Bennett Building

99 Nassau Street | also 97 Nassau Street, 139 Fulton Street, 30 Ann Street | Financial District | built 1900

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

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

1873
James Gordon Bennett Jr. completes the Bennett Building
Newspaper publisher James Gordon Bennett Jr. buys the Fulton Street block front between Ann and Nassau Streets and hires architect Arthur D. Gilman to erect a speculative office building there. Completed in 1873, the six-story cast-iron structure features a repeating pattern of columns and cornices beneath a mansard roof. Early tenants include a cork-sole manufacturer and a maker of gold pens and pencils.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
1890
John Pettit strips the mansard roof and adds four floors
Real estate developer John Pettit buys the aging building for roughly $1 million and hires architect James M. Farnsworth to modernize it. Farnsworth removes the original mansard roof, adds four seamless new floors, and installs elevators and updated interiors at a cost of $200,000. The renovation nearly doubles the building's height while preserving its cast-iron facade pattern.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
1995
November 21
The city designates the Bennett Building a landmark
New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the cast-iron Bennett Building an individual landmark, recognizing its Second Empire facade and its unusual history of upward expansion. A decade later, in September 2005, the building also joins the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Fulton-Nassau Historic District.
Source: Wikipedia

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