132-724: 20 Exchange Place , formerly the City Bank–Farmers Trust Building , is a skyscraper in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City . Completed in 1931, it was designed by Cross & Cross in the Art Deco style as the headquarters of the City Bank–Farmers Trust Company, predecessor of Citigroup . The building, standing at approximately 741 feet (226 m) with 57 usable stories,
264-486: A Buttressed core . Trussed tube and X-bracing: Emporis Emporis was a real estate data mining company with headquarters in Hamburg , Germany. The company collected data and photographs of buildings worldwide, which were published in an online database from 2000 to September 2022. On 12 September 2022, the managing director of CoStar Europe posted a letter on Emporis.com, informing its community members of
396-694: A steel frame that supports curtain walls . This idea was invented by Viollet le Duc in his discourses on architecture. These curtain walls either bear on the framework below or are suspended from the framework above, rather than resting on load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Some early skyscrapers have a steel frame that enables the construction of load-bearing walls taller than of those made of reinforced concrete . Modern skyscraper walls are not load-bearing , and most skyscrapers are characterized by large surface areas of windows made possible by steel frames and curtain walls. However, skyscrapers can have curtain walls that mimic conventional walls with
528-591: A 25-story building for National City Bank at 22 William Street, which would replace the bank's existing building there. The plans called for a structure with setbacks and chamfered corners, but no tower. National City Bank and the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company merged in April 1929. National City Bank took over the expanded bank's banking operations, while Farmers' Trust became the City Bank Farmers Trust Company,
660-566: A boxy cornice with geometric shapes. Between the 6th and 17th stories, the spandrels between the windows on each floor are made of either blue-pearl granite or aluminum, and many spandrels have medallions. Piers subdivide the windows into either singular or paired groupings. The spandrels are decorated with motifs themed to agriculture, such as wheat sheaves and flower heads. Other motifs on the spandrels include balancing scales resembling trade, hourglasses resembling investment, and eagles and fasces resembling government. There are fourteen figures at
792-413: A central hall. The senior officers' room was decorated with reliefs of the building and representations of agriculture, banking, and industry. The central hall contained oak paneling, leather seats, and wood carvings by Evans. City Bank's executive office were behind the senior officers' room. These offices contained classical decor such as carpeting, lamps, curtains, chairs, and desks. According to Abramson,
924-537: A city consisting entirely of high-rise housing is the 16th-century city of Shibam in Yemen . Shibam was made up of over 500 tower houses, each one rising 5 to 11 stories high, with each floor being an apartment occupied by a single family. The city was built in this way in order to protect it from Bedouin attacks. Shibam still has the tallest mudbrick buildings in the world, with many of them over 30 m (98 ft) high. An early modern example of high-rise housing
1056-454: A gym, lounge, and gaming room. National City Bank and the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company were both longstanding New York City institutions, with the former being founded in 1812 and the latter in 1822. In subsequent years, other banks began moving to residential buildings on Wall Street and, by the 1820s, financial institutions made up the vast majority of tenants there. By the late 19th century,
1188-733: A more classical approach came back to global skyscraper design, that remains popular today. Examples are the Wells Fargo Center , NBC Tower , Parkview Square , 30 Park Place , the Messeturm , the iconic Petronas Towers and Jin Mao Tower . Other contemporary styles and movements in skyscraper design include organic , sustainable , neo-futurist , structuralist , high-tech , deconstructivist , blob , digital , streamline , novelty , critical regionalist , vernacular , Neo Art Deco and neohistorist , also known as revivalist . 3 September
1320-409: A nearby New York City Subway line. The superstructure uses 20,200 short tons (18,000 long tons; 18,300 t) of steel as well as 300,000 square feet (28,000 m). The building was constructed with four elevator banks, containing a total of 31 elevators; these are placed in the core of the building, allowing them to rise to the upper stories without interruption. The banking floors also had what
1452-399: A particularly small surface area of what are conventionally thought of as walls. Because the walls are not load-bearing most skyscrapers are characterized by surface areas of windows made possible by the concept of steel frame and curtain wall. However, skyscrapers can also have curtain walls that mimic conventional walls and have a small surface area of windows. The concept of a skyscraper is
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#17328562025901584-420: A product of the industrialized age , made possible by cheap fossil fuel derived energy and industrially refined raw materials such as steel and concrete . The construction of skyscrapers was enabled by steel frame construction that surpassed brick and mortar construction starting at the end of the 19th century and finally surpassing it in the 20th century together with reinforced concrete construction as
1716-454: A proto-skyscraper, or to New York's seven-floor Equitable Life Building , built in 1870. Steel skeleton construction has allowed for today's supertall skyscrapers now being built worldwide. The nomination of one structure versus another being the first skyscraper, and why, depends on what factors are stressed. The structural definition of the word skyscraper was refined later by architectural historians, based on engineering developments of
1848-412: A proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exaltation that from bottom to top it is a unit without a single dissenting line. Some structural engineers define a high-rise as any vertical construction for which wind is a more significant load factor than earthquake or weight. Note that this criterion fits not only high-rises but some other tall structures, such as towers . Different organizations from
1980-599: A rotunda that measures 30 feet (9.1 m) high by 36 feet (11 m) across. The ceiling of the rotunda is carried by six red columns, whose capitals are decorated with carvings of eagles. The floor of the rotunda contains various motifs representing the bank, while the walls contain stone pieces in various hues. The lobbies contained 300,000 square feet (28,000 m) of marble in 45 different types. signifying "corporate America's global reach". The lobby included marble from at least six European countries, such as Czechoslovak golden travertine ; only two types of marble were from
2112-556: A skyscraper today, it was record setting. The building of tall buildings in the 1880s gave the skyscraper its first architectural movement, broadly termed the Chicago School , which developed what has been called the Commercial Style. The architect, Major William Le Baron Jenney , created a load-bearing structural frame. In this building, a steel frame supported the entire weight of the walls, instead of load-bearing walls carrying
