140 Broadway (formerly known as the Marine Midland Building or the HSBC Bank Building) is a 51-story International Style office building on the east side of Broadway between Cedar and Liberty streets in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The building was designed by Gordon Bunshaft, of the firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and consists of a mostly smooth black facade on a trapezoidal plot. It is approximately tall, with approximately . It is known for the distinctive sculpture at its entrance, Isamu Noguchi's Cube.
The developer Erwin S. Wolfson acquired the site in several stages between 1952 and 1961. Initial plans called for a 36-story monolith, but when Wolfson died, the architects modified their plans to a 51-story tower, which occupied only two-fifths of the block and conformed to the 1961 Zoning Resolution. The building was erected between late 1964 and 1967 and was originally known for its main tenant, the Marine Midland Corporation (later part of HSBC). Several early tenants were affiliated with the financial industry, including banking and accounting firms. In 1998, the building was sold to Silverstein Properties, which undertook a major renovation.
The primary tenant of the building since 2002 is Brown Brothers Harriman, filling a vacancy left after HSBC relocated in 2001. The building has been owned by Union Investment since 2004, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a city landmark in 2013. Reviews of the building among architecture critics have been largely positive, with several praising the structure's smooth black facade.
Site
140 Broadway is located on an entire city block bounded to the west by Broadway, to the north by Liberty Street, to the east by Nassau Street, and to the south by Cedar Street. The block is an irregular trapezoid, with all of its frontages being of different lengths. Its footprint is rhomboid, matching the shape of the block. Roger N. Radford, the leader of the team that designed 140 Broadway, stated that many of the tenants he knew were unaware of the building's "funny shape".
Within 140 Broadway's immediate surroundings are One Liberty Plaza to the northwest; the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York and the Liberty Tower to the north; the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building to the northeast; 28 Liberty Street to the east; the Equitable Building to the south; the Trinity and United States Realty Buildings to the southwest; and Zuccotti Park to the west. Trinity Church and Wall Street are located two blocks south. Guaranty Trust also obtained part of the adjacent 132 Broadway to the south. The 7-story Mutual Life Insurance Building, designed by York & Sawyer in a neoclassical style, was constructed on the site in 1912.
The American Exchange National Bank had occupied the site at 128 Broadway (at the corner with Cedar Street) since 1857–1858. The American Exchange National Bank Building, a 16-story early skyscraper, was built there in 1900. The exterior was made of granite and Indiana limestone, while the interior was made of marble. In 1928, the buildings were sold to the Guaranty Trust Company, after the American Exchange Bank's merger with the Irving Trust Company.
At 77–81 Cedar Street was the New York Clearing House Building, the site for which was acquired in 1893. The Clearing House commissioned Robert W. Gibson in 1894 to design an Italian Renaissance structure made of white marble. The building was three stories high, with a domed roof, Corinthian colonnaded lower stories, and statues on the third story of the facade.
The National Bank of Commerce began developing another early skyscraper, this one 18 stories, at 31-33 Nassau Street (at the corner with Cedar Street) in 1896. The structure was designed in the Renaissance Revival style by James B. Baker and was made of granite, brick, and terracotta. Sculptor Karl Bitter carved two large figures above the main entrance, which generated controversy due to their being nude.
Architecture
140 Broadway was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in the International Style, with Gordon Bunshaft as the lead on the project. It was erected by the Diesel Construction Company, co-founded by prolific real-estate developer Erwin S. Wolfson, Roger N. Radford was the design team's leader; Allan Labie was the project manager; Bradley B. Sullivan was the job captain; Thomas Crimmins Construction Company were hired to excavate the site, and U.S. Steel provided the steel.
140 Broadway contains 51 stories and measures either The structure uses a frame weighing .
Inside the building are open plan offices, illuminated by sunlight from the large windows on the facade; some offices have curved walls. There is an amenity space with a pool room, a snack bar, and 100-person meeting room that could be subdivided.
Form and facade
The New York City Department of City Planning passed the 1961 Zoning Resolution in October 1960, and the new zoning rules became effective in December 1961, superseding the 1916 Zoning Resolution. Rather than the inclusion of setbacks that the old zoning laws had encouraged, the new zoning laws allowed skyscrapers to have a bulky massing with additional floor area, in exchange for the inclusion of ground-level open spaces.
Harry Helmsley, who took over the building's development after Wolfson's death,
Initial plans called for a rectangular building with a light-gray, grid-like facade made of concrete or aluminum.