Battery Maritime Building
The Battery Maritime Building is a building at South Ferry on the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City. Located at 10 South Street, near the intersection with Whitehall Street, it contains an operational ferry terminal at ground level, as well as a hotel and event space on the upper stories. The ground story contains three ferry slips that are used for excursion trips and ferries to Governors Island, as well as commuter trips to Port Liberté, Jersey City. The upper stories contain the Cipriani South Street event space, operated by Cipriani S.A., and a 47-room hotel called Casa Cipriani.
The Beaux-Arts building was built from 1906 to 1909 and designed by the firm Walker and Morris as the easternmost section of the partially completed Whitehall Street Ferry Terminal. What is now the Battery Maritime Building was designed to serve ferries traveling to Brooklyn. The structure uses a variety of architectural metals and originally contained a large waiting area on the second floor. The Battery Maritime Building is the only Exposition Universelle-style ferry building still operating in Manhattan. The similarly-designed westernmost section of the Whitehall Street Ferry Terminal, serving ferries to Staten Island, was rebuilt as the Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal; the center section was never built.
The terminal was used by Brooklyn ferry routes until the mid-20th century and subsequently fell into disrepair. The building was used as a Governors Island ferry terminal starting in 1956, while the upper floors were used by various city agencies, including the Department of Marine and Aviation beginning in 1959. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a city landmark in 1967 and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The underused structure was proposed to be converted into a cultural center during the 1980s as part of the failed South Ferry Plaza development. The exterior was restored by Jan Hird Pokorny Architects between 2001 and 2005. Plans to convert the interior into a hotel and event space were approved in 2009, but the conversion encountered numerous delays, with the event space opening in 2019.
Site
The Battery Maritime Building is at 10 South Street, on the shore of the East River, in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. It is slightly east of South Street's intersection with Whitehall Street, adjacent to a ramp connecting the FDR Drive and the Battery Park Underpass. The Battery Maritime Building is between the Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal to the west and the Downtown Manhattan Heliport to the east. The structure measures about wide and long. According to the New York City Department of City Planning, the land lot measures.The Battery Maritime Terminal is close to the New York City Subway's South Ferry/Whitehall Street station, served by the, as well as bus services at Peter Minuit Plaza. Through the Whitehall Terminal, access to the Staten Island Ferry is also available. There is taxicab service outside the terminal as well.
Architecture
The Battery Maritime Building was designed by the firm of Richard Walker and Charles Morris and constructed by Snare & Triest Co. The project's construction was overseen by C. W. Staniford, the chief engineer of the city's Department of Docks, as well as assistant engineer S. W. Hoag Jr. It was inspired by the Exposition Universelle and is the only remaining ferry building in that style in Manhattan.The Battery Maritime Building contains three ferry slips, numbered 5, 6, and 7. These are the three easternmost ferry slips of a never-completed larger terminal: the Whitehall Street Ferry Terminal, which was proposed to contain seven slips when it was constructed from 1906 to 1909. What is now the Battery Maritime Building was originally served by ferries traveling to 39th Street in South Brooklyn. The Staten Island Ferry terminal comprised slips 1, 2, and 3, which served ferries to St. George Terminal in St. George, Staten Island. The unbuilt slip 4 was to serve ferries from both Staten Island and South Brooklyn. The three sections were designed to be built independently of each other with a visually identical style. The westernmost slips were drastically rebuilt in 1956, but the easternmost slips remain as a part of the modern Battery Maritime Building.
, the building contains five stories. The second floor was being converted to an event space while the third and fourth floors were being renovated into a 47-room hotel called Casa Cipriani. Part of the first floor continues to serve as a terminal for ferries to Governors Island.
