5 Beekman Street
5 Beekman Street is a building in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is composed of the 10-story, Temple Court Building and Annex and a connected 51-story, condominium tower called the Beekman Residences, which contains 68 residential units. The 287-unit The Beekman, a Thompson Hotel, also known as The Beekman Hotel, occupies all three structures.
The original section of the Temple Court Building was designed by the firm of Benjamin Silliman Jr. and James M. Farnsworth in the Queen Anne, neo-Grec, and Renaissance Revival styles. It contains a granite base of two stories, as well as a facade of red brick above, ornamented with tan stone and terracotta. The Temple Court Annex was designed by Farnsworth alone in the Romanesque Revival style, and contains a limestone facade. An interior atrium contains a skylight, and the facade contains two pyramidal towers at its corners. The Beekman Residences, designed by Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel Architects, rises above the original building and annex, with pyramidal towers at its pinnacle.
5 Beekman Street was erected as the Temple Court Building between 1881 and 1883, while an annex was constructed between 1889 and 1890. The structure, intended as offices for lawyers, was commissioned and originally owned by Eugene Kelly, and was sold to the Shulsky family in 1945. The building was abandoned in 2001 and proposed for redevelopment, during which it was sold multiple times and used for film shoots. Construction on the Beekman Residences tower started in 2014 and was completed in 2016; the original building was extensively renovated as well and reopened in 2016. The Temple Court Building and the interior of its atrium are New York City designated landmarks, and the structures are also contributing properties to the Fulton–Nassau Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places district.
Site
5 Beekman Street is in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City, United States, directly to the east of New York City Hall, City Hall Park, and the Civic Center. It is bounded on the east by Nassau Street, on the north by Beekman Street, and on the west by Theatre Alley. The Morse Building and 150 Nassau Street are diagonally across the intersection of Nassau and Beekman streets, while the Potter Building and 41 Park Row are directly across Beekman Street. The Park Row Building is directly to the southwest, across Theatre Alley, while the Bennett Building is on the block to the south.The Temple Court Building, at 119–133 Nassau Street, has a frontage of long on Nassau Street and Theatre Alley, and deep on Beekman Street. The Beekman Residences at 115–117 Nassau Street occupy a length of along Nassau Street and Theater Alley. In total, 5 Beekman Street is long by deep. The alternate addresses for the original building and annex include 119–133 Nassau Street, 3–9 Beekman Street, and 10 Theater Alley.
The site of 5 Beekman Street was historically part of New York City's first theater district. One theater on the site, built in 1761, hosted the first presentation of the tragedy Hamlet in the United States. The site faced the back door of the Park Theatre to the west. The Fowler & Wells publishing company also occupied a building on the site. In 1830, the New York Mercantile Library built Clinton Hall on the site, occupying it until 1854; Clinton Hall was also occupied by the National Academy of Design. Between 1857 and 1868, the corner of Theatre Alley and Beekman Street contained the National Park Bank. During the late 19th century, the surrounding area had grown into the city's "Newspaper Row". Several newspaper headquarters had been built on the adjacent Park Row, including the New York Times Building, the Potter Building, the Park Row Building, and the New York World Building. Meanwhile, printing was centered around Beekman Street.
Architecture
5 Beekman Street is composed of two sections. The Temple Court Building is ten stories tall, with nine full stories. Two pyramidal towers on the northwest and northeast corners, as well as an annex on the southern side, contain a tenth floor. The Temple Court Building is tall when measured to the peaks of its pyramidal roofs, and tall when measured to the roof of the ninth story. Most of the rooms in the Beekman Hotel are located in the Temple Court Building. The Temple Court Building and Annex is a New York City designated landmark.Immediately south of the Temple Court Building and Annex is the Beekman Residences, a 51-story, condominium tower with its primary address at 115–117 Nassau Street. The Beekman Residences tower contains the remainder of the hotel and 68 residences.
