23 Wall Street
15 Broad Street | also 55 Exchange Place, 23 Wall Street | Financial District | built 1913
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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1882
Thomas Edison attends the ceremony electrifying the Drexel, Morgan & Co. building on this corner
Before the current bank, Drexel, Morgan & Co. occupied a six-story building at this corner that rose above its neighbors. In 1882 the building was electrified, and Thomas Edison, whose electric company Morgan bankers had helped raise money for, attended the ceremony.
Source: qz.com
- 1912
Morgan decides to replace his old bank, and the architects of a tower across the street get the job
By the early 1910s J. Pierpont Morgan was near the end of his career, and the Times reported in 1912 that he would replace the old marble headquarters to keep pace with the new buildings around him. Published sources do not say who chose the architects, but Goodhue Livingston's unpublished 1930 memoir recalls that Morgan, admiring the Bankers Trust tower across the intersection, gave Trowbridge & Livingston the commission. The firm had designed that tower too.
Source: The New York Times
- 1913
Wreckers begin tearing down the old Drexel Building on May 1, 1913
Occupants of the Drexel Building and the neighboring Mechanics and Metals bank building were ordered out by May 1, 1913, and demolition of both began that day. Two heroic statues from the Drexel Building went into storage at the Morgan Library, and a family member took six of its columns. The site was clear by late July, and foundation work followed.
“The demolition of the Drexel and National Bank buildings began on that date. Two heroic statues from the Drexel Building were taken for storage to the Morgan Library…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1914
J.P. Morgan & Co. opens its new Wall Street headquarters
Architects Trowbridge & Livingston designed the four-story Neoclassical bank building at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets, faced in pink Tennessee marble. J.P. Morgan Jr. laid the cornerstone in December 1913, and the finished headquarters opened on November 11, 1914, at a cost of more than $5 million.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1915
Paul Strand photographs rush-hour pedestrians in front of the new Morgan bank
Standing on the steps of Federal Hall during the morning rush, Paul Strand photographed the newly finished marble bank at Wall and Broad. He wanted to capture a movement that was abstract and controlled: the long horizontal shadows of passersby set against the dark vertical windows of the Morgan headquarters. The Whitney Museum, which holds the image, says it is as much about formal patterns as about city life.
Source: whitney.org
- 1920
A horse-drawn wagon bomb explodes outside the bank, killing 38
A wagon loaded with roughly 100 pounds of dynamite and iron weights exploded at noon outside the U.S. Assay Office across the street, killing 38 people and wounding hundreds more. Two clerks inside the Morgan building were among the dead, while its executives escaped with survivable injuries. Investigators suspected followers of the Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani, but the case was never solved, and rather than repair the marble facade, J.P. Morgan & Co. left its pockmarks in place, still visible today.
Source: Ephemeral New York
- 1929
Bankers hurry to the unmarked Morgan building in a bid to halt the 1929 market crash
The House of Morgan, like London merchant banks, put no sign on its building. When the stock market crashed in 1929, bankers hurried to 23 Wall Street hoping to stop the collapse, and Quartz reports that this worked, but only briefly.
Source: qz.com
- 1964
Morgan Guaranty makes 23 Wall Street its official headquarters
J.P. Morgan & Co. became Morgan Guaranty Trust Company in 1959 after merging with Guaranty Trust, and had connected 23 Wall Street to the adjoining 15 Broad Street tower back in 1957. After a renovation of both buildings, Morgan Guaranty officially moved its headquarters into the combined complex in February 1964. The bank stayed until relocating to 60 Wall Street in 1988.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1965
The Landmarks Commission designates the Morgan bank, with no objection from its owner
On December 21, 1965 the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the J. P. Morgan & Co. Building as a landmark. At the October hearing two witnesses spoke in favor and nobody opposed. A Municipal Art Society speaker said the neoclassical facades reflected how the great financiers of the era identified with the merchant princes of Renaissance Italy.
“…the owner of the building said that it had no opposition to its designation. There were no speakers in opposition to designation.”
- 2003
Developers buy the Morgan buildings for $100 million and plan a Philippe Starck roof garden
In 2003 A.I. & Boymelgreen bought 23 Wall Street and neighboring 15 Broad Street for $100 million. The plan turned 15 Broad into a condominium called Downtown by Philippe Starck, with an aerial front yard on the five-story bank's rooftop. Starck described trees, teak decking, a topiary wall with window-like openings and a pool fed by a giant faucet-shaped pipe.
Source: The New York Times
- 2015
Neighbors push back against a bowling alley and comedy club planned for the old Morgan bank
In January 2015 the chief executive of Latitude 360 previewed a four-level entertainment complex for the landmark, built for 1,500 people. It was to include a bowling alley, a comedy club, a movie theater, a concert stage and a theater-like sports bar. Before Community Board 1's Financial District Committee, residents of 15 Broad Street objected, citing late-night noise, tourists, garbage and vermin, and argued that the venue did not suit the neighborhood.
Source: tribecatrib.com
Further reading
- 23 Wall StreetWikipedia
- The remnants of an unsolved 1920 Wall Street bomb blast can still be seen on a bank’s facadeEphemeral New York
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