40 Wall Street#1946 plane crash

40 Wall Street is in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. It occupies the middle of the block bounded by Pine Street to the north, William Street to the east, Wall Street to the south, and Nassau Street to the west. The site is L-shaped, with a longer facade on Pine Street than on Wall Street.{{Cite web |url=http://maps.nyc.gov/ |title=NYCityMap |website=NYC.gov |publisher=New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications |access-date=March 20, 2020 |archive-date=May 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150524114059/http://maps.nyc.gov/ |url-status=live}}{{harvnb|National Park Service|2000|ps=.|p=3}}{{Cite web |title=40 Wall Street, 10005 |url=https://zola.planning.nyc.gov/l/lot/1/43/2#16.58/40.707025/-74.007895 |access-date=September 8, 2020 |publisher=New York City Department of City Planning |archive-date=February 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210219214852/https://zola.planning.nyc.gov/l/lot/1/43/2#16.58/40.707025/-74.007895 |url-status=live}} The lot measures {{Convert|209|ft|}} on Pine Street and {{cvt|150|ft|}} on Wall Street.{{harvnb|National Park Service|2000|ps=.|p=8}} Originally, the site measured {{cvt|194|ft}} on Pine Street and 150 feet on Wall Street.{{harvnb|Bankers' Magazine|1929|ps=.|p=2}} The lot has a total area of {{convert|34360|ft2}}.

40 Wall Street is surrounded by several buildings, including Federal Hall and 30 Wall Street to the west; 44 Wall Street and 48 Wall Street to the east; 55 Wall Street to the southeast; 28 Liberty Street to the north; and 23 Wall Street and 15 Broad Street to the south. The site slopes down southward so that the Pine Street entrance is on the second floor while the Wall Street entrance is on the first floor.{{Harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|page=100}}

Prior to the current building's completion, the site was occupied by numerous smaller office buildings. The southern part of the site was occupied by the eight-story Gallatin Bank Building at 34–36 Wall Street, designed by Cady, Berg & See and completed in 1887; the nine-story Marshall Field Building at 38 Wall Street; the Manhattan Company's original headquarters at 40 Wall Street; and a 13-story building to the east. The northern portion contained a 13-story building at 25 Pine Street, a 12-story building at 27–29 Pine Street, and the 13-story Redmond Building at 31–33 Pine Street.{{harvnb|Bankers' Magazine|1929|ps=.|p=5}}

File:40 Wall Street Manhattan New York City.jpg

The building was designed by lead architect H. Craig Severance, associate architect Yasuo Matsui, and consulting architects Shreve & Lamb.{{Cite aia5|page=18}}{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1995|ps=.|p=4}} Moran & Proctor were consulting engineers for the foundation,{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1995|ps=.|p=5}} the Starrett Corporation was the builder,{{harvnb|National Park Service|2000|ps=.|p=9}}{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=79}} and Purdy and Henderson were the structural engineers. The interior was designed by Morrell Smith with Walker & Gillette.{{harvnb|National Park Service|2000|ps=.|p=10}} Many engineers and contractors were involved in various other aspects of the building's construction.

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has described 40 Wall Street's facade as having "modernized French Gothic" features. The building's massing largely conforms to the Art Deco style, though there are also abstract shapes and elements of classical architecture.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1995|ps=.|p=6}}{{cite book |last=Robins |first=Anthony W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cnC6DgAAQBAJ |title=New York Art Deco: A Guide to Gotham's Jazz Age Architecture |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4384-6396-4 |series=Excelsior Editions |page=20 |oclc=953576510 |access-date=July 2, 2022 |archive-date=July 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701065358/https://books.google.com/books?id=cnC6DgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }} According to art history professor Daniel M. Abramson, the classically-styled details at the base were intended to provide "context and support", while the Gothic-style roof was intended to emphasize the building's height.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=102}} 40 Wall Street is 70 stories tall, with two additional basement stories.{{cite web |title=The Trump Building |work=The Skyscraper Center |publisher=Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat – CTBUH |date=December 16, 2009 |url=http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/wd/619 |access-date=May 19, 2023 |archive-date=May 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522124739/https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/wd/619 |url-status=live }}{{efn|According to the New York City Department of City Planning, the building contains 63 stories.{{cite web |author=Deutsche Mortgage & Asset Receiving Corporation |publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission |title=Free Writing Prospectus Structural and Collateral Term Sheet |date=July 20, 2015 |url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1013454/000153949715001085/n504_x3.htm |access-date=February 4, 2021 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331174355/https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1013454/000153949715001085/n504_x3.htm |url-status=live}}}} The building's pinnacle reaches {{convert|927|ft|m}}, which made it the world's tallest building for one month upon its completion.{{cite web |url=http://ctbuh.org/AboutCTBUH/History/MeasuringTall/tabid/1320/language/en-US/Default.aspx |title=The History of Measuring Tall Buildings |publisher=Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat |access-date=May 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120410072709/http://www.ctbuh.org/AboutCTBUH/History/MeasuringTall/tabid/1320/language/en-US/Default.aspx |archive-date=April 10, 2012}}{{cite book |last=Stichweh |first=Dirk |title=New York Skyscrapers |publisher=Prestel Publishing |year=2016 |isbn=978-3-7913-8226-5 |page=17 |oclc=923852487}}

