1 New York Plaza

Description

1 New York Plaza is an office building in New York City's Financial District, built in 1969 at the intersection of South and Whitehall Streets. It is the southernmost of all Manhattan skyscrapers.The building is 640 feet (195 m) tall with 50 floors. The building was designed by William Lescaze & Assocs. and Kahn & Jacobs. The building has 2.556 million square feet of office space. There is a 40,000ft2 retail concourse on the lower level.The facade was designed by Nevio Maggiora, consisting of a boxlike "beehive" pattern with the windows recessed within, made of aluminum-clad wall elements resembling a type of thermally activated elevator button popular at the time of construction.Notable former occupants of One New York Plaza include Salomon Brothers in its heyday, and Goldman Sachs, while current tenants are Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, Morgan Stanley, and Nature Publishing Group.HistoryIn 1959, the City of New York attempted to acquire through eminent domain the land under this development as part of the Battery Park Urban Renewal Area. The plan involved consolidating several blocks into a "superblock" for public housing. When that plan fell through, the city hoped to entice the New York Stock Exchange to relocate to the property. However, the owner of the property—the firm of Atlas McGrath—successfully sued to retain their land, claiming they were more than willing to develop the site privately.