28 Liberty Street

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Template:Short description Template:Good article Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox building 28 Liberty Street, formerly known as One Chase Manhattan Plaza, is a 60-story International Style skyscraper between Nassau, Liberty, William, and Pine Streets in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The building, designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), opened in 1961. It is Template:Convert tall.

28 Liberty Street occupies only about 28 percent of its Template:Convert site. It consists of 60 above-ground stories, a ground-level concourse, and five basement levels. The tower is surrounded by a plaza that contains a sunken Japanese rock garden, designed by Isamu Noguchi, to the south. The building's design is similar to that of SOM's earlier Inland Steel Building in Chicago. It contains a stainless steel facade with black spandrels below the windows. The superstructure contains 40 steel columns, arranged around the perimeter and clustered around the core to maximize usable space. When the tower opened, it accommodated 7,500 employees but contained only 150 private offices.

David Rockefeller, then executive vice president of Chase Manhattan Bank, proposed the tower in the 1950s as a means to keep the newly merged bank (Chase National and the Manhattan Company) in Lower Manhattan while merging its 8,700 employees into one facility. Construction started in early 1957, and the building's tower opened in early 1961. One Chase Manhattan Plaza was nearly fully occupied from its opening, with numerous financial and legal tenants. The building's basements and plaza opened in 1964; during its early years, the structure faced some early challenges such as the discovery of weakened facade panels, a fire, and a bombing. The building was renovated in the early 1990s, and Chase moved its headquarters out in 1997. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building a landmark in 2008. Chase Manhattan's parent company, JPMorgan Chase, sold the building to Fosun International, a Chinese investment company, in 2013; the building was subsequently renamed 28 Liberty Street.

Site

28 Liberty Street is on the northern half of a city block bounded to the west by Nassau Street, to the north by Liberty Street, to the east by William Street, and to the south by Pine Street. Its plaza is on the southeastern portion of the site, while the southwestern portion is occupied by 20 Pine Street,<ref name="NYCityMap">Template:Cite web</ref> which had been Chase Manhattan Bank's previous headquarters.<ref name="New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission 1995" /> The tower and the plaza cover Template:Convert in total.<ref name="NYCL p. 2">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="SOM-1963">Template:Cite book</ref> The site slopes down to the north so the plaza is at the elevation of Pine Street, while Liberty Street is one story beneath the plaza; there are five basements under the plaza. There are stairs leading down the east side of the plaza to Cedar Street.<ref name="AF p. 71">Template:Harvnb</ref>

Within 28 Liberty Street's immediate surroundings are the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building to the north; the Chamber of Commerce Building and Liberty Tower to the northwest; 140 Broadway to the west; and the Equitable Building to the southwest. The public plaza faces Federal Hall National Memorial to the southwest and 40 Wall Street to the south.<ref name="NYCityMap" /> The building's concourse has a direct entrance to the Wall Street station (Template:NYCS trains) of the New York City Subway. There are also connections to Wall Street (Template:NYCS trains) and to Broad Street (Template:NYCS trains) via passageways underground.<ref>Template:Cite NYC neighborhood map</ref>

Previous uses

File:The old Sugar House & Middle Dutch Church, Liberty St. N.Y. in 1830 by George Hayward in 1858..jpg
The 1731 Middle Collegiate Church and the Old Sugar House formerly occupied the site of 28 Liberty Street. Both were used to house American prisoners under the British occupation of the city during the American Revolutionary War. Many died while in captivity or shortly after due to their treatment.

The block was formerly two smaller city blocks, separated by Cedar Street, which ran west to east.<ref name="NYCL p. 4">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Adams 2019 p. 74">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Nash 2005">Template:Cite book</ref> The Middle Collegiate Church was built on the northern portion of the lot in 1731.<ref name="The New York Times 1955">Template:Cite news</ref> Later becoming the city's main Post Office in the mid-19th century, the church building was torn down in 1882.<ref name="silver">Template:Cite book</ref> The building site then served as the headquarters of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York starting in 1884.<ref name="The New York Times 1955" /><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 174" /> The firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White designed a 38-story building for Mutual Life at 18 Pine Street, which was completed in 1928.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 174" /> The insurance company moved to Broadway in 1950. Mutual Life had expanded into several annexes on Liberty and Cedar Streets, as well as rented space in two buildings on Cedar Street.<ref name="The New York Times 1955" />

Cedar Street was closed in the late 1950s to make way for 28 Liberty Street's construction.<ref name="NYCL p. 4" /><ref name="Adams 2019 p. 74" /> In exchange for acquiring the block of Cedar Street, Chase agreed to cede Template:Convert on each side of the lot for street-widening, paid the city $100,000, and took responsibility for utilities under the newly closed portion of Cedar Street.<ref name="AF p. 70">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 174" /> The city had rarely closed streets for private commercial development, except when there was "substantial" benefit to the public, such as with Grand Central Depot (later Grand Central Terminal) and the original Pennsylvania Station.<ref name="NYCL p. 4" /> Chemical Bank, which purchased the adjacent 20 Pine Street, agreed to carve out an arcade in the entrance area of the building along Pine Street, allowing the entranceway to be set back and widening Chemical's section of the Pine Street sidewalk to the same 8 feet agreed to by Chase.<ref name="AF p. 70" /> The sidewalk therefore runs under the building's second floor, with the building's support columns at the edge of the redesigned sidewalk space.

