120 Wall Street
Encyclopedia
120 Wall Street is a skyscraper in Wall Street
, New York City, United States
which was completed in 1930. The building is 399 ft (122 m) tall, has 34 floors, and is located along Wall Street, Pine Street and South Street
.
announced that it had obtained a loan in February 1929 to build the building. The cost was estimated at $12,000,000, with the edifice resting upon a fifty-one caisson
foundation. Designed by Buchman & Kahn, the building was planned to occupy a 23000 square feet (2,136.8 m²) plot. T. Greenberg and Malzmal purchased the property in 1928 from the American Sugar Company.
The building opened in March 1930, and the original anchor tenant of the building was the American Sugar Refining Company
.
New York Life Insurance Company
bid $1,000,000 to foreclose a $5,569,605 lien against the skyscraper at a June 26, 1933 auction. The insurance firm previously initiated a $5,000,000 suit to foreclose a consolidated mortgage on the property, on November 23, 1932. A first mortgage of $4,050,000 was given in 1929. Liens of $200,000 and $750,000 were made subsequently. The lawsuit was based on nonpayment of $150,000 in interest, on May 1, 1932. Of the amount owed only $46,040 was paid by Greenberg and Malzmal.
120 Wall Street was the only major high-rise building on the East River downtown waterfront for many years until the post-1970s construction boom.
Since 1980, the building has been owned by the 120 Wall Company, LLC, an affiliate of Silverstein Properties Inc., who purchased it for a reported $12 million.
In the early 1990s, in cooperation with the City's Economic Development Corporation
, Silverstein Properties obtained the designation of 120 Wall Street as New York City's (first and only) Association Center. The designation creates cost-effective office space, and the building has attracted over 35 national not-for-profit organizations, including Pacifica Foundation WBAI
-FM, the Lucis Trust & World Goodwill, the world headquarters locations of the National Urban League
, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
, The United Negro College Fund, the Alan Guttmacher Institute and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
of a New York setback
skyscraper. The setbacks recede in shallow formations from a large 16-story platform. Red-granite panels frame wide-paned commercial windows at street level as part of the five-story limestone
base.
The building has 615000 square feet (57,135.4 m²) of space.
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
, New York City, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
which was completed in 1930. The building is 399 ft (122 m) tall, has 34 floors, and is located along Wall Street, Pine Street and South Street
South Street (Manhattan)
South Street is a street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, located immediately adjacent to the East River.It runs from Whitehall Street near the southern tip of Manhattan to Jackson Street near the Williamsburg Bridge. The Franklin D...
.
History
Greenmal Holding CorporationGreenmal Holding Corporation
Greenmal Holding Corporation was a financial and real estate business started by Henry Greenberg and David Malzmal in New York City, in the 1920s...
announced that it had obtained a loan in February 1929 to build the building. The cost was estimated at $12,000,000, with the edifice resting upon a fifty-one caisson
Deep foundation
A deep foundation is a type of foundation distinguished from shallow foundations by the depth they are embedded into the ground. There are many reasons a geotechnical engineer would recommend a deep foundation over a shallow foundation, but some of the common reasons are very large design loads, a...
foundation. Designed by Buchman & Kahn, the building was planned to occupy a 23000 square feet (2,136.8 m²) plot. T. Greenberg and Malzmal purchased the property in 1928 from the American Sugar Company.
The building opened in March 1930, and the original anchor tenant of the building was the American Sugar Refining Company
American Sugar Refining Company
The American Sugar Refining Company was the largest American business unit in the sugar refining industry in the early 1900s.-Establishment:...
.
New York Life Insurance Company
New York Life Insurance Company
The New York Life Insurance Company is one of the largest mutual life-insurance companies in the United States, and one of the largest life insurers in the world, with about $287 billion in total assets under management, and more than $15 billion in surplus and AVR...
bid $1,000,000 to foreclose a $5,569,605 lien against the skyscraper at a June 26, 1933 auction. The insurance firm previously initiated a $5,000,000 suit to foreclose a consolidated mortgage on the property, on November 23, 1932. A first mortgage of $4,050,000 was given in 1929. Liens of $200,000 and $750,000 were made subsequently. The lawsuit was based on nonpayment of $150,000 in interest, on May 1, 1932. Of the amount owed only $46,040 was paid by Greenberg and Malzmal.
120 Wall Street was the only major high-rise building on the East River downtown waterfront for many years until the post-1970s construction boom.
Since 1980, the building has been owned by the 120 Wall Company, LLC, an affiliate of Silverstein Properties Inc., who purchased it for a reported $12 million.
In the early 1990s, in cooperation with the City's Economic Development Corporation
Economic Development Corporation
An economic development corporation is an organization common in the United States, usually a 501 non-profit whose mission is to promote economic development within a specific geographical area. These organizations are similar to, and complementary to Chambers of Commerce.-For Further...
, Silverstein Properties obtained the designation of 120 Wall Street as New York City's (first and only) Association Center. The designation creates cost-effective office space, and the building has attracted over 35 national not-for-profit organizations, including Pacifica Foundation WBAI
WBAI
WBAI, a part of the Pacifica Radio Network, is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station, broadcasting at 99.5 FM in New York City.Its programming is leftist/progressive, and a mixture of political news and opinion from a leftist perspective, tinged with aspects of its complex and varied...
-FM, the Lucis Trust & World Goodwill, the world headquarters locations of the National Urban League
National Urban League
The National Urban League , formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. It is the oldest and largest...
, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
JDRF is the leading global organization focused on type 1 diabetes research. Driven by volunteers connected to children, adolescents, and adults with this disease, JDRF is the largest charitable supporter of T1D research...
, The United Negro College Fund, the Alan Guttmacher Institute and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Architecture
The tower is tiered on three sides, forming the "wedding-cake" architectureWedding-cake style
In architecture, a "wedding-cake style" is an informal reference to buildings with many distinct tiers, each set back from the one below, resulting in a shape like a wedding cake, that are richly ornamented with classicising detail, as if made in sugar icing....
of a New York setback
Setback (architecture)
A setback, sometimes called step-back, is a step-like recession in a wall. Setbacks were initially used for structural reasons, but now are often mandated by land use codes.-History:...
skyscraper. The setbacks recede in shallow formations from a large 16-story platform. Red-granite panels frame wide-paned commercial windows at street level as part of the five-story limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
base.
The building has 615000 square feet (57,135.4 m²) of space.