1 William Street

The Bavarian-born brothers Joseph and James Seligman, in conjunction with several other brothers, founded dry-goods businesses across the United States in the 1840s. They opened a New York City clothing store at 5 William Street by 1848.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1996|ps=.|p=2}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KrtEAAAAIAAJ |title=Over the Long Term: The Story of J. & W. Seligman & Co |last1=Muir |first1=R. L. |last2=White |first2=C. J. |publisher=Seligman |year=1964 |access-date=November 4, 2019}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xcaIrpV5gZAC&pg=PA43 |title=Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York |last=Birmingham |first=Stephen |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1996 |location=New York |page=43 |isbn=978-0-8156-0411-2 |orig-year=1967}} With profits from the creation of other branches worldwide, the family received contracts to create Union Army soldiers' uniforms during the American Civil War. After the war ended, the family founded an investment bank called J. & W. Seligman & Co., with headquarters at 59 Exchange Place. The company also developed branches around the world, each headed by one of the brothers, though these branches later became independent.

In March 1905, The New York Times reported that Isaac Seligman bought the lots on the south side of William Street from Stone to South William Streets.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1905/03/22/archives/stormtossed-liners-in-bring-tales-of-heavy-weather-and-many-big.html |title=Mr. Seligman Buys Site |date=March 22, 1905 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 4, 2019 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104144048/https://www.nytimes.com/1905/03/22/archives/stormtossed-liners-in-bring-tales-of-heavy-weather-and-many-big.html |url-status=live}} The five lots purchased by Isaac included the Seligmans' old store, and were two blocks away from Wall Street, where many of New York City's major financial companies and commodities exchanges were located.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1996|ps=.|p=4}} The next year, architectural plans for the building were filed with the New York City Department of Buildings.{{Rp|117}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1906/04/13/archives/in-the-real-estate-field-resale-of-block-front-near-pennsylvania.html |title=In the Real Estate Field |date=April 13, 1906 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 4, 2019 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104144051/https://www.nytimes.com/1906/04/13/archives/in-the-real-estate-field-resale-of-block-front-near-pennsylvania.html |url-status=live}} The New York Herald said, "It is to be of the Italian Renaissance type with facades of {{Sic|granite|expected=limestone|nolink=y}} at the first story and limestone above, with decorative tower."{{Rp|117}} Construction started in May 1906,{{cite magazine |author= |date=July 13, 1907 |title=The Construction of the Seligman Building, New York |url=https://archive.org/details/engineering-record_1907-07-13_56_2/page/52/mode/1up |magazine=The Engineering Record |volume=56 |issue=2 |location=New York |pages=52–53 |via=Internet Archive}} with work on the foundation beginning the next month.{{cite magazine |author= |date=October 6, 1906 |title=Foundation of Seligman Building |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc2.ark:/13960/t16m3nh58&seq=609 |magazine=Real Estate Record and Builders Guide |volume=78 |issue=2012 |location=New York |page=563 |via=HathiTrust}} The building was completed by July 1907 at a cost of $1 million, at which point J. & W. Seligman & Co. moved into the space. Originally, the front entrance was on South William Street.{{Rp|117}}

File:Seligman Building Lots, New York (1905).jpg fire insurance map published in 1905.{{cite book |author= |date=1905 |title=Insurance Maps of the City of New York Borough of Manhattan |volume=1 |location=New York |publisher=Sanborn Map Company |page=2}}]]

1 William Street, like other contemporary tall buildings nearby,{{cite book |last=Doty |first=John W. |editor-last=Blum |editor-first=Max L. |date=1907 |chapter=Foundations for Skyscrapers in New York City |chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433057643698&seq=214&q1=Seligman |title=Municipal Engineers of the City of New York Proceedings for 1906 |location=New York |publisher=Municipal Engineers |pages=140–157 |via=HathiTrust}} rests on concrete piers sunk using pneumatic caissons and cofferdams down to the bedrock (here about {{Convert|43|-|47|ft}} below curb level). The foundations for the walls formed a concrete dam {{Convert|6|ft}} wide and {{Convert|30|-|40|ft}} feet deep, which prevented water from entering the cellar dug out within it. Harper's Weekly reported in 1910 that during excavation of one of the caissons, an iridescent glass carafe or decanter of Dutch design had been found at a depth of {{Convert|45|ft}}.{{cite magazine |last=Deutsch |first=Maurice |date=March 19, 1910 |title=A Lesson in Stones |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015036683103&seq=406 |magazine=Harper's Weekly |volume=54 |issue=2778 |location=New York |pages=11–12 |via=HathiTrust}}

In 1919, when Seligman & Co. relocated to nearby 54 Wall Street, 1 William Street was purchased by marine insurers Wilcox, Peck & Hughes (who were already tenants in the building).{{Rp|121}}{{Cite news |author= |date=January 28, 1919 |title=Seligman's to Sell House on William Street |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-tribune-seligmans-to-sell-hous/160941894/ |access-date=December 15, 2024 |work=New-York Tribune |page=14 |via=newspapers.com}}{{cite news |author= |date=May 18, 1919 |title=Big Firms Buying Homes In Wall Street District |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1919/05/18/archives/big-firms-buying-homes-in-wall-street-district-transactions-of.html |url-access=subscription |department=Section 9 |newspaper=The New York Times |volume=68 |issue=22394 |page=20 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104224307/https://www.nytimes.com/1919/05/18/archives/big-firms-buying-homes-in-wall-street-district-transactions-of.html |archive-date=November 4, 2019 |access-date=November 4, 2019}} The same year, a renovation had split the two-story-high banking room into two regular-sized floors.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1996|ps=.|p=5}} By 1928, two floors of the building were occupied by insurance company Chubb & Son, which since 1892 had owned the adjacent premises at 5–7 South William Street (rebuilt to a design by Carrère and Hastings in 1899–1900).{{cite book |last=Chubb |first=Thomas Caldecot |author-link=Thomas Caldecot Chubb |date=1957 |title=If There Were No Losses: The Story of Chubb & Son from its Founding in 1882 until 1957 |location=New York |publisher=Chubb & Son |pages=17, 41}}

The investment bank Lehman Brothers bought 1 William Street in 1928.{{Cite news |author= |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/04/26/archives/latest-dealings-in-the-real-estate-field-lehman-bros-buy-on-william.html |title=Latest Dealings In The Real Estate Field; Lehman Bros. Buy On William Street |date=April 26, 1928 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 4, 2019 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105002812/https://www.nytimes.com/1928/04/26/archives/latest-dealings-in-the-real-estate-field-lehman-bros-buy-on-william.html |url-status=live}} At the time, they were located diagonally across the intersection of Beaver, William, and South William Streets. The firm had to move to make way for construction of 20 Exchange Place, and chose 1 William Street because it would provide more space. Lehman Brothers performed a $500,000 renovation of the structure, which included the relocation of the front entrance from South William Street to the corner with William and Beaver Street, as well as the replacement of the South William Street entrance with windows. Lehman Brothers moved into their offices at 1 William Street in June 1929.{{Cite news |author= |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/06/10/archives/lehman-bros-to-open-new-offices-today-banking-firm-has-made.html |title=Lehman Bros. To Open New Offices Today; Banking Firm Has Made Extensive Alterations on Its Building in William Street. |date=June 10, 1929 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 4, 2019 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105002811/https://www.nytimes.com/1929/06/10/archives/lehman-bros-to-open-new-offices-today-banking-firm-has-made.html |url-status=live}} Lehman Brothers originally took half the floor area in 1 William Street, but then occupied additional space vacated by tenants with expiring leases, as well as space in two adjacent buildings.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1996|ps=.|p=8}}

By the 1970s, Lehman Brothers was seeing financial losses, and under chairman Peter G. Petersen, the company merged with Kuhn, Loeb & Co. in 1977.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1996|ps=.|p=6}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/29/archives/lehman-and-kuhn-loeb-to-merge-lehman-brothers-and-kuhn-loeb-sign.html |title=Lehman and Kuhn Loeb to Merge |last=Sloane |first=Leonard |date=November 29, 1977 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 4, 2019 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104225815/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/29/archives/lehman-and-kuhn-loeb-to-merge-lehman-brothers-and-kuhn-loeb-sign.html |url-status=live}} The combined company moved out of the building at the end of 1980, putting the structure on sale for $10 million{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/12/20/archives/lehmans-office-move-marks-end-of-an-aura-lehman-leaves-one-william.html |title=Lehman's Office Move Marks End of an Aura; Lehman Leaves One William Street 'The Place Is a Pigsty' High Return on Capital |last=Crittenden |first=Ann |date=December 20, 1980 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 4, 2019 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107051825/https://www.nytimes.com/1980/12/20/archives/lehmans-office-move-marks-end-of-an-aura-lehman-leaves-one-william.html |url-status=live}} and consolidating its operations at another facility on 55 Water Street.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/17/magazine/power-greed-and-glory-on-wall-street-the-fall-of-the-lehman-brothers.html |title=Power, Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the Lehman Brothers |last=Auletta |first=Ken |date=February 17, 1985 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 4, 2019 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624204702/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/17/magazine/power-greed-and-glory-on-wall-street-the-fall-of-the-lehman-brothers.html |url-status=live}} The following year, the building was purchased by Banca Commerciale Italiana, which erected an 11-story addition to the south between 1982 and 1986. Designed by Italian architect Gino Valle, the annex is faced in limestone like the original structure, with the addition of black granite courses.{{cite magazine |last=Jacqz |first=Margot |date=November 1982 |title=Gino Valle's New York Bank |url=https://archive.org/details/usmodernist-skyl-1982-11/page/26/mode/1up |magazine=Skyline |location=New York |page=26 |issn=0162-6981 |via=Internet Archive}}{{cite NY2000 |pages=251–252 }} In 1988, it received an Albert S. Bard Award for Excellence in Architecture and Urban Design from the City Club of New York.{{cite news |author= |date=May 30, 1988 |title=Architecture Awards for Restorations |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/30/arts/architecture-awards-for-restorations.html |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |page=17 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104235512/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/30/arts/architecture-awards-for-restorations.html |archive-date=November 4, 2019 |access-date=November 4, 2019}}

Through a series of mergers in the Italian banking industry,{{cite journal |last=Giani |first=Leonardo |year=2008 |title=Ownership and control of Italian banks: A short inquiry into the roots of the current context |url=https://virtusinterpress.org/OWNERSHIP-AND-CONTROL-OF-ITALIAN.html |format=PDF |journal=Corporate Ownership & Control |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=87-98 |doi=10.22495/cocv6i1p9 |doi-access=free |archive-date=September 15, 2024 |access-date=December 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915180823/https://virtusinterpress.org/OWNERSHIP-AND-CONTROL-OF-ITALIAN.html |url-status=live}} the building has been owned since 2008{{cite web |date=August 26, 2008 |title=Confirmatory Deed |url=https://a836-acris.nyc.gov/DS/DocumentSearch/DocumentImageView?doc_id=2008090201065001 |publisher=Office of the City Register, New York City Department of Finance |id=CRFN: 2008090201065001 |access-date=December 13, 2024}} by Intesa Sanpaolo,{{efn|A list of the property's owners since 1971 can be found via the [https://a836-acris.nyc.gov/DS/DocumentSearch/BBL Office of the City Register], New York City Department of Finance (search for Manhattan block 29 lot 36).}} Italy's largest bank.{{cite web |date=November 7, 2024 |title=Leading banks in Italy as of November 2024, by market capitalization |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/709546/leading-banks-by-market-capitalization-italy-europe/ |website=Statista |location=Hamburg |access-date=December 14, 2024 |archive-date=October 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023031955/https://www.statista.com/statistics/709546/leading-banks-by-market-capitalization-italy-europe/ |url-status=live}}

The building is designed in the Renaissance Revival style, with elements similar to the Baroque Revival style in Britain, such as a curving exterior, sculptural ornament, and towers at the corners.{{cite magazine |author= |date=March 1908 |title=Seligman Building |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d00866459s&seq=247 |magazine=The New York Architect |volume=2 |issue=3 |publisher=The Harwell-Evans Co. |via=HathiTrust}} (See also [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d00866459s&seq=302 plates]). It was not well received by the Architectural Record, in which Montgomery Schuyler described it as "a rather frightful example of the unwisdom of trying to variegate and diversify the accepted type of skyscraper, especially by an architect whose work indicates that his forte lies much rather in conformity than in innovation".{{cite magazine |last=Schuyler |first=Montgomery |author-link=Montgomery Schuyler |date=September 1907 |title=Some Recent Skyscrapers |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_architectural-record_1907-09_22_3/page/174/mode/1up |magazine=The Architectural Record |volume=22 |issue=3#108 |location=New York |pages=161–176 |via=Internet Archive}} However, many considered it to be the most handsome building on Hanover Square.{{cite book |last=Korom |first=Joseph J., Jr |date=2008 |title=The American Skyscraper 1850–1940: A Celebration of Height |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_JVzYO1TyZ6AC/page/286/mode/1up |location=Wellesley, MA |publisher=Branden Books |pages=286–287 |isbn=978-0828321884 |via=Internet Archive}}

The side facades have a granite water table. The windows on the ground floor contain elaborate entablatures on their frames, while those on the second floor are rectangular with ornate metal railings. On the third through eighth stories, the windows are rectangular with lintels containing voussoirs. A colonnade runs along the facade of the ninth and tenth floors, and the eleventh floor contains square windows. There are water towers on the roof and a chimney on the South William Street side.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1996|ps=.|p=7}}

To smooth out the acute angle created by the intersection of William and South William Streets, where the building's main entrance is located, the designers included a curved facade at the lower floors, as well as a concave building corner element above the eighth floor. This element is capped by a corner tower, which is round and resembles a "tempietto". The doorway contains double doors made of glass and metal, as well as iron gates, a short flight of granite steps, a flagpole around the doors, a metal plaque, and decorative iron grilles on the transom and second story. The third through eighth floors on this section are rounded, and above the eighth-floor window is a sculpted cartouche.

The South William Street side contained the original front doorway for the building, which comprised a door underneath an arch with glass screen. The magazine New York Architect characterized the building as being "the most complete private banking institution in the city", with a form and sculptural elements that provide a maximum "breadth and solidity in the treatment of the exterior."

Studio Architetti Valle, along with Fred Liebmann and Jeremy P. Lang Architects, designed an 11-story annex in 1982. The annex, located south of the original building contains black granite and limestone cladding, as well as a turret at the southern corner, which complements the other turret at the entrance of the original building. The annex features double doors facing South William Street, as well as a service entrance at Stone Street.

Upon the building's completion, the basement, ground floor, and mezzanine housed the banking offices, and there was a "richly decorated" board room on the mezzanine, as per the company's requirements. The two-story banking room included a barrel-vaulted ceiling and was split into two floors by 1919. The basement and first two floors were ventilated by a supply and exhaust fan unit.{{cite magazine |author= |date=January 1911 |title=Ventilating and Air Washing Installation in the Seligman Building, New York |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433108246277&seq=73 |magazine=Engineering Review |volume=21 |location=New York |pages=59–61 |via=HathiTrust}} In 1914, improvements were made to the building's lighting which reportedly had a transformative effect on its ambiance.{{cite magazine |author= |date=May 1914 |title=Progress in Lighting |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112078112395&seq=449 |magazine=The Real Estate Magazine |volume=4 |issue=5 |location=New York |page=93 |via=HathiTrust}}

When Lehman Brothers occupied 1 William Street, it maintained a fancy private dining facility for its employees in the building. In 1979 The New York Times deemed 1 William Street's lunchroom as the best corporate lunchroom in the Wall Street area, saying, "Perhaps nowhere on Wall Street is the food as good and Old World dining carried on with the same care and flair."{{Cite news |last=Bogart |first=Jeffrey D. |date=August 5, 1979 |title=The Wall Street Dining Rooms |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/08/05/archives/the-wall-street-dining-rooms-the-wall-street-dining-rooms.html |department=Business and Finance |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 4, 2019 |language=en-US |pages=F1,F4 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104224305/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/08/05/archives/the-wall-street-dining-rooms-the-wall-street-dining-rooms.html |url-status=live}} At the time, chef Pierre Colin prepared 75 meals a day for lunch. Colin said that the dinners were "much more elegant than eating at a midtown restaurant". During dinners, hors d'oeuvres were served on the third floor before guests moved to the eighth-floor Partners' Dining Room, which contained a table made of mahogany wood and silver inlays; Hepplewhite-brand chairs; linen napkins; crystal and china cutlery; oil paintings on the walls; and windows with slight views of the nearby East River. After BCI took over the building, the original decor was kept, but the dining facilities served "only Italian food and wine".{{Cite news |last=Louie |first=Elaine |date=May 3, 1989 |title=Private Domains: Inside Corporate Dining Preserves |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/03/garden/private-domains-inside-corporate-dining-preserves.html |department=The Living Section |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |pages=C1,C6 |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=November 4, 2019 |archive-date=November 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104225817/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/03/garden/private-domains-inside-corporate-dining-preserves.html |url-status=live}}

{{Portal bar|Architecture|Banks|New York City}}

• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan below 14th Street

Notes

{{notelist}}

Citations

{{reflist}}

Sources

• {{cite report |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1943.pdf |title=J. & W. Seligman & Company Building |last=Shockley |first=Jay |date=February 13, 1996 |publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission |ref={{harvid|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1996}}}}

• {{commons category-inline}}

{{New York City Historic Sites}}

{{Financial District, Manhattan|state=collapsed}}

Category:1907 establishments in New York City

Category:1900s architecture in the United States

Category:Financial District, Manhattan

Category:Lehman Brothers

Category:New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan

Category:Office buildings completed in 1907

Category:Office buildings in Manhattan

Category:Historic district contributing properties in Manhattan