2244-531: A small pediment above the door, consisting of snakes flanking a bison head above the door. The side arches each have four nickel-silver doors underneath marble-and-glass transoms . There is also a medallion above the center arch. A fifth entrance is centered on the Hanover Street elevation, and is an arched opening with a carved surround. Similar to the entrance at Exchange Place and William Street, there are four paneled doors, as well as nickel silver panels above
2376-417: A small surface area of windows. Modern skyscrapers often have a tubular structure , and are designed to act like a hollow cylinder to resist wind, seismic, and other lateral loads. To appear more slender, allow less wind exposure and transmit more daylight to the ground, many skyscrapers have a design with setbacks , which in some cases is also structurally required. As of September 2023 , fifteen cities in
2508-464: A smaller vault for overnight storage; the vaults were guarded by doors weighing between 30 and 40 short tons (27 and 36 t). The security system could detect tiny vibrations in the steel and concrete. The basement also had a three-man shooting gallery for the vault's guards to practice. The Canadian Bank of Commerce occupied the ground level and first story on the Hanover Street side. Floor plans indicate that this space had cable and telegraph offices on
2640-491: A subsidiary of National City Bank that took over the trust operations. After the merger, City Bank Farmers Trust commissioned a new structure at 20 Exchange Place to house the operations of the expanded bank. The site was one of the few large lots near the New York Stock Exchange Building that was still available. Cross & Cross subsequently proposed a 40-story building that would replace all structures on
2772-514: A time, the tallest of which is the 97.2 m (319 ft) high Asinelli Tower. A Florentine law of 1251 decreed that all urban buildings be immediately reduced to less than 26 m. Even medium-sized towns of the era are known to have proliferations of towers, such as the 72 towers that ranged up to 51 m height in San Gimignano . The medieval Egyptian city of Fustat housed many high-rise residential buildings, which Al-Muqaddasi in
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#17328562025902904-415: A time. A large proportion of the workforce, comprising over 600 workers, were hired for the stonework. The project also employed timekeepers and auditors, who checked employees' attendance, as well as job runners, who delivered architectural drawings and ensured that materials were delivered. The builders anticipated a total payroll of $ 7.5 million with 5,000 total workers. A contemporary source wrote that
3036-466: A variety of shapes, and it could be riveted, ensuring strong connections. The simplicity of a steel frame eliminated the inefficient part of a shear wall, the central portion, and consolidated support members in a much stronger fashion by allowing both horizontal and vertical supports throughout. Among steel's drawbacks is that as more material must be supported as height increases, the distance between supporting members must decrease, which in turn increases
3168-469: A vertical tube-like structural system capable of resisting lateral forces in any direction by cantilevering from the foundation". Closely spaced interconnected exterior columns form the tube. Horizontal loads (primarily wind) are supported by the structure as a whole. Framed tubes allow fewer interior columns, and so create more usable floor space, and about half the exterior surface is available for windows. Where larger openings like garage doors are required,
3300-408: Is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least 100 meters (330 ft) or 150 meters (490 ft) in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise buildings . Skyscrapers may host offices, hotels, residential spaces, and retail spaces. One common feature of skyscrapers is having
3432-406: Is important in most building design, but particularly for skyscrapers since even a small chance of catastrophic failure is unacceptable given the tremendous damage such failure would cause. This presents a paradox to civil engineers : the only way to assure a lack of failure is to test for all modes of failure, in both the laboratory and the real world. But the only way to know of all modes of failure
3564-433: Is largely from the force of the building material itself. In most building designs, the weight of the structure is much larger than the weight of the material that it will support beyond its own weight. In technical terms, the dead load , the load of the structure, is larger than the live load , the weight of things in the structure (people, furniture, vehicles, etc.). As such, the amount of structural material required within
3696-405: Is offset from the base. The City Bank–Farmers Trust Building was built between 1930 and 1931, for the newly merged National City Bank of New York and the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company . It remained the company's headquarters until 1956 and was ultimately sold in 1979. The 16th through 57th floors of the building were converted from commercial to residential space by Metro Loft Management during
3828-486: Is similar to the Exchange Place and William Street entrance, except that it only has two paneled doors. The doors and the panels above the doors are surrounded by a granite frame. The glass panes above the granite frame do not have ornamented mullions. A fourth entrance faces Beaver Street and consists of three round arches with carved surroundings. The center arch is a service entrance and has another carved surround with
3960-399: Is the global commemorative day for skyscrapers, called "Skyscraper Day". New York City developers competed among themselves, with successively taller buildings claiming the title of "world's tallest" in the 1920s and early 1930s, culminating with the completion of the 318.9 m (1,046 ft) Chrysler Building in 1930 and the 443.2 m (1,454 ft) Empire State Building in 1931,
4092-419: Is to learn from previous failures. Thus, no engineer can be absolutely sure that a given structure will resist all loadings that could cause failure; instead, one can only have large enough margins of safety such that a failure is acceptably unlikely. When buildings do fail, engineers question whether the failure was due to some lack of foresight or due to some unknowable factor. The load a skyscraper experiences
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4224-635: The Downtown Athletic Club "had reduced the previous generation of skyscrapers to the status of foothills in a new mountain range". The building was designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission as a city landmark in 1996. In 2007, the building was designated as a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District , a National Register of Historic Places district. Skyscraper A skyscraper
4356-665: The Empire State Building , and 40 Wall Street , none of which were yet under construction. 20 Exchange Place was originally among those contenders for that title. According to the Architectural Forum , the design process had to be "a coordinated solution to complex mechanical problems and the strenuous demands of economics", with aesthetic considerations as an afterthought. Cross & Cross established an office at 385 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan specifically for
4488-629: The " Seven Sisters ", were built between 1947 and 1953; and one, the Main building of Moscow State University , was the tallest building in Europe for nearly four decades (1953–1990). Other skyscrapers in the style of Socialist Classicism were erected in East Germany ( Frankfurter Tor ), Poland ( PKiN ), Ukraine ( Hotel Moscow ), Latvia ( Academy of Sciences ), and other Eastern Bloc countries. Western European countries also began to permit taller skyscrapers during
4620-460: The 10th century described as resembling minarets . Nasir Khusraw in the early 11th century described some of them rising up to 14 stories, with roof gardens on the top floor complete with ox-drawn water wheels for irrigating them. Cairo in the 16th century had high-rise apartment buildings where the two lower floors were for commercial and storage purposes and the multiple stories above them were rented out to tenants . An early example of
4752-417: The 17th floor. At the highest setback, there are buttresses that transfer some of the upper-story loads to the base. The upper floors contain sparse decoration as well. Between the sash windows on each floor are aluminum spandrels, many of which also contain medallions. These windows are grouped into three pairs per side. They are separated by projecting piers, which rise to the top of the tower. The corners of
4884-465: The 1880s that had enabled construction of tall multi-story buildings. This definition was based on the steel skeleton—as opposed to constructions of load-bearing masonry , which passed their practical limit in 1891 with Chicago's Monadnock Building . What is the chief characteristic of the tall office building? It is lofty. It must be tall. The force and power of altitude must be in it, the glory and pride of exaltation must be in it. It must be every inch
5016-580: The 1960s now use a tube design derived from Khan's structural engineering principles, examples including the construction of the World Trade Center , Aon Center , Petronas Towers , Jin Mao Building , and most other supertall skyscrapers since the 1960s. The strong influence of tube structure design is also evident in the construction of the current tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa , which uses
5148-587: The 1960s, according to the CTBUH, the skyscraper has been reoriented away from a symbol for North American corporate power to instead communicate a city or nation's place in the world. Skyscraper construction entered a three-decades-long era of stagnation in 1930 due to the Great Depression and then World War II . Shortly after the war ended, Russia began construction on a series of skyscrapers in Moscow . Seven, dubbed
5280-399: The 1990s. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 20 Exchange Place as an official city landmark in 1996. It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District , a National Register of Historic Places district created in 2007. 20 Exchange Place occupies a full block along Exchange Place to the north, Hanover Street to the east, Beaver Street to
5412-413: The 19th floor, corresponding to the piers directly in front of the tower. The figures, designed by David Evans, contain representations of "giants of finance"; half are depicted with scowls, while the other half have smiles. These faces allude to a prophecy made by biblical figure Joseph , who predicted that "seven years of plenty" would precede "seven years of famine". The piers also aesthetically separated
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5544-491: The 21st floor, is octagonal in plan, with four chamfered corners between four longer sides. Only the William Street elevation of the base is parallel to the tower, creating the effect of an offset tower; a similar design was used at 19 Rector Street and 26 Broadway . When 20 Exchange Place was completed, the Architectural Forum wrote that the building avoided "exaggeration of forms for originality's sake alone". The facade
5676-807: The 26th century BC. It was not surpassed in height for thousands of years, the 160 m (520 ft) Lincoln Cathedral having exceeded it in 1311–1549, before its central spire collapsed. The latter in turn was not surpassed until the 555-foot (169 m) Washington Monument in 1884. However, being uninhabited, none of these structures actually comply with the modern definition of a skyscraper. High-rise apartments flourished in classical antiquity . Ancient Roman insulae in imperial cities reached 10 and more stories. Beginning with Augustus (r. 30 BC-14 AD), several emperors attempted to establish limits of 20–25 m for multi-stories buildings, but were met with only limited success. Lower floors were typically occupied by shops or wealthy families, with
5808-543: The 28th floor and tapering at the 50th floor, with a 15-foot (4.6 m) globe-shaped lantern at the pinnacle supported by four eagles. The skyscraper, as initially planned, would have been the headquarters for a larger bank, to be created by merging the City Bank Farmers Trust and the Corn Exchange Bank . At least three early architectural sketches were drawn. The merger between the City Bank Farmers Trust and
5940-531: The 51st and 52nd stories. This lobby, used as the tenants' lobby, contains colored mosaic panels, as well as details inspired by Native American culture, such as "radial ceiling patterns, eagle motifs, and earth tones". There is also a private ground-floor lobby with green-marble decorations. The lower stories housed the Canadian Bank of Commerce and the City Bank Farmers Trust Company, which required separate entrances and rooms. There were five banking rooms used by
6072-666: The 57 m (187 ft) tall 1924 Marx House in Düsseldorf , the 65 m (213 ft) tall Borsigturm in Berlin , built in 1924, the 65 m (213 ft) tall Hansahochhaus in Cologne , Germany, built in 1925; the 61 m (200 ft) Kungstornen (Kings' Towers) in Stockholm , Sweden, which were built 1924–25; the 77 m (253 ft) Ullsteinhaus in Berlin, Germany, built in 1927;
6204-552: The 57th story was ever used in this way. The upper floors were decorated with 15 types of wood. A copper and nickel alloy was used for other ornamental features; the baseboards used stainless steel ; and the handrails and toilets were plated with chromium . The floors in the 27 upper stories average 5,000 square feet (460 m). The top floors taper to 2,000 square feet (190 m). Since being converted to residential use, 20 Exchange Place has contained 767 residential apartments. There are also several residential amenities such as
6336-596: The 89 m (292 ft) Edificio Telefónica in Madrid , Spain, built in 1929; the 87.5 m (287 ft) Boerentoren in Antwerp, Belgium, built in 1932; the 66 m (217 ft) Prudential Building in Warsaw , Poland, built in 1934; and the 108 m (354 ft) Torre Piacentini in Genoa , Italy, built in 1940. After an early competition between New York City and Chicago for
6468-559: The CTBUH, is the distance between the highest floor and its architectural top (excluding antennae, flagpole or other functional extensions). Vanity height first appeared in New York City skyscrapers as early as the 1920s and 1930s but supertall buildings have relied on such uninhabitable extensions for on average 30% of their height, raising potential definitional and sustainability issues. The current era of skyscrapers focuses on sustainability , its built and natural environments, including
6600-599: The City Bank Farmers Trust Company. As of 2016, there was a Works Progress Administration mural behind one of the banking rooms' teller windows. The ground level contained a narrow space for the National City Bank, which handled commercial and retail banking clients. There was also a securities room at ground level, a transfer room and another securities room in basement level A, and a reserve banking room in basement level B. The basements contained two large vaults each measuring 156 by 52 feet (48 by 16 m), as well as
6732-559: The Corn Exchange Bank was canceled after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 . Consequently, the building was reduced to 64 stories, then to 54 stories. Steel construction started in late February 1930, with the first steel column being placed on February 25. The building took twelve months to construct. The Fuller Company, the building's contractor, employed an average of 2,000 workers simultaneously, with up to 3,000 workers on-site at
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#17328562025906864-491: The Exchange Place side and accountants' offices on the Beaver Street side. The 15th floor was occupied by a telephone exchange , which supposedly could handle over 100,000 calls per day. Telephone engineers considered the exchange to be the world's largest, with 37 switchboard operators connecting with 600 trunk lines and 3,600 extensions . The rest of the building was similarly technologically advanced. For instance, soap
6996-638: The Financial District, the lower stories had large floor areas for the building's primary tenant, Irving Trust, while the upper stories were smaller and were rented to other companies. The high ceilings of the building's lower stories have been used as a filming location for several movies such as Inside Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 . David Evans designed many of the lobby's decorations, including doors and grilles containing representations of navigation, engineering, mechanics, and architecture. The entrance from Exchange Place and William Street leads to
7128-463: The United States and Europe define skyscrapers as buildings at least 150 m (490 ft) in height or taller, with " supertall " skyscrapers for buildings higher than 300 m (984 ft) and " megatall " skyscrapers for those taller than 600 m (1,969 ft). The tallest structure in ancient times was the 146 m (479 ft) Great Pyramid of Giza in ancient Egypt , built in
7260-507: The United States. The rotunda's design might have been inspired by French architect Roger-Henri Expert 's work. The dome consists of stepped concentric rings with black and silver stenciling, with a plastic hemisphere at the apex of the dome. A half-flight of stairs leads upward from the rotunda to a space that formerly served as the senior officers' room. The space measures 48 by 85 feet (15 by 26 m), with large pillars and English oak paneling, and contained officers' desks on either side of
7392-497: The amount of material that must be supported. This becomes inefficient and uneconomic for buildings above 40 stories tall as usable floor spaces are reduced for supporting column and due to more usage of steel. A new structural system of framed tubes was developed by Fazlur Rahman Khan in 1963. The framed tube structure is defined as "a three dimensional space structure composed of three, four, or possibly more frames, braced frames, or shear walls, joined at or near their edges to form
7524-465: The architects' desire to avoid using "colored metal". The main entrance, on the Exchange Place elevation , has a round arch surrounded by eleven granite medallions, representing the countries where City Bank Farmers Trust operated offices. There are also granite medallions flanking and above the arch, as well as the National City Bank's seal at the top left and the National City Company's seal at
7656-475: The base and tower, as well as symbolized the bull and bear markets of finance. The intake pipes for the building's heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system are concealed behind the spandrels, while the exhaust pipes are behind the giants of finance. A 2022 article in The New York Times characterized the giants of finance as being "Assyrian-style busts". The outermost piers are topped by eagles at
7788-476: The block, including the structure occupied by the Canadian Bank of Commerce. Following further revisions, the proposed building was expanded to 52 stories; this design would have contained a colonnade at its base, as well as a pyramidal roof. When plans for 20 Exchange Place were announced, several skyscrapers in New York City were competing to be the world's tallest building, including the Chrysler Building ,
7920-554: The building for $ 25 million and convert the upper floors into apartments. Some 130,000 square feet (12,000 m) in the lowest eighteen floors was retained as commercial space; a third of this area was taken by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1999. During the renovation, some of the building's decorative elements were stolen. When DMJM Harris Arup took a 70,500-square-foot (6,550 m) sublease at 20 Exchange Place in early 2002, it became one of
8052-474: The building had 25,000 visitors; The New York Times stated that about 3,851 people per hour visited the building. The upper floors were not open because the elevators had not been completed. When it opened, 20 Exchange Place was the tallest stone-clad building in the city and the world, but that record was surpassed by the Empire State Building, which opened on May 1, 1931. In addition, 20 Exchange Place
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#17328562025908184-558: The building is 741 feet (226 m) tall with 57 usable stories; Emporis and SkyscraperPage also cite the building as having an antenna reaching 748 feet (228 m). Christopher Gray of The New York Times described the building as being 59 stories high and 750 feet (230 m) in 2008. Another Times article and the Wall Street Journal , in 1931, quoted the building as being 745 feet (227 m) tall (accounting for minor deviations), but having only 54 usable stories, excluding
8316-452: The building's elevators began to break down frequently, particularly eight elevators that served units above the 15th story. As a result, DTH Capital hired elevator mechanics to remain on site at all times and offered rent concessions and hotel rooms to 20 Exchange Place's residents. DTH had also hired several teams of experts, who suspected the issues were related to power surges from Consolidated Edison machinery, but Con Ed said its equipment
8448-440: The center archway and one large window to the west, as well as an additional two small windows on either side of the arch. The Hanover Place entrance is flanked by the smaller windows. The rest of the base contains relatively little decoration, with sash windows on each floor. The 4th floor contains small rectangular openings, and the 5th floor contains single windows or pairs of windows separated by geometric panels, and topped by
8580-537: The chronic elevator outages. Problems with the elevators persisted through mid-2022. Conwell Coffee Hall opened in the former bank lobby in February 2024, with an immersive show called Life and Trust . The coffee shop is operated by Emursive, an immersive theater company that staged the play Sleep No More . In July 2024, the Dermot Company bought the building for $ 370 million, or about $ 480,000 for each apartment. At
8712-424: The classical designs of the early skyscrapers , instead embracing the uniform international style ; many older skyscrapers were redesigned to suit contemporary tastes or even demolished—such as New York's Singer Building , once the world's tallest skyscraper. German -American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe became one of the world's most renowned architects in the second half of the 20th century. He conceived
8844-499: The conversion, created 350 units between the 16th and 57th floors. In 2014, DTH Capital received an additional $ 240 million loan that allowed the firm to convert the 9th through 15th floors to 221 luxury units. DMJM Harris Arup had recently vacated the space at the time. The remaining units were added in a third phase that was ultimately completed in 2015. Some of the units benefited from rent stabilization . Starting in November 2021,
8976-644: The creation of a significant number of early skyscrapers, though none of these were steel reinforced and few remain today. Height limits and fire restrictions were later introduced. In the late 1800s, London builders found building heights limited due to issues with existing buildings. High-rise development in London is restricted at certain sites if it would obstruct protected views of St Paul's Cathedral and other historic buildings. This policy, 'St Paul's Heights', has officially been in operation since 1927. Concerns about aesthetics and fire safety had likewise hampered
9108-533: The decision which had been made to retire the Emporis community platform, effective 13 September 2022. Emporis offered a variety of information on its public database, Emporis.com. Emporis was frequently cited by various media sources as an authority on building data. Emporis originally focused exclusively on high-rise buildings and skyscrapers , which it defined as buildings "between 35 and 100 metres" tall and "at least 100 metres tall", respectively. Emporis used
9240-632: The development of skyscrapers across continental Europe for the first half of the 20th century. By 1940, there were around 100 high-rise buildings in Europe ( List of early skyscrapers ). Some examples of these are the 43 m (141 ft) tall 1898 Witte Huis (White House) in Rotterdam ; the 51.5 m (169 ft) tall PAST Building (1906–1908) in Warsaw ; the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool, completed in 1911 and 90 m (300 ft) high;
9372-484: The doors, and a set of glass panes above the doors and panels separated by ornamental mullions. When the building opened, the Canadian Bank of Commerce used a banking space accessible from this entrance. On the William Street, Beaver Street, and Exchange Place elevations, the lowest two stories of the base have several double-height window openings, all of which contain a silver grille at the bottom and keystones above
9504-402: The early 1960s Bangladeshi-American structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan , considered the "father of tubular designs " for high-rises, discovered that the dominating rigid steel frame structure was not the only system apt for tall buildings, marking a new era of skyscraper construction in terms of multiple structural systems . His central innovation in skyscraper design and construction
9636-416: The environment and loaded structures with decorative elements and extravagant finishes. This approach to design was opposed by Fazlur Khan and he considered the designs to be whimsical rather than rational. Moreover, he considered the work to be a waste of precious natural resources. Khan's work promoted structures integrated with architecture and the least use of material resulting in the smallest impact on
9768-454: The environment. The next era of skyscrapers will focus on the environment including performance of structures, types of material, construction practices, absolute minimal use of materials/natural resources, embodied energy within the structures, and more importantly, a holistically integrated building systems approach. Modern building practices regarding supertall structures have led to the study of "vanity height". Vanity height, according to
9900-414: The facade fills an entire irregular city block , and contains giant piers supporting standalone figures depicting the "giants of finance", as well as decorations designed by David Evans . The main entrance on Exchange Place has a round arch with granite medallions representing the countries where City Bank Farmers Trust operated offices. The upper stories rise as a square tower with chamfered corners and
10032-540: The facade remained largely unchanged over the years, the lobbies had been closed to the public by the end of the 20th century. In late 1997, the building was sold to a joint venture between the Witkoff Group and Kamran Hakim . Witkoff owned a 46 percent stake in the building, while Hakim owned a 54 percent stake. The partners considered plans to convert 20 Exchange Place into a hotel or a residential building, or retain office uses, before they ultimately decided to renovate
10164-523: The first building in the world to feature a metal-framed glass curtain wall , a design element which creates light, airy interiors and has since been used the world over as a defining feature of skyscrapers". Further developments led to what many individuals and organizations consider the world's first skyscraper, the ten-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago, built in 1884–1885. While its original height of 42.1 m (138 ft) does not even qualify as
10296-471: The glass façade skyscraper and, along with Norwegian Fred Severud , designed the Seagram Building in 1958, a skyscraper that is often regarded as the pinnacle of modernist high-rise architecture. Skyscraper construction surged throughout the 1960s. The impetus behind the upswing was a series of transformative innovations which made it possible for people to live and work in "cities in the sky". In
10428-465: The hundred-story John Hancock Center and the massive 442 m (1,450 ft) Willis Tower . Other pioneers of this field include Hal Iyengar , William LeMessurier , and Minoru Yamasaki , the architect of the World Trade Center . Many buildings designed in the 70s lacked a particular style and recalled ornamentation from earlier buildings designed before the 50s. These design plans ignored
10560-571: The largest occupant of the building, occupying 75 percent of the floor area at its peak. Part of the interior was altered in 1945. National City Bank merged with the First National Bank in 1955, becoming First National City Bank. Shortly afterward, in March 1958, City Bank Farmers Trust took over the construction of a skyscraper on 399 Park Avenue , which was to contain most of the operations of First National City Bank. City Bank Farmers Trust moved to
10692-599: The largest office leases in Lower Manhattan since the September 11, 2001, attacks . By 2004, developers Yaron (Ronny) Bruckner and Nathan Berman had bought 20 Exchange Place. They proposed converting the building to nearly entirely residential use, with 250 condominiums in the tower and commercial space at the building's base. DTH Capital, a joint venture between the Bruckner family's Eastbridge Group and AG Real Estate , became
10824-454: The lower levels of a skyscraper will be much larger than the material required within higher levels. This is not always visually apparent. The Empire State Building 's setbacks are actually a result of the building code at the time ( 1916 Zoning Resolution ), and were not structurally required. On the other hand, John Hancock Center 's shape is uniquely the result of how it supports loads. Vertical supports can come in several types, among which
10956-402: The lower stories' decoration. In contrast to older classical-style buildings, but similar to other early-20th-century skyscrapers such as 70 Pine Street , the facade of 20 Exchange Place was designed as a "flowing unified surface" and was not visually linked to its internal superstructure. The entrances are designed with nickel-silver doors rather than bronze doors; one source attributed this to
11088-674: The most common for skyscrapers can be categorized as steel frames, concrete cores, tube within tube design, and shear walls. The wind loading on a skyscraper is also considerable. In fact, the lateral wind load imposed on supertall structures is generally the governing factor in the structural design. Wind pressure increases with height, so for very tall buildings, the loads associated with wind are larger than dead or live loads. Other vertical and horizontal loading factors come from varied, unpredictable sources, such as earthquakes. By 1895, steel had replaced cast iron as skyscrapers' structural material. Its malleability allowed it to be formed into