Architecture

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) designed 28 Liberty Street.<ref name="Nash 2005" /><ref name="Stichweh2009">Template:Cite book</ref> Four of the firm's thirteen general partners were most involved with 28 Liberty Street's design, namely Gordon Bunshaft, Edward James Mathews, Nathaniel A. Owings, and J. Walter Severinghaus. Bunshaft, who was tasked with the building's general design, passed most of the planning responsibilities to Roy O. Allen and Jacques E. Guiton, since Bunshaft was also involved in several other projects at the time.<ref name="Adams 2019 p. 74" /><ref name="NYCL p. 3">Template:Harvnb</ref> Three contractors were hired to excavate the foundations, while Turner Construction was hired as the general contractor.<ref name="NYCL p. 7">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="nyt19570129" /> Weiskopf & Pickworth was hired as the structural engineer.<ref name="NYCL p. 7" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The building comprises a 60-story tower<ref name="Nash 2005" /><ref name="Stichweh2009" /> atop a base composed of five basement stories and the ground floor on Liberty Street.<ref name="NYCL p. 4" /> It has a total height of Template:Convert,<ref name="Nash 2005" /><ref name="Stichweh2009" /><ref name="Emporis">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Efn making it the third-tallest building in the Financial District upon its completion, after the Template:Convert 40 Wall Street and the Template:Convert 70 Pine Street. In addition, 28 Liberty Street was the first curtain-walled building to be taller than Template:Convert.<ref name="NYCL p. 5" /><ref name="AF p. 91">Template:Harvnb</ref>

Form and facade

File:One Chase Manhattan Plaza.jpg
Looking up at the tower from the plaza; the structural columns project from the facade.

The 1916 Zoning Resolution, which required skyscrapers in New York City to have setbacks as they rose, was designed to prevent new skyscrapers from overwhelming the streets with their sheer bulk.Template:Efn However, these setbacks were not required if the building occupied 25 percent or less of its lot.<ref name="NYCL pp. 4-5">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="AF 1956-05">Template:Cite magazine</ref> As a result, 28 Liberty Street was designed as a single slab.<ref name="NYCL pp. 4-5" /><ref name="greatbuildings.com">Template:Cite web Book excerpt.</ref><ref name="Žaknić Smith Rice Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat p.">Template:Cite book</ref> While buildings with setbacks had less office space on upper floors, Chase wanted to make the upper floors as desirable to tenants as the lower floors, which led to each floor having the same area.<ref name="NYCL p. 5">Template:Harvnb</ref> Chase was granted a variance from the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals so that the building actually occupied 27.3 percent of the site; the extra 2.3 percent coverage allowed for an additional Template:Convert on each Template:Convert floor.<ref name="NYCL p. 5" />

The facade is composed of 8,800 plate glass panes, each measuring Template:Convert tall by Template:Convert wide. The glass panes are set within aluminum panels (chosen for their durability and performance) as well as vertical aluminum mullions.<ref name="NYCL p. 5" /><ref name="AF p. 91" /><ref name="greatbuildings.com" /> The aluminum panels are Template:Convert thick by up to Template:Convert tall and were manufactured by the General Bronze Corporation. The spandrel panels between the windows on each story are made of natural-color aluminum or black porcelain enamel.<ref name="AF p. 91" /><ref name="NYCL p. 6">Template:Harvnb</ref> SOM chose not to use stainless steel because it was too expensive, and it did not use granite because the firm's building committee had seen the material as being too traditional.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 174" />

The building's 40 columns, sheathed with aluminum, are about Template:Convert thickTemplate:Efn and are about Template:Convert apart, arranged in a 4×10 grid. The columns extend from the building on its long sides, while the floors cantilever from the columns on the building's short dimensions. The columns carry much of the weight of each floor.<ref name="AF p. 91" /><ref name="greatbuildings.com" /><ref name="nyt19590823">Template:Cite news</ref> The New York Times described this as a relatively novel design that had never been used on such a large scale,<ref name="nyt19590823" /> though the design did have a precedent in Philadelphia's Loews Philadelphia Hotel.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 174" /> The presence of the columns at ground level creates a colonnade around the lobby, which is recessed behind the upper floors.<ref name="NYCL p. 5" /> The columns rise from steel assemblies measuring Template:Convert square and Template:Convert thick, which are placed some Template:Convert below ground level.<ref name="Illson 1958">Template:Cite news</ref> In addition, stainless-steel flashing was placed on the facade's columns at four-story intervals, as well as beneath the spandrel panels on each floor. This reduced the amount of noise created by the wind passing through the columns.<ref name="PA 1960-05">Template:Cite magazine</ref> In total, over Template:Convert of steel were used,<ref name="NYCL p. 7" /> more than in any other New York City skyscraper at the time except for the Empire State Building and 30 Rockefeller Plaza.<ref name="NYCL p. 13">Template:Harvnb</ref>

The 11th, 31st, and 51st floors and the third basement level are mechanical floors. Each of the above-ground mechanical floors is a double-height space, with regular windows along the facade on the upper half of each floor and ventilation grates on the lower half.<ref name="AF p. 91" />

Features

Interior spaces

The building has about Template:Convert of above-ground floor area.<ref name="SOM-1963" /><ref name="NYCL p. 5" /><ref name="greatbuildings.com" /> Each story measures Template:Convert, with about Template:Convert of area.<ref name="NYCL p. 5" /><ref name="greatbuildings.com" />Template:Efn This made 28 Liberty Street the largest new building in New York City by floor area since the mid-1930s.<ref name="NYCL p. 5" /> The innermost two rows of columns<ref name="Žaknić Smith Rice Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat p." /> were hidden inside the building's core, which contained its elevators and service rooms.<ref name="SOM-1963" /><ref name="AF 1957-03">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="AF p. 74">Template:Harvnb</ref> At the time, it was not possible to completely eliminate the interior columns.<ref name="Stichweh2009" /> Nonetheless, this provided great flexibility for the interior floor plans, which many prospective tenants desired.<ref name="AF 1957-03" /><ref name="AF p. 74" /> The floor plan was slightly asymmetrical: the southern side was ten feet wider than the northern side, with columns spaced Template:Convert apart from north to south.<ref name="NYCL p. 5" /><ref name="AF 1957-03" /><ref name="AF p. 74" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This was because Chase officials considered the southern side of the building more desirable to work in.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 175">Template:Harvnb</ref>

The Template:Convert lobby, at the same level as the raised plaza, had a footprint slightly smaller than the floors above it and was surrounded by a plate-glass wall.<ref name="NYCL p. 6" /><ref name="AF p. 93" /><ref name="AF p. 73">Template:Harvnb</ref> There are numerous revolving doors to the south and west.<ref name="NYCL pp. 10-11">Template:Harvnb</ref> Originally, there was a mezzanine for the loan offices, which was removed by the 1990s. Inside the lobby are six elevator banks, surrounded by travertine walls.<ref name="NYCL p. 6" /><ref name="AF p. 93">Template:Harvnb</ref> The concourse, directly below the lobby, was accessed from Liberty Street.<ref name="NYCL p. 6" /><ref name="AF p. 73" /> Chase's main branch, beneath 28 Liberty Street's plaza, was accessed from the concourse and was lit by an oval Template:Convert recess surrounded by a transparent barrier.<ref name="NYCL p. 6" /><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="AF (1957) p. 114">Template:Harvnb</ref> Also on the concourse was a meeting room, a foyer, and a messenger's room.<ref name="AF (1957) p. 114" /> Passageways in the concourse led to the three surrounding subway stations.<ref name="AF p. 73" />

The floors beneath the plaza are much larger, covering the entire lot with a combined area of Template:Convert. There are five basement levels below the concourse.<ref name="greatbuildings.com" /><ref name="AF (1957) p. 114" /><ref name="Stern (1995) pp. 174-175">Template:Harvnb</ref> The first basement level was used mainly as a lower lobby and a banking floor.<ref name="Stern (1995) pp. 174-175" /> There was also dining and kitchen space on the first and second basements; printing, tabulating, and mechanical spaces on the third basement; check handling on the fourth basement; and vaults on the fifth basement.<ref name="greatbuildings.com" /><ref name="AF (1957) p. 114" /> A truck ramp descends to the second basement;<ref name="greatbuildings.com" /><ref name="AF (1957) p. 114" /> the truck entrance, as well as ventilation grates for air intake and outflow, are on the Liberty Street side, below the raised plaza.<ref name="SOM-1963" /><ref name="AF p. 71" /> There is also a pedestrian entrance on the William Street side, below the plaza, which leads to the eastern part of the concourse.<ref name="AF p. 71" /><ref name="Stern (1995) pp. 174-175" /> According to Architectural Forum, the fifth basement had a "bank vault nearly the size of a football field", which sorted $35 billion worth of securities (equivalent to $Template:Inflation billion in Template:Inflation/year)<ref name="AF p. 69">Template:Harvnb</ref> and covered about half the site.<ref name="Stern (1995) pp. 174-175" /> Template:As of, the first basement level includes Halo, a Template:Convert event space, surrounding a sunken garden outdoors.<ref name="Durso n236" />

When 28 Liberty Street was completed, Chase occupied about Template:Convert of space.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 175" /> Since most Chase employees worked in open plan offices, there were only 150 private offices for the 7,500 employees who worked in the tower upon its opening. The offices of Chase's three highest-ranking executives were on the 17th floor.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 175" /><ref name="AF p. 76">Template:Harvnb</ref> These executive offices were connected to the lobby and the 60th story by an express elevator that stopped only on these three floors.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 175" /> The interior designers Davis Allen and Ward Bennett were responsible for the furnishings of Chase's offices, including much of the furniture and accessories. In addition, a board of curators selected the artwork for the building, and the firm of Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv designed the graphics for the building.<ref name="Stern (1995) pp. 175-176">Template:Harvnb</ref> Bunshaft had planned to place a sculpture on the 60th-story landing but, after realizing that the ornamented spire of 40 Wall Street was visible from that level, he abandoned plans for the sculpture.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 175" /><ref name="AF p. 84">Template:Harvnb</ref>

Mechanical systems and elevators

28 Liberty Street was largely built above a layer of quicksand located Template:Convert below street level; the underlying bedrock was Template:Convert below the quicksand. Workers solidified the quicksand by pumping Template:Convert of sodium silicate and Template:Convert of calcium chloride through more than 200 pipes.<ref name="nyt-1957-06-09">Template:Cite news</ref> The excavations for the building's foundation reached Template:Convert below ground level.<ref name="NYCL p. 7" /> Workers ultimately removed Template:Convert from the site, which at the time was the largest single excavation project in New York City.<ref name="nyt-1957-06-09" />

Escalators connect the lobby to the concourse directly below it.<ref name="AF p. 93" /> The building was planned with 42 elevators and 12 escalators.<ref name="AF 1956-05"/> As built, there are 43 elevators in total: three service elevators running from the basements to the lobby; six passenger elevators from the lobby to the basements; and thirty-four passenger elevators from the lobby to the upper floors. The upper-floor elevators ran nonstop from the lobby to serve the upper floors, and were arranged in five "banks": one elevator bank served the second through 17th floors; three banks each served ten stories between the 17th through 47th floors; and the fifth bank served the 47th through 60th floors.<ref name="AF p. 93" />

Air-conditioning units on each mechanical floor weighed a total of Template:Convert, making it "the largest fully air-conditioned building in New York".<ref name="NYCL p. 5" /><ref name="AF p. 91" /> There are refrigeration units and steam turbine compressors on the 11th and 31st floors; the equipment on the 11th floor serves all stories below the 21st, while the equipment on the 31st floor serves all stories above the 22nd.<ref name="AF p. 91" /> An air-conditioning system is embedded in the ceiling of each story. The building was powered by transformer vaults in the first basement and the 51st floor, which in turn drew their power from primary feeders on the second basement.<ref name="AF p. 92">Template:Harvnb</ref> On the roof are a series of fans, which are hidden behind a four-story enclosure with a surrounding parapet.<ref name="NYCL p. 5" />

Plaza

File:Fosun Plaza 28 Liberty jeh.jpg
28 Liberty Street's plaza, nearly deserted in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City
File:Fosun Plaza nameplate at Pine St stair jeh.jpg
Nameplate at Pine Street

The plaza, officially known as the David Rockefeller Plaza since 2008,<ref name="Dunlap 2008">Template:Cite web</ref> surrounds the tower and is slightly above the adjacent street, enclosed by a parapet.<ref name="NYCL pp. 10-11" /> The plaza spans about Template:Convert.<ref name="AF 1956-05" /><ref name="AR 1956-05" /><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 175" />Template:Efn Due to the topography of the area, the northern end of the plaza is Template:Convert above ground level, while the southern end is just above ground level.<ref name="AF p. 71" /><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 175" /> The plaza was unusual in that it was in a locale with extremely high land values "where land was worth up to $10 million an acre [[[:Template:Convert]]]".<ref name="AF p. 69" /> Legally, the plaza is private property rather than a privately owned public space.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Dailey 2013">Template:Cite web</ref> Access from the street to the plaza is relatively limited.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 175" /> Three marble staircases and two ramps connected the sidewalk to the plaza: a wide staircase and ramp from Pine Street to the south, a split staircase and ramp from Nassau and Cedar Streets to the west, and a smaller staircase from William and Cedar Streets to the east.<ref name="NYCL pp. 10-11" /> The plaza is ten steps above Pine Street to the south.<ref name="Žaknić Smith Rice Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat p." />

The sculptor Isamu Noguchi, a frequent collaborator of Bunshaft's,<ref name="NYCL p. 8">Template:Harvnb</ref> was consulted for the design of the plaza. Original plans in 1956 called for square or rectangular recesses in the plaza, accessed by a spiral staircase, but the final 1957 design called for a circular recess, accessed from the concourse.<ref name="NYCL pp. 6-7">Template:Harvnb</ref> The recess is about Template:Convert below the plaza<ref name="Nash 2005" /><ref name="Žaknić Smith Rice Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat p." /> and measures Template:Convert across.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 175" /> Noguchi created a sunken Japanese rock garden in the recess, similar to one at Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library,<ref name="NYCL p. 8" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> as part of a series of contemporary artworks collected or commissioned by Chase.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Seven large dark basalt rocks from Japan were used in the garden, placed atop a surface of 27,000 white granite blocks, each measuring Template:Convert square.<ref name="NYCL p. 8" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Additionally, the garden incorporated three fountains fed by 45 pipes, which drained into a trough that circumscribed the rock garden.<ref name="NYCL p. 8" /> Originally, the rock garden had a pool with goldfish; after they died of copper poisoning when people threw pennies into the pool, the goldfish were removed in 1964.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1970, Chase commissioned a monumental sculpture entitled Group of Four Trees by French artist Jean Dubuffet;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> it was installed in 1972.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 175" /><ref name="The New York Times 1972">Template:Cite news</ref> The sculpture is made of several fiberglass "leaves" and painted with polyurethane in hues of black and white.<ref name="The New York Times 1972" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At the time, the Template:Convert-tall sculpture was the largest outdoor public artwork in New York City, beating out Pablo Picasso's "Bust of Sylvette" by Template:Convert.<ref name="NYCL p. 9" /> Other features of the plaza include planters and benches.<ref name="NYCL pp. 10-11" />