40 Wall Street, like many other early-20th-century skyscrapers in New York City, is designed as a freestanding tower, rising separately from all adjacent buildings. 40 Wall Street is one of several skyscrapers in the city that have pyramidal roofs, along with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, 14 Wall Street, Woolworth Building, Consolidated Edison Building, and Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse. The building is articulated into three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, shaft, and capital. The floors at the six-story base cover the entire L-shaped lot, while the 7th through 35th stories (making up the middle section) are shaped in a "U", with two wings of different lengths facing west.{{harvnb|National Park Service|2000|ps=.|p=4}} The 7th through 35th stories occupy nearly the entire lot. Above the 35th story, the building rises as a smaller, square tower through the 62nd story.{{harvnb|National Park Service|2000|ps=.|pp=3–4}}

40 Wall Street has several setbacks to conform with New York City's 1916 Zoning Resolution. On the Wall Street side, the central portion of the facade is recessed through the 26th floor, while symmetrical pavilions project slightly on either side, with setbacks above the 17th, 19th, and 21st floors. The entire Wall Street facade has setbacks above the 26th, 33rd, and 35th floors. The Pine Street facade is asymmetrical, with the western pavilion being much longer; this facade has a setback above the 12th, 17th, 19th, 23rd, 26th, 28th, and 29th floors. The projecting pavilions on both sides are connected at the eighth floor by a dormer.

The building's west-facing wings are of different lengths; the northern wing is significantly longer and has cooling systems atop it, but both wings have minor setbacks above the 26th and 33rd floors, and rise only to the 35th floor. The eastern facade does not have any setbacks below the 35th story.

40 Wall Street's exterior curtain wall is composed of two layers of brick; the inner layer provides fireproofing, while the outer layer is the exterior cladding.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=77}} In general, the facade is composed of buff-colored brick, as well as decorative elements made of terracotta and buff brick. The vertical bays, which contain the building's windows, are separated by piers. The piers are flat, a characteristic of the Art Deco style. Spandrel panels, which separate the rows of windows on each floor, are generally recessed behind the piers; the spandrels are generally darker on upper stories. The building's window openings, initially composed of one-over-one sash windows, were later replaced by numerous types of window-pane arrangements or by louvers.

File:40 Wall Str Trump Building IMG 2031.jpg

The first through sixth stories contain a limestone-and-granite facade. On the first story, the podium on the facade's Wall Street elevation is made of granite. The second- to fifth-floor facades on both sides consist of a colonnade with pilasters made of limestone. The colonnades were intended to resemble those found in Greek temples. During the design of the building, Matsui adjusted the colonnades to match the dimensions of the nearby Subtreasury building (now Federal Hall).

On the Wall Street side, the first floor originally had a central entryway with three bronze-and-glass doors, flanked by numerous entrances to the elevator lobby and the lower banking room. Double-height bronze and glass windows spanned the second and third floors, while cast-iron windows were on the fourth through sixth floors.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1995|ps=.|p=8}} Above the central entrance was Elie Nadelman's Oceanus sculpture (also called Aquarius);{{Cite news |date=April 26, 1930 |title=Oceanus Adorns Facade; New Skyscraper for Bank of Manhattan Building Gets Statue |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/04/26/archives/oceanus-adorns-facade-new-skyscraper-for-bank-of-manhattan-building.html |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=March 31, 2021 |page=30}}{{cbignore}} the sculpture was a {{convert|10|ft|m|-long|adj=mid}} bronze depiction of Oceanus, a Greek Titan pictured on a 19th-century stock certificate issued by the Manhattan Company.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=101}} The Oceanus sculpture was removed prior to 1973.{{cite book |last=Kirstein |first=Lincoln |url=https://archive.org/details/elienadelman0000kirs |url-access=registration |title=Elie Nadelman |publisher=Eakins Press |year=1973 |page=[https://archive.org/details/elienadelman0000kirs/page/n233 230] |isbn=978-0-87130-034-8}} Between 1961 and 1963, Carson, Lundin & Shaw added granite cladding and reconfigured the doorways on the first floor, and replaced the second- through sixth-floor windows.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1995|ps=.|pp=7–8}} By 1995, the entrance had been reconfigured with seven bronze rectangular doors and three revolving doors, recessed behind the main facade. Letters reading "The Trump Building" are placed above the first floor, while the fourth floor has a pair of flagpoles.

