Irving Trust Building
1 Wall Street | also 1A Wall Street, 80 Broadway, 9 New Street | Financial District | built 1930
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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1928
Irving Trust buys the Chimney Corner block for $5.5 million cash and a $9 million mortgage
In May 1928 the American Exchange Irving Trust Company bought lots 7 through 15 at Broadway and Wall Street from the Central-Union Trust Company, paying $5.5 million in cash and taking a $9 million mortgage. The plot held four buildings, including the Chimney Corner, an 18-story steel-frame building from 1906 on a 30-by-40-foot corner. The bank demolished all four, and filed final plans for a 50-story tower in June 1929.
- 1928
A bank committee starts with 35 architects and picks Ralph Walker
Irving Trust set up a construction sub-committee and a staff group called the One Wall Street Unit, which met weekly for three years and toured new bank buildings in New York and other cities. The committee began with a list of 35 architects and questioned them and their staffs at length about design plans and the economics of the project. By September 1928 it had chosen Ralph Walker of Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker, with Marc Eidlitz & Son as builder.
“In choosing an architect, the committee started with a list of 35 names.”
- 1929
Irving Trust's president apologizes to 500 neighbors for the riveting noise
In December 1929, while the steel frame was going up, Irving Trust president Harry Ward wrote to 500 nearby property owners on engraved stationery to apologize for the racket of riveting. The gesture drew favorable coverage in both the local and the national press. The frame itself took about four months after the cornerstone was laid in January 1930, using 250,000 rivets and without any serious incidents.
“During December 1929, Ward sent engraved letters to 500 nearby property owners, apologizing for the noise created during the riveting process…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1930
A hot rivet falls from the topping-out of 1 Wall Street and sets a street fire
The steel frame reached its top on May 12, 1930, and workers hoisted an evergreen tree to the peak. As the last rivets were being secured, a hot rivet dropped from the top of the building onto a truck in the street below, narrowly missing the driver and starting a small fire. The exterior was finished by August 1930.
“…a hot steel rivet fell from the building's top and hit a truck below, narrowly missing the truck driver's head and causing a small fire on the street…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1930
Workers lay the cornerstone for the Irving Trust Company's new tower
Ralph Walker of Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker designs an Art Deco headquarters for Irving Trust Company at the head of Wall Street, with a limestone facade and numerous setbacks. The ceremonial cornerstone is laid on January 15, 1930, and the 50-story building opens on March 24, 1931.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1931
Clients of Irving Trust get their first look at the Red Room and are surveyed on it
The banking room, colloquially known as the Red Room, opened to customers on March 25, 1931, and patrons were then surveyed about it. Most seemed to like it, though some found it excessive. Critic Lewis Mumford called it unconvincing swank, while the New York Evening Post praised it as among the costliest and most beautiful mural decorations ever attempted in America.
“After the room was opened to clientele on March 25, 1931, patrons were surveyed for their reaction.”
- 1931
Irving Trust moves $8 billion in holdings into the tower under armed guard
On March 23, 1931, Irving Trust Company moves into its new headquarters, with 200 guards armed with machine guns transferring the bank's $8 billion in holdings from the Woolworth Building. The bank occupies the first ten stories. Its vault, 69 to 72 feet below ground, is then the second-largest in the city.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1938
A transformer explodes on the 21st-story setback
In 1938 an electrical transformer on the tower's 21st-story setback blew up. Windows in the building shook, but nobody was injured.
“In a 1938 incident, an electrical transformer on the 21st-story setback blew up; though the windows shook, nobody was injured.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1988
Bank of New York acquires Irving Trust and moves its headquarters in
The Bank of New York acquires Irving Trust in December 1988 and moves its global headquarters from 48 Wall Street into the tower. It later becomes BNY Mellon. The bank opens a museum on the tenth floor in 1998, sells the building in 2014, and stays until 2015.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2001
The city designates 1 Wall Street's exterior a landmark
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the exterior of the original 1 Wall Street building a city landmark on March 13, 2001. The ground-floor Red Room, a reception hall with mosaics designed by Hildreth Meiere, later receives its own interior landmark designation on June 25, 2024.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2018
Harry Macklowe converts the tower into hundreds of condominiums
Developer Harry Macklowe's group buys 1 Wall Street from BNY Mellon for $585 million in 2014, and the renovation into residences runs from 2018 to 2023. The project creates 566 condominium apartments and has cost about $2.9 billion by late 2023. The French department store Printemps opens a two-floor shop in the building in March 2025.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2024
The Red Room becomes an interior landmark after owners restore it with newly found original tiles
On June 25, 2024, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the 1 Wall Street banking room an interior landmark, after a public hearing on May 14. During the building's conversion to condominiums the owners restored the room using a newly discovered trove of surplus original tiles. It had served as the condominium sales office and was being converted to retail space for the French department store Printemps.
“…the current owners undertook a full restoration of the banking room, utilizing a newly discovered trove of surplus original tiles…”
Further reading
- 1 Wall StreetWikipedia
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