Empire Building (Manhattan)

The Empire Building is an office building and early skyscraper at 71 Broadway, on the corner of Rector Street, in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. It was designed by Kimball & Thompson in the Classical Revival style and built by Marc Eidlitz & Son from 1897 to 1898. The building consists of 21 stories above a full basement story facing Trinity Place at the back of the building and is tall. The Empire Building is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, NRHP district created in 2007.
The Empire Building's articulation consists of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column—namely a base, shaft, and capital—and has a facade of gray granite at its base and white granite on the upper stories. It is one of the earliest skyscrapers built on pneumatic caissons and one of the oldest such buildings that remain standing. The building contains an interior steel frame structure with a curtain-walled facade. The top stories contain a loggia on the facade as well as a large metal cornice above the 20th floor. There are numerous band courses, balconies, and arched windows along the facade.
The original Empire Building was a brownstone structure constructed in 1859. Though the politician and real estate developer Orlando B. Potter had acquired the brownstone in 1884, he died prior to the current building's construction. The present Empire Building was ultimately developed by his children as a 20-story structure. The Empire Building was the home of United States Steel Corporation from the company's 1901 founding to 1976, and U.S. Steel owned the building between 1919 and 1973. The Empire Building's 21st floor was constructed between 1928 and 1930 to designs by John C. Westervelt. The building was converted to apartments in 1997.

Site

The plot measures along Broadway, along Rector Street, and on Trinity Place with a footprint of approximately. Because of modifications made to the building after its completion, some portions of the Broadway entrance cross over the lot line. The previous building on the site, a six-story brownstone structure, measured along Broadway, along Rector Street, and on Trinity Place.
Along Rector Street, it is adjacent to the churchyard of Trinity Church, providing a dramatic backdrop for the church and ensuring open views for the building. To the south is 65 Broadway, the former headquarters of the American Express company. There are entrances to New York City Subway stations right outside both of the Empire Building's principal facades: two stairs to the Wall Street station are located to either side of the building's main entrance, while an entrance to the Rector Street station is located on Trinity Place just outside the building entrance there.

Architecture

The Empire Building was designed by the partnership of Kimball & Thompson, composed of Francis H. Kimball and George Kramer Thompson, in the Classical Revival style. It was built by Marc Eidlitz & Son, with Charles Sooysmith as foundation engineer. Though the building faces Broadway, with its main entrance on 71 Broadway, it also has entrances at 51-53 Trinity Place. The Empire Building has also been historically known as the U.S. Steel Company Building or O.B. Potter Trust Building, reflecting its past ownership.
As designed, the Empire Building was 20 stories, excluding the full basement on Trinity Place, but this was later expanded to 21 stories plus the basement. The total height of the building is. The facade rises straight from street level and fills the entire lot except for two light courts on the south end of the lot. The offices were arranged so that they faced north toward Trinity Church, while utility rooms and elevators are located on the southern portion of the building.

Facade

The facades of the Empire Building are arranged in three sections, consisting of a four-story "base", a "shaft", and a four-story "capital" on top, similar to the components of a column. This was a common setup for facades of buildings that were being erected in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The original design called for architectural terracotta sheathing, but the Potter family, which developed the Empire Building, switched to granite because they felt the material was "more suitable".

Base

The base is four stories of polished gray granite. Due to the difference in elevation between the front and the back of the building, the site slopes down from Broadway to Trinity Place, and there is a full-height storefront in the basement on Trinity Place.
The main entrance on Broadway is based on a triumphal arch, with a main archway that contains three pairs of steel doors, and two smaller flanking ones that lead to first floor stores. The triumphal arch is flanked by two pairs of granite columns, topped by eagles on globes. The entrance originally consisted of three pairs of doors, leading to a portico with a barrel vault; it was modified by Walker & Gillette in 1937–1938 in the Art Deco style. The remodeled entrance has a stainless-steel transom band directly atop the doors with the stainless-steel text "71 Broadway 71", as well as a round-arched stainless-steel spandrel panel at the top of the arch, with the number "71" in stainless steel. Staircases to the Wall Street subway station flank the arches at the main entrance.
On the corner of Broadway and Rector Street, there is a chamfer that used to have an entrance at the first floor. Along Rector Street, the facade of the base is divided into three parts, and the full basement has storefronts. An entrance arch was located in the middle of the facade. On the third and fourth floors of the Rector Street facade, there is an arcade with Ionic-style vertical pilasters.
The full basement facing Trinity Place has a storefront under the northernmost two bays. A recessed entrance designed by Walker & Gillette was installed in the southern two bays in 1937–1938. At the first story, there was formerly an entrance to the Sixth Avenue elevated, which was closed in 1938 and replaced by a steel surround designed by Walker & Gillette.

Features

Contractor Charles Sooysmith designed the foundation, which was a mix of grillage and 23 pneumatic concrete caissons that went down to bedrock. The foundation covered about half of the lot area. The caissons were intended to reduce disruption to other buildings during the excavation process. Sooysmith was among the first builders to use pneumatic caissons for foundations, having used them in other projects such as the Manhattan Life Insurance Building across Broadway and the American Surety Building two blocks south. The latter was the first steel-framed skyscraper built on pneumatic caissons, as well as one of the earliest steel-framed buildings over ten stories, and the Empire Building had been modeled after it. The narrowness of the lot resulted in the inclusion of an extensive system of steel skeleton framing and bracing. The foundations were nonetheless designed to accommodate a future expansion of the building.
The total floor area is. Due to the irregular shape of the lot area, none of the sides are equal or parallel to each other. Since being converted to a residential building in 1997, the Empire Building has included 238 apartments, which contain between of space. The residential units include studio apartments as well as one- and two-bedroom apartments. Though the interior has been extensively remodeled, the Empire Building still contains one of its original staircases on the western side. The staircase has an iron railing, which contains decorative motifs featuring dolphins and Neptune's scepter, as well as marble treads.
The building was originally equipped with 10 hydraulic elevators manufactured by Otis Worldwide, which were grouped in two banks of five. Of these, nine elevators were for passenger service and one was a freight elevator that could carry loads of up to. Each of the shafts was enclosed in masonry. The bottom of each elevator shaft narrowed slightly to create a protective "air cushion", which used air pressure to slow down elevator cabs if they were to fall. These safety features were included because of a series of elevator accidents that had taken place at nearby 150 Nassau Street. An elevator cab with eggs and light bulbs was experimentally dropped from the top of the shaft on July 18, 1898; despite having fallen past the third floor at, the eggs and light bulbs were found to have been undamaged.

History

Context

The first recorded owner of the site was the Trinity Church and German Lutheran Church, though the German Lutheran Church only occupied a part of the plot. There was an inn at Rector Street and Broadway in the late 18th century. The plot was sold to Grace Church in 1808 or 1809, and a church was built on the site. In 1837, Grace Church sold the land, and eight years later, merchant Michael Simpson bought the plot. A six-story brownstone office building at 71 Broadway was built in 1859, and was part of a group of many low-rise residential and commercial buildings erected on the lower section of Broadway. The brownstone became known as the Empire Building or Arcade Building. The latter name was given because there was a public arcade extending adjacent to the building, connecting Broadway to the former Sixth Avenue elevated's Rector Street station.
By the late 19th century, it had become valuable: in April 1884, an English syndicate offered $1.25 million to the building's then-owners S. T. Meyer & Son, an offer that was refused. Politician and developer Orlando B. Potter ultimately purchased the building the same year. The brownstone was bombed in 1891 as part of an extortion attempt directed toward politician Russell Sage, killing four people including the bomber. Prior to the explosion, a building tenant had written a letter to the New York City Department of Buildings' commissioner, claiming that the building sometimes "vibrated violently" and was unsafe. The bombing was subsequently reclassified as an assassination attempt. Sage moved to 31 Nassau Street afterward.