The Pine Street elevation is arranged similarly to the Wall Street elevation and was likewise redesigned from 1961 to 1963. The Pine Street elevation rises above a low stylobate, in contrast to the Wall Street elevation, which rises above a podium. A {{Convert|6|ft|m|-diameter|adj=mid}} clock was on the Pine Street facade from 1967 to 1993. This portion of the facade consists of either 10 or 11 bays. At ground level, there is an entrance to the main elevator lobby, a service entrance, and storefronts slightly above grade. As with the Wall Street side, the fourth floor features a pair of flagpoles.

The 8th through 35th stories comprise the midsection of the building. There are eight flagpoles on the ninth floor of the Wall Street side, four on each pavilion. On the 19th floor of the Pine Street side, there are louvers in place of window openings. On the 36th through 62nd stories, there are brick spandrels between the windows on each story. The spandrels on the 52nd through 57th floors are made of terracotta; on the 58th through 60th floors, terracotta with buttresses; and on the 61st and 62nd floors, darker bricks with pediments and rhombus patterns.

The building's pyramidal roof is made of lead-coated copper, which over time has oxidized and turned green.{{cite book |last=Nash |first=Eric |title=Manhattan Skyscrapers |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-56898-652-4 |publication-place=New York |pages=59 |oclc=407907000}}{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=78}} The roof has French Renaissance-style detail, a design element intended to make the building appear much older than it actually was at the time of its construction. The decorations on the roof include diaperwork patterns, where the brickwork is laid in a repeating diagonal grid pattern; terraces, which are supported by buttresses; and small dormer windows.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|pp=101–102}} There is a cornice surrounding the roof. On top is a spire with a flagpole and a glass lantern.

The building's frame is made of steel. The superstructure contains eight main columns, each of which weighs {{Convert|22|ST|LT t}} and can carry loads of up to {{Convert|4.6|e6lb|e6kg|abbr=unit}}.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/07/11/archives/gold-rivet-in-building-wa-starrett-and-re-jones-lead-bank-of.html |title=Gold Rivet in Building; W.A. Starrett and R.E. Jones Lead Bank of Manhattan Ceremony. |date=July 11, 1929 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |page=12 |url-access=subscription}}{{cbignore}} As originally arranged, 40 Wall Street hosted the Manhattan Company's banking facilities on the first through sixth floors; offices on its middle floors; and machinery, an observation deck, and recreation areas on the top floors. There were also 43 elevators inside the building when it opened; {{as of|2020|lc=y}}, there are 36 elevators. When 40 Wall Street was completed, it could accommodate 10,000 employees.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=156}}

Like other early-20th-century skyscrapers in the Financial District, the lobby of 40 Wall Street originally was designed with classical elements such as moldings, pilasters, columns, and heavy doorframes.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=142}} The ground story was highly decentralized with seven entrances from Wall Street, leading to various vestibules. The westernmost entrance led to a private foyer with its own elevator, while the easternmost entrance connected with the elevator banks on the eastern side of the building. Two ground-level banking rooms extended northward to Pine Street: one at the center and one on the west.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=138}} There was also space for brokerage-house messengers.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=132}}{{cite news |date=May 26, 1930 |title=Manhattan Co. Returns Today To 40 Wall St: Opens Its Skyscraper Banking Home With Luncheon and Formal Ceremonies |page=31 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1113725425}}}} A wide, marble staircase from the ground level led up to the main banking room on the second floor. The modern design of the lobby dates to a 1990s renovation by Der Scutt. Following Scutt's renovation, the lobby was redecorated with bronze and marble surfaces.{{cite news |last=Trachtenberg |first=Jeffrey A. |date=October 4, 1996 |title=Manhattan's Downtown on the Rebound |page=B10 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|398717719}}}} The lobby also has escalators to the second floor.

The main banking room, a double-height space measuring {{Convert|150|by|185|ft}}, was on the second floor.{{cite news |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49650195/ |title=Manhattan Co. