Twenty Exchange Place

20 Exchange Place | also 65 Beaver Street, 6 Hanover Street, 20 William Street | Financial District | built 1929

Open on the map12 entries

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

  1. 1872

    The Canadian Bank of Commerce occupies a building on the block before the tower

    Before the City Bank-Farmers Trust tower, the block held older bank buildings. The Landmarks Commission says the Canadian Bank of Commerce, founded in Toronto in 1867, was a tenant in a building here from at least 1872, and that maps from 1899 show two structures owned by the Farmers Loan & Trust Company. When the tower replaced them, the Canadian bank's building came down, but the bank returned as a tenant of the new tower.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1931

    February 20

    Guards move billions in cash and securities into the new tower over one weekend

    After banking hours on Friday, February 20, 1931, the City Bank Farmers' Trust Company began carrying its money and securities from the old quarters into the new tower. The Times described the sum as billions of dollars, and the job, under heavy guard, took the entire weekend. The tower was linked to the National City Bank's 55 Wall Street headquarters by a pedestrian bridge, and the doors opened to the public the following Tuesday.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1931

    Eleven carved granite coins circle the entrance arch, with 'giants of finance' above

    The Landmarks Commission singles out the main entrance on Exchange Place: a round arch ringed by eleven carved granite coins standing for the countries where National City Bank had offices. Doors of nickel silver with bronze trim, carved in many forms, include designs by British sculptor David Evans. Higher up, freestanding stylized figures on the piers are said to represent the 'giants of finance.'

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1931

    February 24

    The City Bank-Farmers Trust tower opens after a scaled-back redesign

    Cross & Cross's plan for a 75-story, 925-foot tower was cut back after the 1929 stock market crash to 57 usable stories faced in white Rockwood Alabama limestone. The building opened on February 24, 1931, briefly the world's tallest stone-clad structure, drawing some 25,000 visitors on opening day.

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 1932

    Two men with a forged check become the first prisoners caught with police-radio help

    In February 1932 C. J. Williams and Arnold Nichols presented a $9,670 check at the bank's ninth-floor offices and said they wanted to buy $5,000 in municipal bonds. They were told to return after it cleared. Meanwhile staff called police, because the check was forged. A radio-equipped patrol car and a gun squad car arrived, and the Times reported that the two men were the first prisoners taken in the city with help from the police radio system.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  6. 1935

    September 23

    A sandwich deliveryman finds $150,000 in bonds and hands them back

    Albert Correri, a 22-year-old coffee-shop deliveryman earning $3.15 a week, picked up a package from the Pearl Street sidewalk while carrying a rush order here. In the lobby he peeked inside and found $150,000 in negotiable bonds. He still delivered a second batch of sandwiches, then returned the bonds to his boss. Five men from C. F. Childs & Co. arrived frantic, and promised a reward.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  7. 1942

    December 7

    Thomas Dewey outlines a modest inauguration at his offices in the building

    Thomas E. Dewey, whose law practice was based at 20 Exchange Place, kept reporters swarming through its hallways after his election as New York's governor. He held a press conference in his offices on December 7, 1942, to describe his inauguration plans. He said the ceremony would be very simple, because wartime called for saving as much expense as possible.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  8. 1956

    September

    Bank employees hang 164 paintings in the old banking room

    In September 1956, when the tower was a branch of First National City Bank, its banking room hosted an employee art show of 164 oils and watercolors. The bank offered staff in-house art classes, and an instructor said the students slugged it out in class. The Times singled out a woman who cuts coupons in a vault and painted a scene far from the financial district, and a credit man showing 'Old Trunk' and 'Discarded Guitar.'

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  9. 1961

    November

    A seventh-floor fire forces the evacuation of 4,000 employees

    A fire broke out on the building's seventh floor in November 1961, sending some 4,000 employees of the tower's banking and financial tenants out into the street before it was brought under control.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  10. 1997

    Witkoff and Hakim buy the tower, and the FDIC takes four floors

    In late 1997 the building was sold to a partnership of the Witkoff Group and Kamran Hakim, and preservationists wondered what would follow: a hotel, apartments or a remodeled office tower. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation answered by leasing 130,000 square feet, about four floors, and the owners announced a $25 million improvement program in 1999. The office plan lasted only about five years before another sale.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  11. 2004

    The Art Deco skyscraper is converted into hundreds of apartments

    Developers began converting the office tower to residential use in 2004, eventually creating 767 apartments across its upper floors. The Dermot Company bought the building, by then known as Twenty Exchange Place, for $370 million in July 2024.

    Source: Wikipedia

  12. 2022

    March

    Chronic elevator failures leave residents trapped and prompt a meeting with local officials

    From November 2021 the building's elevators broke down repeatedly, especially eight serving apartments above the 15th floor. The landlord kept mechanics on site and offered rent concessions and hotel rooms, while its experts suspected power surges and replacement controller boards were held up by the global supply-chain crisis. Some residents said they felt trapped and others climbed many flights of stairs. Local politicians met residents in March 2022, and the outages continued into mid-2022.

    “Local politicians met with the residents of 20 Exchange Place in March 2022 to address the chronic elevator outages.”

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 276 buildings with stories in Financial District