11220-435: The most complex encountered given the balances required between economics , engineering , and construction management. One common feature of skyscrapers is a steel framework from which curtain walls are suspended, rather than load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Most skyscrapers have a steel frame that enables them to be built taller than typical load-bearing walls of reinforced concrete. Skyscrapers usually have
11352-517: The new developers of the building. DTH paid $ 82.4 million for Hakim's ownership stake and $ 70.3 million for Witkoff's stake. The project received two mezzanine loans of a combined $ 135 million in 2004. Two years later, the joint venture received a $ 256.5 million construction loan from a group of several lenders; this loan was refinanced in 2009. These loans were used to convert some units to apartments. The first apartments were ready for occupancy by early 2008. Metro Loft Management, which oversaw
11484-454: The newly completed 399 Park Avenue in 1961. The same year, 20 Exchange Place's eastern wing was undergoing renovations; in late 1961, some of these materials caught fire, leading 25 people to be trapped in the elevators. First National City Bank was renamed Citibank in 1976, and the bank sold off 20 Exchange Place in 1979, though it retained space there. Both Citibank and the Canadian Bank of Commerce moved out of 20 Exchange Place in 1989. Although
11616-800: The official CTBUH high-rise buildings database until the launch of The Skyscraper Center in 2011. In 2007 venture capital firm Neuhaus Partners and KfW Bankengruppe invested several million euro in the company. Effective 1 January 2009, the company moved its headquarters from Darmstadt to Frankfurt. In 2011, the company moved from Frankfurt to Hamburg. On 26 October 2020, CoStar Group, Inc. , based in Washington, D.C. , completed its acquisition of Emporis GmbH. CoStar Group added Emporis to its portfolio of brands. The other brands included LoopNet , Apartments.com, Apartment Finder, Belbex, amongst several others. The merger of Emporis GmbH into CoStar Group subsidiary STR, Inc 's German division, STR Germany GmbH,
11748-491: The outer doors are nickel silver panels with allegorical bronze figures, one symbolizing banking and the other symbolizing abundance; both are surrounded by animal and floral figures. There are glass panes above the doors and panels; they are separated by mullions ornamented with industry symbols. A seal of City Bank Farmers Trust and a flagpole are mounted above the entrance. This led to City Bank Farmers Trust's main banking space. A third entrance, at Beaver and William Streets,
11880-402: The past". Observers characterized the building as having a "modern classic" style with minimal Art Deco ornamentation. The precise height of 20 Exchange Place is disputed. The author Daniel M. Abramson gives the largest figure for the building's height, citing 20 Exchange Place as being 760 feet (230 m) tall with 54 stories. According to Emporis , SkyscraperPage , and author Dirk Stichweh,
12012-406: The performance of structures, types of materials, construction practices, absolute minimal use of materials and natural resources, energy within the structure, and a holistically integrated building systems approach. LEED is a current green building standard. Architecturally, with the movements of Postmodernism , New Urbanism and New Classical Architecture , that established since the 1980s,
12144-574: The point where the building touches the ground to determine height. The database had expanded to include low-rise buildings and other structures. It used a point system to rank skylines. Michael Wutzke started a website about skyscrapers in Frankfurt in 1996. In 2000 he started skyscrapers.com, which was folded into Emporis in 2003. In 2005 Emporis formed a partnership with the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), under which Emporis served as
12276-406: The president's office was intended to "combine dignity with warm friendliness". Another half-flight of curved marble stairs, leading down from the rotunda, connected to the branch banking rooms, whose main entrance was at William and Beaver Streets. The lobby from the center of Exchange Place leads to separate elevator banks for the lowest 14 stories, the upper office stories, and the dining rooms on
12408-444: The previous buildings on the site, and the entire city block was irregularly shaped. As a result, the building used cross-lot bracing as well as a heavy steel frame. The building's foundation descends 65 feet (20 m) below the curb and includes four or five basement levels. The two lowest basement floors were dug out of the bedrock, which extended 40 feet (12 m) below the depth of the groundwater. The basement also had to avoid
12540-719: The price of steel decreased and labor costs increased. The steel frames become inefficient and uneconomic for supertall buildings as usable floor space is reduced for progressively larger supporting columns. Since about 1960, tubular designs have been used for high rises. This reduces the usage of material (more efficient in economic terms – Willis Tower uses a third less steel than the Empire State Building) yet allows greater height. It allows fewer interior columns, and so creates more usable floor space. It further enables buildings to take on various shapes. Elevators are characteristic to skyscrapers. In 1852 Elisha Otis introduced
12672-459: The project provided "unemployment relief, a matter of much moment at this writing", when the Great Depression in the United States was just beginning. The stonework was completed in November 1930. Some of the construction workers involved in the project were honored in a January 1931 ceremony. The bank had started moving into its quarters by February 20, 1931, and the building opened for City Bank Farmers Trust workers on February 24. On opening day,
12804-506: The project; the office contained drafting, filing, and sample rooms, and relevant desks and files were clustered for convenience. George J. Maguolo supervised a design team that sculpted clay models for the proposed skyscraper. In October 1929, City Bank Farmers Trust filed tentative plans for a structure of either 846.4 or 925 feet (258.0 or 281.9 m), with 75 stories and a budget of $ 9.5 million. This building would have consisted of an 80-by-80-foot (24 by 24 m) tower rising above
12936-474: The safety elevator at the E. V. Haughwout Building in New York City, allowing convenient and safe transport to buildings' upper floors. Otis later introduced the first commercial passenger elevators to the Equitable Life Building in 1870, considered by some architectural historians to be the first skyscraper. Another crucial development was the use of a steel frame instead of stone or brick, otherwise
13068-643: The safety elevator, allowing convenient and safe passenger movement to upper floors. Another crucial development was the use of a steel frame instead of stone or brick, otherwise the walls on the lower floors on a tall building would be too thick to be practical. Today major manufacturers of elevators include Otis , ThyssenKrupp , Schindler , and KONE . Advances in construction techniques have allowed skyscrapers to narrow in width, while increasing in height. Some of these new techniques include mass dampers to reduce vibrations and swaying, and gaps to allow air to pass through, reducing wind shear. Good structural design
13200-465: The site of 20 Exchange Place had become associated with the banking industry as well, with institutions such as the Canadian Bank of Commerce occupying the buildings on the block. In 1908, National City Bank moved its headquarters to 55 Wall Street, directly north of what would become 20 Exchange Place. The Farmers Loan and Trust Company, meanwhile, occupied one of the buildings on 20 Exchange Place's site. In February 1929, Cross & Cross filed plans for
13332-465: The south, and William Street to the west. The surrounding street grid, built as part of the colony of New Amsterdam , remains mostly as documented in the 17th-century Castello Plan . As such, the block is irregular in shape. Nearby buildings include 55 Wall Street to the north; the Wall and Hanover Building to the northeast; the 1 Wall Street Court to the east; 56 Beaver Street and 1 William Street to
13464-609: The southwest; and 15 William and the Broad Exchange Building to the west. The first recorded structure on the site was the house of Dutch ship's carpenter Tymen Jansen, built in the 17th century. By the 1890s, the block was occupied by larger buildings. Just prior to 20 Exchange Place's construction, the block contained four structures: two 10-story buildings on William Street, one 9-story building on Hanover Street, and one 15-story building extending between Beaver Street and Exchange Place. The City Bank–Farmers Trust Building
13596-454: The space on the first through 12th floors, as well as the basement stories. The Canadian Bank of Commerce also took some space on the Hanover Street side of the ground level. Other tenants took space in the upper floors, including law firms, which comprised a majority of the building's outside tenants. The building also contained offices for financial firms such as Lehman Brothers , BNY Mellon , and First Boston . City Bank Farmers Trust remained
13728-455: The spaces at the top. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission quotes New York City Department of Buildings records as saying that the building is only 685 feet 7.125 inches (209 m) tall. The base of the building fills the entire block and is shaped as a keystone . There are three setbacks between the base and tower portions of 20 Exchange Place, including at the 19th and 21st floors. The tower portion, rising above
13860-520: The time of the building's completion, the Times characterized 20 Exchange Place as "magnificent", and other unnamed critics had called it "one of the handsomest buildings" in New York City. In a book published in 1932, W. Parker Chase wrote, "Everything in connection with this monumental building expresses beauty, completeness and grandeur." According to the Real Estate Record and Guide , 20 Exchange Place
13992-438: The title for six years. The design and construction of skyscrapers involves creating safe, habitable spaces in very tall buildings. The buildings must support their weight, resist wind and earthquakes, and protect occupants from fire. Yet they must also be conveniently accessible, even on the upper floors, and provide utilities and a comfortable climate for the occupants. The problems posed in skyscraper design are considered among
14124-426: The top center. There are smaller square-headed windows at the extreme ends of all of the building's elevations, including the Hanover Street side. On William Street, the only side that does not have a direct entrance, there are five large window openings. The Beaver Street elevation has seven large windows: three to the west of the entrance and four to the east. The Exchange Place elevation has three large windows east of
14256-528: The top right. Two vertical illuminated signs, one on either side of the arch, contain the word "Twenty". Within this arch, there are steps leading to doors underneath a large grouping of windows, while a lamp hangs from a soffit at the top of the arch's ceiling. Another entrance faces the corner of Exchange Place and William Street. It has four doors made of silver and an alloy of bronze, zinc, and copper, and are trimmed with bronze. The doors each contain three panels showing different modes of transportation. Above
14388-637: The tower are chamfered, with one window on each floor. At the 29th, 39th, 48th, and 55th stories, there are ashlar bands between each floor, instead of aluminum spandrels. The 55th through 57th stories contain three tall arches on each side. The arches are underneath the two-tiered "crown", which has communications equipment. The crown is similar in design to that of the General Electric Building , also designed by Cross and Cross, at 570 Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan . The underlying ground contained quicksand and water, as well as foundations from
14520-687: The tube frame must be interrupted, with transfer girders used to maintain structural integrity. Tube structures cut down costs, at the same time allowing buildings to reach greater heights. Concrete tube-frame construction was first used in the DeWitt-Chestnut Apartment Building , completed in Chicago in 1963, and soon after in the John Hancock Center and World Trade Center . The tubular systems are fundamental to tall building design. Most buildings over 40 stories constructed since
14652-474: The tube structure was the Chestnut De-Witt apartment building, considered to be a major development in modern architecture. These new designs opened an economic door for contractors, engineers, architects, and investors, providing vast amounts of real estate space on minimal plots of land. Over the next fifteen years, many towers were built by Fazlur Rahman Khan and the " Second Chicago School ", including
14784-472: The upper rented to the lower classes. Surviving Oxyrhynchus Papyri indicate that seven-stories buildings existed in provincial towns such as in 3rd century AD Hermopolis in Roman Egypt . The skylines of many important medieval cities had large numbers of high-rise urban towers, built by the wealthy for defense and status. The residential Towers of 12th century Bologna numbered between 80 and 100 at
14916-460: The walls on the lower floors on a tall building would be too thick to be practical. An early development in this area was Oriel Chambers in Liverpool , England, built in 1864. It was only five floors high. The Royal Academy of Arts states, "critics at the time were horrified by its 'large agglomerations of protruding plate glass bubbles'. In fact, it was a precursor to Modernist architecture, being
15048-604: The weight of the building. This development led to the "Chicago skeleton" form of construction. In addition to the steel frame, the Home Insurance Building also utilized fireproofing, elevators, and electrical wiring, key elements in most skyscrapers today. Burnham and Root 's 45 m (148 ft) Rand McNally Building in Chicago, 1889, was the first all-steel framed skyscraper, while Louis Sullivan 's 41 m (135 ft) Wainwright Building in St. Louis, Missouri, 1891,
15180-814: The world have more than 100 skyscrapers that are 150 m (492 ft) or taller: Hong Kong with 552 skyscrapers; Shenzhen , China with 373 skyscrapers; New York City , US with 314 skyscrapers; Dubai , UAE with 252 skyscrapers; Guangzhou , China with 188 skyscrapers; Shanghai , China with 183 skyscrapers; Tokyo , Japan with 168 skyscrapers; Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia with 156 skyscrapers; Wuhan , China with 149 skyscrapers; Chongqing , China, with 144 skyscrapers; Chicago , US, with 137 skyscrapers; Chengdu , China with 117 skyscrapers; Jakarta , Indonesia , with 112 skyscrapers; Bangkok , Thailand , with 111 skyscrapers, and Mumbai , India with 102. As of 2024, there are over 7 thousand skyscrapers over 150 m (492 ft) in height worldwide. The term "skyscraper"
15312-648: The world's tallest building for forty years. The first completed 417 m (1,368 ft) tall World Trade Center tower became the world's tallest building in 1972. However, it was overtaken by the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower ) in Chicago within two years. The 442 m (1,450 ft) tall Sears Tower stood as the world's tallest building for 24 years, from 1974 until 1998, until it was edged out by 452 m (1,483 ft) Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, which held
15444-432: The world's tallest building, New York took the lead by 1895 with the completion of the 103 m (338 ft) tall American Surety Building , leaving New York with the title of the world's tallest building for many years. Modern skyscrapers are built with steel or reinforced concrete frameworks and curtain walls of glass or polished stone . They use mechanical equipment such as water pumps and elevators . Since
15576-470: The world, although only partially iron framed, is The Flaxmill in Shrewsbury , England. Built in 1797, it is seen as the "grandfather of skyscrapers", since its fireproof combination of cast iron columns and cast iron beams developed into the modern steel frame that made modern skyscrapers possible. In 2013 funding was confirmed to convert the derelict building into offices. In 1857, Elisha Otis introduced
15708-650: The years immediately following World War II. Early examples include Edificio España (Spain) and Torre Breda (Italy). From the 1930s onward, skyscrapers began to appear in various cities in East and Southeast Asia as well as in Latin America . Finally, they also began to be constructed in cities in Africa , the Middle East , South Asia , and Oceania from the late 1950s. Skyscraper projects after World War II typically rejected
15840-412: Was one of the city's tallest buildings and the world's tallest stone-clad building at the time of its completion. While 20 Exchange Place was intended to be the world's tallest building at the time of its construction, the Great Depression resulted in the current scaled-back plan. The building has a granite and limestone facade, while its internal superstructure is made of steel. The lower section of
15972-548: Was "conservative modern in style and classic proportions". In 2014, Christopher Gray of the Times said that "from a distance it appears a straightforward limestone skyscraper. But up close, it is rich with silver nickel moderne-style metalwork, and the interiors are a perplexing mix of staid banker and Art Deco classicism." By contrast, architecture critic Robert A. M. Stern wrote in his 1987 book New York 1930 that 20 Exchange Place's proximity to other skyscrapers including 70 Pine Street , 1 Wall Street , 40 Wall Street , and
16104-520: Was described as the world's largest pneumatic-tube system to be used in a banking facility. The two buildings comprising National City Bank's global headquarters, 20 Exchange Place and 55 Wall Street, were connected by a pedestrian bridge over Exchange Place, located at the ninth floor. The bridge, which no longer exists, was 109 feet (33 m) above the ground. The building was intended to accommodate 5,000 bank employees as well as 2,000 other office employees. As with other early-20th-century skyscrapers in
16236-525: Was designed by Cross & Cross and constructed by the George A. Fuller Company. George Maguolo was the chief designer of the building, while Moran & Proctor as the engineers for the foundation and tower. Cross & Cross described the building as having no particular architectural style, although the firm said its client, the City Bank-Farmers Trust Company , "will always want a tie with
16368-557: Was finalized on 27 January 2021, with Emporis GmbH's removal from the Common Register Portal of the German Federal States ( German : gemeinsame Registerportal der Länder ) On 14 September 2022, the entirety of the Emporis website's original content, including the building database, articles and data regarding Emporis Skyscraper Award recipients, and corporate information, was removed. In 2023, former editors of
16500-611: Was first applied to buildings of steel-framed construction of at least 10 stories in the late 19th century, a result of public amazement at the tall buildings being built in major American cities like New York City , Philadelphia , Boston , Chicago , Detroit , and St. Louis . The first steel-frame skyscraper was the Home Insurance Building , originally 10 stories with a height of 42 m or 138 ft, in Chicago in 1885; two additional stories were added. Some point to Philadelphia's 10-story Jayne Building (1849–50) as
16632-462: Was functioning properly. The New York Times reported that DTH had tried to acquire controller boards for the elevators, but the 2021–2022 global supply chain crisis had delayed the delivery of those boards. The elevator issues led some residents to report feeling trapped in the building, while others said they had to climb many flights of stairs to access their apartments. Local politicians met with 20 Exchange Place's residents in March 2022 to address
16764-424: Was in 17th-century Edinburgh , Scotland, where a defensive city wall defined the boundaries of the city. Due to the restricted land area available for development, the houses increased in height instead. Buildings of 11 stories were common, and there are records of buildings as high as 14 stories. Many of the stone-built structures can still be seen today in the old town of Edinburgh. The oldest iron framed building in
16896-413: Was made almost entirely of white Rockwood stone , except the first floor, which is clad with Mohegan granite. Some 180,000 cubic feet (5,100 m) of gray- and blue-tinted stone was quarried from Alabama and brought to New York in pieces weighing up to 49,500 pounds (22,500 kg). The stone weighs 27,000,000 pounds (12,000,000 kg) in total. British sculptor David Evans was hired to design much of
17028-406: Was stored in a basement reservoir and pumped to every bathroom sink. The offices were connected by an extensive system of pneumatic tubes . Wires were concealed within the elevator shaft, beneath the floor surfaces, and within the baseboards of the walls. There were dining rooms and kitchens on the 51st and 52nd floors. The 57th story was designed as an "observation floor", although it is unknown if
17160-454: Was the concept of the "tube" structural system , including the "framed tube", "trussed tube", and "bundled tube". His "tube concept", using all the exterior wall perimeter structure of a building to simulate a thin-walled tube, revolutionized tall building design. These systems allow greater economic efficiency, and also allow skyscrapers to take on various shapes, no longer needing to be rectangular and box-shaped. The first building to employ
17292-596: Was the first steel-framed building with soaring vertical bands to emphasize the height of the building and is therefore considered to be the first early skyscraper. In 1889, the Mole Antonelliana in Italy was 197 m (549 ft) tall. Most early skyscrapers emerged in the land-strapped areas of New York City and Chicago toward the end of the 19th century. A land boom in Melbourne , Australia between 1888 and 1891 spurred
17424-528: Was the fourth-tallest building in the world, behind the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and 40 Wall Street. Construction was officially completed in mid-March 1931, one and a half months ahead of schedule. The same month, National City Bank conveyed a one-fourth interest in the building to the City Bank Farmers Trust Company in March 1931. When the building opened, it had an estimated 6,500 employees. City Bank Farmers Trust occupied almost all of
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