History

Two established banks in Lower Manhattan, the Chase National Bank and the Manhattan Company, merged to create the Chase Manhattan Bank in 1955.<ref name="NYCL p. 2" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Chase had been the largest bank in the US until the early 20th century,<ref name="NYCL p. 2" /> and the merger made the Chase Manhattan Bank the second-largest bank in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The combined company was at 20 Pine Street.<ref name="New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission 1995">Template:Cite web</ref> At the time, the Financial District had languished after many corporations had moved uptown.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Few large buildings and structures had been erected in the neighborhood since the 1930s, except for transit infrastructure such as the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel and office towers at 99 Church Street and 161 William Street.<ref name="NYCL p. 4" />

Planning and construction

Initial planning

In January 1955, Chase Manhattan president John J. McCloy hired David Rockefeller, patriarch of the Rockefeller family, as the company's executive vice president for redevelopment.<ref name="NYCL p. 2" /><ref name="Adams 2019 p. 74" /> Rockefeller later recalled that he had persuaded McCloy to employ a "qualified outside firm" to conduct studies on what facilities Chase Manhattan needed. The firm, Ebasco Services Incorporated, conducted numerous studies and determined that the company should buy land for a single headquarters at one of two possible locations: the "Broad Street block" and the "Mutual Life block".<ref name="NYCL p. 2" /><ref name="Adams 2019 p. 74" /><ref name="Rockefeller p. 161">Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Efn The firm further recommended a "definitive and dramatic" design.<ref name="Wilson p. 105">Template:Harvnb</ref> Rockefeller worked closely with real estate developer William Zeckendorf, who suggested purchasing the Mutual Life block between Nassau, Liberty, William, and Pine streets.<ref name="NYCL p. 3" /><ref name="Zeckendorf 1970 p.">Template:Cite book</ref> In February 1955, the Chase Manhattan Bank purchased the Mutual Life plot for $4.425 million to construct a new headquarters called One Chase Manhattan Plaza.<ref name="The New York Times 1955" /> Chase also obtained Template:Convert from the Guaranty Trust Company on Liberty Street, adjacent to the other lots it had acquired.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 174">Template:Harvnb</ref> While Chase Manhattan claimed at the time that it had no plans to construct new headquarters, demolition began in May 1955.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

SOM was hired for the project in early 1955. Accounts vary on how SOM was selected: Rockefeller wrote that the firm had been recommended by his friend, the architect Wallace Harrison,<ref name="NYCL p. 3" /><ref name="Rockefeller p. 163">Template:Harvnb</ref> though SOM partner Nathaniel Owings claimed that the firm had sought the commission of their own volition.<ref name="AF p. 86">Template:Harvnb</ref> SOM partner Edward Matthews had tasked Owings with the design, and Owings's team started preparing designs after meeting informally with Chase executives on June 10, 1955. The team had prepared a survey of the surrounding neighborhood by July 15, at which point Owings proposed combining the two blocks.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 174" /> Although The New York Times later said that Owings "claimed credit for the idea of placing a skyscraper on a small part of a downtown lot",<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Rockefeller said Zeckendorf was the person responsible for the tower-and-plaza scheme.<ref name="NYCL p. 3" /><ref name="Rockefeller p. 164">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="nyt-2003-11-16">Template:Cite news</ref> According to Rockefeller, Zeckendorf had encouraged him to acquire the Mutual Life Insurance Building and the remaining buildings on the two blocks, then convince the city government to close Cedar Street.<ref name="nyt-2003-11-16" />

Design partner Gordon Bunshaft was in Europe at the time, so Roy O. Allen and Jacques E. Guiton worked on alternative plans.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 174" /> SOM considered three plans for the site: a single building on the block between Cedar and Liberty Streets; two buildings spread out across the two blocks between Pine and Liberty Streets; and a single building on the two blocks, with a plaza abutting it.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 174" /><ref name="AF p. 87">Template:Harvnb</ref> On September 26, 1955, Guiton presented at least two of the three plans to Chase's board of directors. In addition to the tower-and-plaza plan, Guiton presented a "control" plan in which the two blocks were kept separate.<ref name="NYCL p. 3" /><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 174" /> Bunshaft assumed responsibility for the design when he returned from Europe on October 15, and he had convinced Chase officials to pursue the tower-and-plaza plan by December 6. This would allow a building with Template:Convert of space. By contrast, if Cedar Street had not been closed, Chase would have been able to construct a tower with Template:Convert to the north; the existing buildings to the south, covering Template:Convert, would have been modernized.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 174" />

