Tower 270

270 Broadway | also 80 Chambers Street, 78 Chambers Street, 86 Chambers Street | Tribeca | built 1910

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

  1. 1850

    Chemical Bank moves into a new building at 270 Broadway

    Chemical Bank, founded in 1824 by six businessmen and named for a chemical firm the same men had started a year earlier, moved into a new building at 270 Broadway in 1850. The bank soon outgrew it and added space on Chambers Street, with an extension in 1872 and a second addition in 1887. This was an earlier building on the site, long since replaced by the tower that stands here now.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1907

    April 22

    Chemical Bank opens a domed Beaux-Arts banking hall at 270 Broadway

    Trowbridge and Livingston designed a new granite headquarters for Chemical Bank on the old site, with a 91-foot marble corridor leading from Broadway to a banking room 70 by 170 feet under a stained glass dome. Taber Sears painted allegories of Water, Earth, Air and Fire in the spaces between the dome's supporting arches. Guarded trucks carried $7 million in cash from the temporary offices on Saturday, April 20, and the bank opened for business the Monday after. This was an earlier building on the site; the bank sold the corner in 1928 for the tower that replaced it.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1917

    September

    Bank president Joseph Martindale is exposed as a forger after his death

    Joseph B. Martindale had joined Chemical National Bank as a junior clerk in 1878 and became its president in early 1907. After his death in July 1917, a new accounting turned up a long-running skim of a wealthy client's account. In September the Comptroller of the Currency announced that he had embezzled and forged about $300,000 over 16 years. The bank repaid the money from its surplus, and its reputation survived. This happened in the earlier Chemical Bank building on the site.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1922

    April 3

    A farmer asks Chemical National Bank for an $11 million loan

    Aubrey R. Tarver, described as a young farmer from near Elmira, walked into the Chemical National Bank at 270 Broadway to borrow money for Corn Products Company stock. The sum he wanted was $11 million, far beyond what the bank could lend. When he came back insistent two days later, the cashier phoned police, and detectives took him to Tombs Court, where he was committed on a disorderly conduct charge until his family could be reached. This was in the earlier bank building on the site.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1930

    A 28-story tower by E.H. Faile replaces the Chemical Bank headquarters

    Developer Robert E. Dowling built the 370-foot tower on the southwest corner of Broadway and Chambers Street at a cost of $2.5 million, to designs by E.H. Faile and Company. It replaced the bank's headquarters building of 1907. The tower rises 28 stories and is also known as 270 Broadway, 80 Chambers Street, 86 Chambers Street and the Arthur Levitt State Office Building.

    “The 370-foot (110 m) building was erected in 1930 ... by developer Robert E. Dowling at a cost of $2.5 million. It was designed by…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  6. 1942

    June

    The Army's Manhattan District sets up its first headquarters at 270 Broadway

    In June 1942 Colonel James C. Marshall was picked to lead the Army's part of the atomic bomb effort. He set up a temporary headquarters at 270 Broadway, where the Corps of Engineers' North Atlantic Division could provide administrative help. The site was near Stone & Webster, the main contractor, and Columbia University. Engineer districts were usually named for their home city, so the unit became the Manhattan District, officially created on August 13, which gave the whole project its name.

    “…established his temporary headquarters at 270 Broadway in New York, where he could draw on administrative support from the Corps of Engineers' North Atlantic Division…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  7. 1946

    April

    New York State buys the tower, and Robert Moses keeps an office here

    After the war the state government bought the building for $3.7 million. It became the Arthur Levitt State Office Building, giving New York City offices to members of the State Assembly and Senate. Robert Moses, the builder of parkways, bridges and housing projects, kept one of his three offices in the building.

    “…the building was acquired by the New York state government for $3.7 million. "Master builder" Robert Moses had one of his three offices in the…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 2000

    The state sells 270 Broadway for $33.6 million, and apartments follow

    In 2000 New York State sold the former Levitt building in a sealed-bid sale that was then the highest price the state had ever received for a property. In 2003 floors 16 through 28 were converted into 39 condominiums, with 48 rentals on floors 8 to 15 and offices on floors 2 to 7. After September 11, 2001, a representative of the owner, RAL Companies, was the only civilian given direct access to the building inside the restricted zone around Ground Zero.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 564 buildings with stories in Tribeca