Temple Court Building and Annex
The original portion of the Temple Court Building is on the northern section of the lot. It is a red-brick and terracotta building in the Queen Anne, neo-Grec, and Renaissance Revival styles, and was originally used as an office building. The structure was designed by the firm of Benjamin Silliman Jr. and James Mace Farnsworth, who worked together until 1882. The adjoining annex at 119–121 Nassau Street to the south was designed by Farnsworth, who by that time had established his own practice. The annex has a limestone facade in a Romanesque Revival style.The Temple Court Building and Annex contains of space. It was purportedly "modeled after a building of the same name in London" that was part of the Inns of Court. Before its 2010s renovation, the Temple Court Building was one of the earliest tall fireproof buildings that survived largely in its original condition. The building used steel piers on its exterior, covered with brick and architectural terracotta for additional safety. This also made the Temple Court Building one of the city's earlier buildings to utilize brick and terracotta cladding, and one of the few from the late 19th century to be built around an atrium with a skylight.
Form and facade
At the center of the original building is the main atrium. Two pavilions extend south to enclose another light well on the south side of the original building. The annex is C-shaped, with a light well on its northern side connecting to the original structure's light well.The original Temple Court Building's articulation consists of three horizontal sections, with granite cladding at its base and brick and terracotta on the other stories. The original building has ten vertical bays on Nassau Street and nine on Beekman Street; the outer three bays on each side project slightly and are designed as corner "towers". The two-story base contains cornices above both stories, as well as a main entrance facing Beekman Street and storefronts on the Beekman and Nassau Street sides. The four-story midsection is clad with brick, with terracotta spandrels between each story on the Beekman and Nassau Street sides, as well as band courses and other decorative elements. The four-story upper section contains a mansard roof with iron dormer windows. The Theatre Alley side of the midsection and upper section is faced with plain brick. The northwestern and northeastern corner "towers" are topped by pyramidal slate roofs, both of which are surrounded by smaller ornamental pinnacles. The pyramidal roofs were intended to make the building appear shorter than it actually was. There is also a glass pyramidal skylight over the center atrium and an asphalt roof with decorative iron fence over the remainder of the building.
The annex has facades onto Nassau Street and Theatre Alley. The facade on Nassau Street is made of limestone, with cornices above the second, sixth, and ninth floors. It is two bays wide. An arched entrance on this side provided entry into the annex until 1963, when it was turned into a storefront entrance. The facade on Theatre Alley is composed of brick with rectangular windows, as well as a now-filled entrance.
Atrium
The atrium at the center of the original Temple Court Building rises through all nine stories. The atrium is accessed through the main entrance on Beekman Street. The atrium was closed off from the mid-20th century to the early 2000s, and a 2010s renovation added a smoke curtain to comply with fire codes. When the building was converted to a hotel and residence in the 2010s, numerous design elements were restored or modified. The interior designer Martin Brudnizki repainted the walls green and added mid-20th-century furniture to make it appear residential.The entrance on the ground, or first, floor consisted of a T-shaped corridor with stores on either side, though the storefronts were removed in the 2000s. After the building's 2010s renovation, there has been a bar room on the atrium's ground level. Above are eight balcony levels surrounding the atrium, with encaustic tile floors. The outer walls of each balcony contain doors and windows leading to offices. The balconies are held up by cast-iron brackets shaped like dragons. The balustrades of each balcony are made of iron and are decorated with foliate motifs, with wooden handrails above and newel posts at each corner. The balcony levels have metal grilles with leaf patterns. Each balcony level also has a metal floor hatch, through which heavy objects could be lifted. Smoke curtains and a sprinkler system were used to protect the atrium from fire. The second-story balcony, which had been removed at some point in the building's history, was restored in the 2010s. In contrast to the other balconies, the second-story balcony served as a roof for ground-story stores on three sides. The ninth-story balcony has modillions and glass canopies.
On the south side of the atrium is a cast-iron stairway that winds around an elevator shaft. The staircase itself is made of metal, with stone treads, although the steps on the 2nd through 4th stories are covered with tread plates. The staircase's outer wall has cast-iron panels with bird motifs, foliate decorations, and grilles with backlit glass panels; the ceiling from the 8th to the 9th stories also has panels made of cast iron. The atrium is crowned by a large pyramidal skylight, which is made of glazed panels and cast iron. The skylight has metal brackets, decorative flanges, and beams with rosette patterns. The skylight measures.