Barclay-Vesey Building (Verizon Building)
140 West Street | also 100 Barclay Street, 206 Washington Street | Tribeca | built 1930
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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1812
Washington Market opens in 1812 beside the block that later holds the telephone tower
The Washington Market was established in 1812 on the block just south of the future telephone headquarters and grew into Manhattan's main wholesale and retail produce outlet. The block that New York Telephone later bought held about 35 brick buildings of three to five stories serving the food trade. The site was far cheaper than Broadway, and the tower's ornament later recalled the merchants who had worked here.
- 1923
Foundation work begins on unstable landfill, with 22 caissons sunk to bedrock
Demolition of the existing buildings began on May 23, 1923 and ended on July 14, and foundation work started on June 20. Because the landfill was unstable, builders sank twenty-two caissons to bedrock around the perimeter, which made room for five basement levels instead of the four planned. At 38 feet below grade they braced the excavation with permanent steel struts rather than temporary timber, saving about $30,000 in what was believed to be the first use of the method.
- 1923
New York Telephone announces a headquarters for 6,000 employees on the Washington Market block
In April 1923 New York Telephone announced an $11.5 million headquarters on the block bounded by West, Barclay, Washington and Vesey Streets, which it had finished buying. The site was chosen because land there cost far less than near Broadway. The building was meant to house 6,000 workers from six central offices. The company gave the job to Ralph Walker, then 34, of McKenzie, Voorhees & Gmelin. Washington Market had stood on the block since about 1812.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1925
A telephone company vice president drives the last rivet into the steel frame
In May 1925 James S. McCulloh, a vice president of New York Telephone, installed the final rivet in the tower's steel frame, as he had the first. The last brick went up that September. The New York Building Congress then gave craftsmanship awards to several of the workers who built it.
“The last rivet in the building was installed in May 1925 ... James S. McCulloh placed both the first and the last rivets.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1926
The first New York Telephone employees move into 140 West Street
The first employees moved in on February 19, 1926, and construction wrapped up that June, though the city did not certify the building as complete until April 1927. Work had employed nearly 700 people at a time. Vice president James S. McCulloh placed both the first rivet and the last, which went in during May 1925. Telephone exchanges inside served Lower Manhattan, and two more were activated in 1928 for 125,000 additional subscribers.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1927
Ralph Walker wins the Architectural League's gold medal for the Maya-inspired tower
Walker's design rises in setbacks, with brick in green, gold and buff and carved ornament that drew on Maya architecture. The lobby carries twelve ceiling murals tracing communication from Aztec runners to the telephone. In February 1927 the Architectural League of New York gave Walker its gold medal of honor. Lewis Mumford praised the design too, and critics have often called it one of the first Art Deco skyscrapers.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1938
Telephone employees play Santa, making toys and dressed dolls for about 3,000 children
In December 1938 more than 2,000 New York Telephone employees at 140 West Street ran a Christmas toy drive, with gifts for hospitals, institutions and poor homes due to go out on a Saturday. Women employees supplied elaborately dressed dolls, and men contributed books, scrapbooks, streamlined toy trains and other mechanical novelties for roughly 3,000 children. The annual distribution continued at least through 1946.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1991
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the exterior and ground-floor lobby
The city landmarks commission designated the building's exterior and first-floor interior in 1991, alongside two other telephone buildings. New York Telephone supported the designation. Later in the decade, mergers made the tower the headquarters of Bell Atlantic in 1997 and of Verizon Communications in 2000. The National Park Service added it to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2001
Falling debris from the World Trade Center damages the building, and a three-year restoration follows
When the neighboring towers and 7 World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001, falling steel tore into the south and east facades and water mains flooded the basements. The thick masonry walls absorbed much of the impact, and the building stayed standing. Restoring the building and the damaged telephone equipment took three years and cost $1.4 billion, and the work was finished in late 2005. Tishman Interiors received a Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award in 2004 for the work.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2012
Hurricane Sandy floods all five sub-basements, and the pump-out turns up fish and shrimp
When Hurricane Sandy's surge reached 140 West Street in 2012, Hudson River water submerged all five sub-basements that held the building's critical telephone equipment. After the basements were pumped out, Verizon staff found fish left behind and even shrimp, which a company real-estate director said nobody had expected in New York. The flood also hastened Verizon's shift from copper lines to digital systems.
Source: The New Yorker
- 2013
Conservators stabilize 12 flood-damaged lobby ceiling paintings as Verizon plans a flood wall
By April 2013 the Times's architecture columnist David Dunlap was praising the lobby as a masterpiece of Jazz Age decoration, and he reported that Sandy's flooding had left paint peeling, flaking and blistering on twelve ceiling frescoes. EverGreene Architectural Arts was hired to repair and stabilize the panels at a cost to Verizon of $160,000. That October Verizon began building a nine-foot wall to protect the building from future floods.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 2013
Verizon sells the upper floors, which become the 100 Barclay condominiums
In 2013 Verizon sold the top floors to the developer Ben Shaoul of Magnum Real Estate, keeping the ground through 10th floors and the 28th and 29th. Verizon also moved about 1,100 employees to Downtown Brooklyn and added a storm surge barrier after Hurricane Sandy flooded the basement in 2012. The conversion added 157 condominiums, and the first went on sale in early 2016.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Barclay–Vesey BuildingWikipedia
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