as well as a brick penthouse on the northwestern corner.
Interior
56 Beaver Street was built with an iron and steel superstructure. When the building was constructed, the basement and lowest two stories were used by the restaurant. When the building opened, the main dining room on the first floor was open only to men. The main dining room was decorated in white and gold. This room contained a lunch counter at the rear of the room, near South William Street, as well as a bar and an oyster counter next to the lunch counter. There was also a separate dining room for women, which was decorated in "carmine and white and gold" with a decorative fireplace. The women's dining room took up half of the second story, while private dining rooms occupied the remainder of that story. The basement was surrounded by a wall measuring thick. In the basement were a wine cellar, dynamos, elevator pumps, and staff dressing rooms.When the building was completed, the eighth story was used as a kitchen, with pneumatic tubes and hydraulic elevators running to the lower levels. The pneumatic tubes would carry slips of paper, with guests' orders written on them, and the food was then sent down on the elevators. The kitchen itself was made of marble. The third to seventh stories were rented out as offices. In 1926, Oscar Tucci operated a speakeasy in the basement of the building. By 1935, Tucci owned the entire Delmonico building. Over the decade's of Tucci's ownership, he was operating the entire building as restaurant space. Since 1997, the building's upper stories have contained 37 apartments, which range from studio apartments covering to two-bedroom units covering.