Finalization of plans

File:Cedar Street Between Marine Midland Building and Equitable Building (7237036170).jpg
Viewed from Cedar Street, one block west; 140 Broadway is to the left and the Equitable Building to the right

The Chase Manhattan Bank officially publicized its intentions to rebuild the two-block site in November 1955. The planned development was described as part of a little"Rockefeller Center" for Lower Manhattan.<ref name="NYCL p. 2" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 174" /> The proposed building would allow Chase to consolidate 8,500 employees at nine buildings.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 174" /> The following month, further details of the redevelopment were revealed, including a wider-ranging redevelopment of the Financial District.<ref name="Bennett 1955" /><ref name="AR 1956-01">Template:Cite magazine</ref> SOM's initial design called for a 50-to-60-story building, surrounded by an open plaza that would be created by closing Cedar Street. The building would occupy 30 percent of the resulting two-block site, and all other structures would be demolished, except for Chase's existing building at Nassau and Pine Streets.<ref name="AR 1956-01" /><ref name="PA 1956-01">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The Financial District plan also included a 750-unit middle-income housing project on Whitehall Street, a 1,000-spot parking garage on Pearl Street, and a $6.19 million widening of Water Street, promoted by Rockefeller's Downtown–Lower Manhattan Association. The wider redevelopment was conceived in conjunction with city planner Robert Moses, mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr., and Manhattan borough president Hulan Jack.<ref name="NYCL p. 4" /><ref name="AF p. 69" /><ref name="Bennett 1955">Template:Cite news</ref> In particular, Rockefeller said that Moses's approval of the project preceded approvals from other entities.<ref name="NYCL p. 4" /><ref name="Rockefeller p. 166">Template:Harvnb</ref>

SOM's design, influenced by the Seagram Building and the firm's Inland Steel Building, was completed in early 1956.<ref name="NYCL p. 4" /> SOM submitted blueprints to the New York City Department of Buildings that February.<ref name="NYCL p. 4" /> At that point, The New York Times predicted the project would cost $75 million, which included the plaza's cost.<ref name="Bennett 1955" /> The bank's board approved $75 million in March 1956 for the construction of the new tower along with a large public plaza. The bank planned to occupy Template:Convert of the building and lease the remaining Template:Convert to outside tenants.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Guiton said the bank's board applauded the plans when they were approved.<ref name="Adams 2019 p. 74" /> Shortly after, the plans were unveiled to the public.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A scale model of the building and surrounding structures was displayed at 40 Wall Street's banking room during April 1956.<ref name="AR 1956-05">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Construction

Construction on the tower began in late 1956.<ref name="wsj20150111">Template:Cite news</ref> Before starting work on One Chase Manhattan Plaza, SOM built a one-story mockup with aluminum and stainless steel at Roosevelt Field.<ref name="AF p. 90">Template:Harvnb</ref> Of these, aluminum was used for its cost and appearance, despite both materials performing similarly.<ref name="AF p. 91" /><ref name="NYCL p. 6" /> A groundbreaking ceremony for the building was held on January 28, 1957, with the first ceremonial scoop of dirt being excavated by Chase Manhattan's longest-tenured worker.<ref name="NYCL p. 7" /><ref name="nyt19570129">Template:Cite news</ref> At the time, the total cost was estimated at $121 million.<ref name="nyt19570129" /><ref name="AF (1957) p. 112" /><ref name="p1882555150">Template:Cite magazine</ref> This cost included $94 million for construction, another $16 million for utilities and land acquisition, and $11 million for furniture.<ref name="nyt19570129" /><ref name="AF (1957) p. 112">Template:Harvnb</ref> According to Newsweek, as a result of Chase Manhattan Plaza's development, planners had created blueprints for $225 million worth of new developments in the Financial District.<ref name="p1882555150" />

Up to 1,800 workers were employed at any given time. Foundation work took place between March 1957 and November 1958.<ref name="NYCL p. 7" /> The first of the steel assemblies, upon which each of the 40 structural-steel columns would be placed, was installed within the foundation in September 1958.<ref name="Illson 1958" /> Afterward, steel work commenced in December 1958.<ref name="NYCL p. 7" /> The final piece of steel was installed during a topping out ceremony on September 9, 1959.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="AR 1959-10">Template:Cite magazine</ref> At that point, the building was planned to be finished in 1960, and the plaza was to be opened in 1962.<ref name="AR 1959-10" /> This was followed by the completion of the curtain wall in March 1960.<ref name="NYCL p. 7" />