Facade
including stamped zinc and copper, rolled steel, and cast iron were used in the building's design. These materials are more widely used on the water-facing side, to the south, than on the other facades. The water-facing side is wide and four stories high. Ferry slips 5, 6, and 7 are spanned by tall steel arches, which are supported by four pairs of pilasters with ornate capitals. Slip 5 can accommodate vessels which load passengers from either the bow or the sides. Slips 6 and 7 can accommodate 149-passenger vessels which load passengers from the bow. The entrances to each of the slips can be sealed with elaborate swinging gates. Above the ferry slips is a penthouse with a row of double-hung windows.The land-facing side, along Whitehall Street to the north, is wide and two stories high. It consists of five bays of sash windows and entries, flanked by six pairs of columns that are topped by decorative capitals and brackets. The columns support a hip roof, and the second floor of the land side contains a balcony with an elaborate railing. The balcony forms a loggia that measures wide; a similar loggia was also planned for the Staten Island Ferry terminal and center wing. The vaults under the porch roof utilize Guastavino tiles. The second story had a direct connection to the South Ferry elevated train station, the Staten Island Ferry terminal, and Lower Manhattan. The windows contain large frames with glazed glass and cast-iron mullions. Between these are connecting walls with wire lattice work, attached to the facade's I-shaped steel stanchions. The steelwork on the remainder of the building contains decorative motifs such as paneled lattice work, raised moldings, and elaborate cross bracings. Unlike in other structures of the same era, the steel structural members were left exposed without any cladding.
The roof was intended as a recreational area. Originally, the portion of the roof devoted to this purpose was clad with Welsh red tiles, set in cement and laid on a layer of ash concrete. The other sections of the roof were made of gravel. A skylight was installed in the center of the roof during one of the building's restorations. During the 1950s, the fourth floor was built on part of the roof. In the 2021 hotel conversion, a glass-clad addition was constructed on the roof. The addition includes a swimming pool, restaurant, and bar. Spires and cupolas were also installed atop the water-facing side; these design features had been part of the original design but were removed in the 1930s. Including bulkheads, the Battery Maritime Building is approximately tall, as measured from the sidewalk of South Street.
Structural features
The superstructure is made of steel framework and reinforced concrete floor slabs, which are finished with terrazzo. The main floor-girders vary in depth from, for I-beams, to box girders. The ceilings are made of wire lath and finished in plaster. The columns of the superstructure vary in size; the larger columns are generally thick and are built up of riveted steel sections.Along the waterfront, the building rests upon thick concrete structural piers set over wooden piles, driven into the riverbed to the rock surface. Along the land, the concrete structural piers descend to the rock deep. Subway tunnels run directly under the terminal.
Interior
According to zoning documents filed with the New York City Department of Buildings in 2020, during the building's renovation, the interior has a gross floor area of and a zoning floor area of. Sources vary on how much floor area the Battery Maritime Building contained before its expansion in 2020. According to a report issued by the Manhattan borough president's office in 2008, the building has of gross area. A New York Times article from 2002 cited the building's area as. According to a document published by the New York City Economic Development Corporation in 2011, the Battery Maritime Building contained.The interior has many decorative steel columns, beams, and molded ceilings, much of which dates from the original design. The terminal's first story contains a waiting area along South Street. The waiting area was originally accessed by two vestibules and contained a smoking area, ticket office, and other booths. The walls and furniture of the waiting area were decorated with wood, and the entire space was initially illuminated by a large skylight. Behind the waiting area, to the south, was a passageway wide. This passage connected the two transverse driveways to slips 5 and 7, each measuring wide. It served as a vehicular loading area for wagons and motor vehicles. The modern terminal contains the waiting area, ticket area, and restrooms for the Governors Island ferry line between slips 6 and 7., the section of the ground floor between slips 5 and 6 contains a lobby for the Casa Cipriani hotel, surrounded by a porte-cochere.
The building was originally constructed with a large second-story waiting room known as the Great Hall. The Great Hall measured wide and long, with a ceiling about high. The interior contains iron columns and stained glass windows and, as in the first floor, had wooden furnishings. Had the center wing of the Whitehall Street Ferry Terminal been completed, it would have formed a single, more massive concourse connected to the Staten Island Ferry slips. A concourse runs around the perimeter of the Great Hall. During the 2010s, a steel double stair was constructed between the first story and the second-story concourse, similar in design to a previous steel stair on the site. A daylight measuring was also installed in the Great Hall.
The third floor originally contained office space that could be used by the New York City Dock Board or rented out to other tenants. In the mid-20th century, the second story was converted to offices and the fourth story was built. When the Casa Cipriani hotel and the event space were added in the early 21st century, the converted interior included a spa and gymnasium, operated by Cipriani S.A., as well as health club KX. A fifth story, a rooftop penthouse, and first- and second-story mezzanines were installed as part of the conversion. The additions totaled over. Furthermore, the interior spaces were clad with glossy mahogany, including the club on the fifth floor. There is also a restaurant, lounges, bars, a cafe, and terraces for Casa Cipriani's private membership club.