1 New York Plaza

1 Water Street | also 1 New York Plaza, 13 South Street | Financial District | built 1969

Open on the map5 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1959

    The city's 1959 renewal plan for the Battery Park blocks collapses, freeing Atlas-McGrath to build

    In 1959 the city targeted seven small blocks near Battery Park for urban renewal, first as a plan for modern housing and later as a new home for the New York Stock Exchange. Atlas-McGrath, the owner of most of the land, won its court argument that the designation was unnecessary. When the Exchange backed out, the developers could build as they wished. One New York Plaza was the first of four huge towers on two superblocks, with a 111,000-square-foot footprint.

    Source: old.skyscraper.org

  2. 1970

    Chase Manhattan's lease anchors a new tower with a beehive facade

    Architects William Lescaze and Associates and Kahn and Jacobs design a 50-story modernist tower for developers Sol Atlas and John McGrath. Its facade, by Nevio Maggiora, is a boxlike beehive pattern of recessed windows in aluminum-clad panels. Chase Manhattan Bank signs a 30-year, $200 million lease for 22 floors, and the 640-foot building opens in 1970.

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 1970

    August 5

    A fire near Alan Greenspan's consulting office kills two and injures 35

    On August 5, 1970, a fire starts across from the office of Townsend-Greenspan, the firm owned by Alan Greenspan, after a faulty computer connection. Two people die and 35 are injured. Heat from the fire triggers a thermally activated elevator call button, summoning an occupied car to the burning floor.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 2001

    August 11

    A steam turbine fails in the basement and an explosion disrupts Goldman Sachs trading for a day

    A steam turbine in the basement of One New York Plaza failed on August 11, 2001. The explosion that followed damaged the building and kept Goldman Sachs from carrying on its NASDAQ market-making for the day. The building's air-conditioning chiller depends on Con Edison's New York City steam system.

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 2012

    October

    Hurricane Sandy floods the tower's lower levels

    In October 2012 Hurricane Sandy sends an estimated 28 million gallons of water into the building's lower levels, submerging the retail concourse. The concourse is gutted and reopens after a three-year, $14 million redesign.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 276 buildings with stories in Financial District