Completion was initially anticipated for 1959, but four citywide strikes of construction workers, including an 18-week elevator worker strike, delayed construction.<ref name="NYCL p. 7" /><ref name="nyt19601226" /> Furthermore, a crane operator died in a June 1958 construction accident.<ref name="NYCL p. 13" /> By December 1960, the tower was completed, and Chase Manhattan Bank employees began moving in to the new tower the next month.<ref name="nyt19601226">Template:Cite news</ref> Chase Manhattan opened a temporary office within the tower while the plaza and basements were under construction.<ref name="The New York Times 1964a">Template:Cite news</ref> The official opening was held on May 28, 1961; the southern block had not been cleared at the time of the tower's opening, and the only progress on that block was a group of nine trees that had been planted on Nassau Street.<ref name="Grutzner 1961">Template:Cite news</ref> The plaza was completed in December 1963,<ref name="NYCL p. 7" /> and the permanent banking office underneath it opened the next month, after which the temporary office was turned into an auditorium.<ref name="The New York Times 1964a" /> The plaza's official opening was celebrated with a party in May 1964.<ref name="The New York Times 1964b">Template:Cite news</ref> The structure cost $138 million in total, including the plaza.<ref name="NYCL p. 4" /><ref name="AF p. 66">Template:Harvnb</ref>

Chase Bank ownership

Late 20th century

From the beginning, One Chase Manhattan Plaza had a 99% occupancy rate: the bank was on the lower stories, and 61 companies with a combined 2,500 workers were on the upper stories.<ref name="NYCL p. 9">Template:Harvnb</ref> The tenants were mainly financial tenants such as EF Hutton<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Fuji Bank;<ref name="NYCL p. 9" /> law firms like Cravath, Swaine & Moore;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and a private luncheon club called the Wall Street Club.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The building's address caused problems for mail delivery persons and the general public. By the early 1970s, though the names of several other buildings in Manhattan ended in the word "Plaza", One Chase Manhattan Plaza was the only such building that did not have an address designation based on a surrounding street.<ref name="nyt19731230">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn The "Group of Four Trees" sculpture in the plaza was installed in 1972.<ref name="The New York Times 1972" />

In its early years, the building faced several challenges. The glass panels began blowing away from the building during high winds: during 1962, fifteen glass panels fell from the building due to negative pressure caused by combination of the building's design and minute weaknesses in the glass. All of the building's 8,800 panels were reinspected, with similarly weakened panels replaced.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A fire also took place in the sub-basement in 1962,<ref name="NYCL p. 9" /> and an anti-Vietnam War bombing occurred on the 16th floor in 1969, causing minor damage to the 16th floor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A Brink's truck in the building's underground garage was robbed in 1979 by two armed men driving a stolen fish truck, who took two hostages before transferring over $2 million into the refrigerated truck. The truck was later found abandoned, and the robbers escaped.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1990, law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy signed a lease for Template:Convert of space in the tower with options to expand to up to Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The next year, Chase embarked on a comprehensive renovation of the building, the first major overhaul since its opening 30 years earlier; the renovations were undertaken by SOM. The bank spent $30 million to clean the building's exterior, upgrade elevators, remove asbestos, remodel the lobby, remove the mezzanine, and improve the heating and cooling systems.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> At the time, numerous large tenants had moved out or were in the process of doing so: law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore had relocated to One Worldwide Plaza in 1990, and Davis Polk & Wardwell moved to 450 Lexington Avenue the next year.<ref name="Reno">Template:Cite news</ref> The renovations were completed by 1994.<ref name="NYCL p. 9" /> While Chase moved its headquarters to 270 Park Avenue in 1996,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> it retained 70% of the space at One Chase Manhattan Plaza.<ref name="Dunlap 2008" />

21st century

By March 2008, the tower and the surrounding plaza were being considered for official landmark status.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The same month, the public plaza around the tower was renamed for David Rockefeller.<ref name="Dunlap 2008" /> The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission held hearings to designate One Chase Manhattan Plaza as an official landmark in mid-2008,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="NYCL p. 1" /> and officially recognized the building as such on February 10, 2009.<ref name="NYCL p. 1">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Chase placed a temporary barricade fence around the plaza in September 2011, at the same time the Occupy Wall Street protests were occurring nearby, though Chase did not specify an exact reason.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Rechy 2012">Template:Cite web</ref> The ostensible reason for the barricades was construction work in the plaza, though observers saw little work within the plaza,<ref name="Rechy 2012" /> leading to numerous lawsuits against the city's Department of Buildings and Chase; one such lawsuit alleged that the barriers violated the right to freedom of speech provided under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, although the plaza was a private space.<ref name="Dailey 2013" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Some advocates lodged complaints with the Landmarks Commission, though the barricades were not under the commission's jurisdiction since they were movable barriers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The barricades were dismantled in November 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Fosun ownership

In 2013, Steve Witkoff made an unsolicited $650 million offer to purchase the building and convert it into a hotel and condominiums. While JPMorgan rejected the offer, it prompted the firm to begin marketing the building to potential bidders as both an office building or a residential conversion opportunity.<ref name="Bagli 2013">Template:Cite news</ref> The building was placed for sale in August 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The auction reportedly initially attracted about a dozen bidders, including Witkoff, Harry Macklowe, Joseph Chetrit, Tishman Speyer, Boston Properties, Starwood Capital Group, RXR Realty, and at least two wealthy Asian investment funds.<ref name="Bagli 2013" />

