Beaver Building
82 Beaver Street | also 1 Wall Street Court | Financial District | built 1904
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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1904
The Munson Steamship Co. moves into the new Beaver Building
The Munson Steamship Co. began occupying part of the Beaver Building in May 1904 and used it as a headquarters until 1921. Walter D. Munson had gone to Havana in 1868 to work in sugar and molasses, was chartering ships by 1873, and moved his offices to New York in 1882. He incorporated the line in 1899, and it carried cargo between the United States, Cuba and the east coast of South America.
- 1904
The Beaver Building rises on its wedge-shaped Financial District lot
The Century Realty Company hired architects Clinton and Russell to design a speculative office tower on the narrow, wedge-shaped lot where Pearl, Beaver, and Wall Streets meet. The 15-story Beaver Building was finished in October 1904 and took a flatiron-like shape from its site. It has a stone base, a brick shaft in alternating buff and tan bands, and a multicolored terracotta top, with carved beavers over its entrances recalling its name.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1906
Critic Herbert Croly faults the colored terra cotta on the Beaver Building's top floors
Writing on glazed and colored terra cotta in 1906, the critic Herbert D. Croly allowed that bright color was no fault in itself but judged the Beaver Building's upper-story panels a poor example. In his view the colors clashed with one another and made an unpleasing crown for a tall building. A trade magazine had argued the opposite in 1904, saying the colors sharpened the building's outline and made it stand out among its neighbors.
“…they do not, in the present instance, harmonize with each other, nor do they constitute a pleasing scheme of decoration…”
- 1919
The Munson Steamship Line buys and renames the Beaver Building
In July 1919 the Munson Steamship Line, which ran ships between the United States, the Caribbean, and South America, bought the Beaver Building and renamed it the Beaver-Munson Building as its intended headquarters. The plan was short-lived. When the 25-story Munson Building opened across Beaver Street in 1921, the line's own offices moved there, though it kept ownership of the older building.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1931
The New York Cocoa Exchange moves into the building
The New York Cocoa Exchange, then described as the world's largest cocoa market, relocated to the Beaver-Munson Building from 124 Water Street in April 1931. It leased more space there in 1937 and stayed until it moved to 127 John Street in 1972. The building is also called the Cocoa Exchange Building.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1937
The Bowery Savings Bank wins the Beaver Building at a foreclosure auction
The Munson Building Corporation owed $831,690 by 1937, and the Beaver Building and its four-story annex at 80 Beaver Street were put up for auction that April. The Bowery Savings Bank won with a bid of $500,000. In June the New York Cocoa Exchange leased more space, and the bank hired a firm to enlarge the mezzanine, raising the exchange's floor area from 2,300 to 5,600 square feet.
“The winning bid was from the Bowery Savings Bank, who had bid $500,000.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1951
Harry B. Helmsley is a partner in 82 Beaver Co., which takes over the Beaver Building
According to the city's landmark report, the Bowery Savings Bank disposed of the building in 1942 and it then changed hands several times. From 1951 to 1981 it was owned by 82 Beaver Co., a company in which Harry B. Helmsley was a partner. The New York Cocoa Exchange remained a main tenant until it moved out in 1972.
“82 Beaver Co. (with Harry B. Helmsley as a partner) owned the building from 1951 to 1981…”
- 1972
The New York Cocoa Exchange leaves its Beaver Street trading room for John Street
The Cocoa Exchange had been one of the building's main tenants for over forty years, with its trading room on the ground floor and mezzanine. It was founded in 1925 on Water Street by cocoa users who wanted protection from price swings, as the world's first cocoa futures market. It moved to 127 John Street in 1972 and merged with the New York Coffee & Sugar Exchange in 1979 to form the Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange.
- 1985
London & Leeds renovates the nearly vacant building and gives it the address 1 Wall Street Court
In 1985 the British developer London & Leeds Realty Corp. began renovating the nearly empty Beaver Building, while it was also building the Barclays Bank Building at 75 Wall Street across Pearl Street. The work brought small changes to the exterior, including anodized aluminum windows and louvers, and created the address 1 Wall Street Court. A company called Cocoa Partners, based in Cohasset, Massachusetts, took ownership of the building in 1994.
- 1996
The city designates the Beaver Building a landmark
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Beaver Building a city landmark on February 13, 1996. It is one of a few flatiron-shaped buildings in Lower Manhattan and one of the first tall New York buildings to use multicolored glazed terracotta. The building joined the National Register of Historic Places on July 6, 2005.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2014
The building doubles as the Continental Hotel in John Wick
The building served as the exterior of the Continental Hotel in the 2014 action film John Wick. The film's location manager said it was picked because it looked so unusual and different from other buildings. The shoot came several years after the old office building was converted into residential condominiums.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- 1 Wall Street CourtWikipedia
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