On October 18, 2013, JPMorgan sold the building to Fosun, a Chinese investment company, for $725 million,<ref name="Bagli 2013" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> finalizing the sale that December.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Fosun rebranded One Chase Manhattan Plaza as 28 Liberty Street in 2015.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The new name refers to the building's position on Liberty Street and also connects to the Statue of Liberty in the distance. The address number references the fact that 8 is a lucky number in Chinese culture and, according to a Fosun spokesperson, "28 denotes 'double prosperity'".<ref name="wsj20150111" /> Fosun proposed converting the ground and basement stories into a retail complex, and the LPC approved the company's plans to add storefronts and entrances to the new complex.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Crain's New York Business 2015">Template:Cite web</ref> Fosun spent $150 million to renovate the lower stories into a Template:Convert retail complex, including a Template:Convert food hall on the ground floor and a Template:Convert, 10-screen Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in the basement.<ref name=trd-2016-01-14>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Boysen 2016">Template:Cite web</ref>

In the three years after it acquired the building, Fosun leased out Template:Convert of space, bringing the building to 72 percent occupancy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> To fund the improvements, Fosun secured an $800 million loan from Deutsche Bank and HSBC in November 2017.<ref name="refi">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2018, Danny Meyer opened "Manhatta", a restaurant and event space taking up the building's entire 60th floor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The same year, Fosun placed a partial ownership stake in the building for sale,<ref name="Kim 2018">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy left their Template:Convert space in the building.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Fosun refinanced the building in September 2019 with a $1 billion loan from Deutsche Bank and HSBC.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Cunningham 2019">Template:Cite web</ref> A Template:Convert<ref name="Time Out New York v214">Template:Cite web</ref> pickleball court opened at 28 Liberty Street in 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Two years later, Fosun added Template:Convert indoor soccer field to the building,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Time Out New York v214"/> as well as a Template:Convert event space called Halo.<ref name="Durso n236">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="New York Business Journal f576">Template:Cite web</ref>

Notable tenants

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Reception

From its announcement, 28 Liberty Street was covered extensively in magazines, newspapers, and journals.<ref name="NYCL p. 8" /> In November 1956, architecture critic Douglas Haskell praised the bulky massing of buildings such as 28 Liberty Street, the Seagram Building, and Lever House. He called these buildings "excellent development" in contrast with other structures built as part of the 1916 Zoning Resolution, saying that buildings with "wedding-cake" setbacks were an "abomination".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Architectural Forum in 1957 described 28 Liberty Street's design as having been influenced by Chase Manhattan directors' desire for the design "to say 'bank' in no uncertain terms".<ref name="AF (1957) p. 114" /> The New York Times continuously praised the tower's design during 28 Liberty Street's construction.<ref name="NYCL p. 9" />

Upon the building's completion, Chase Manhattan hired twelve young women to lead visitors through the building and published a special edition of its magazine, The Chase Manhattan News.<ref name="NYCL p. 8"/> A photograph of the building by Erich Locker, called "The Chase Manhattan Tower at Dawn", was utilized in many advertisements.<ref name="NYCL p. 9" /> Time magazine stated that 28 Liberty Street had "the Rockefeller touch"<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> while The New York Times referred to the tower as "New York's newest landmark".<ref name="Grutzner 1961" /> Architectural Forum described the project as "a milestone, perhaps even an end point in the development of the American skyscraper",<ref name="AF p. 94">Template:Harvnb</ref> saying that "the big, broad-shouldered Chase stated crisply the mood and abilities of a newer age".<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 174" /><ref name="AF p. 66" /> Mayor Wagner called the plaza "an example of New York City's endless renaissance" upon the plaza's opening.<ref name="The New York Times 1964b" />

Reviews among architecture critics were more varied. Carol Herselle Krinsky lauded the building's massing and the reflective facade, as opposed to "the earlier building surfaces of brick and stone [which] absorb light."<ref name="greatbuildings.com" /> New York Times critic Ada Louise Huxtable, writing in 1960, said that 28 Liberty Street, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, and 270 Park Avenue all had a "still too-rare esthetic excellence".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The next month, Huxtable said that the tower and plaza "carry the double promise of corporate efficiency and a more enduring value: significant civic beauty."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Wolf Von Eckardt said in 1962 that the design was "another quiet triumph" for architecture despite being "not sensationally original".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Huxtable's successor Paul Goldberger said that the plaza and its "progeny" had failed, but that the tower had a positive impact on the nearby area.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> William H. Whyte, a sociologist, praised the plaza as among the "great processional spaces" in New York City.<ref name="New York Magazine p. 6">Template:Cite magazine</ref> As early as 1996, architect Robert A. M. Stern had suggested that 28 Liberty Street was a viable candidate for official landmark status.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Eric Nash, writing in 2005, said: "Its big-shouldered parti is monotonous and seems to muscle aside the surrounding delicate stone towers of the 1930s."<ref name="Nash 2005" />

See also

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References

Notes

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Citations

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Sources

Template:Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Template:Financial District, Manhattan Template:JPMorgan Chase Template:New York City Historic Sites

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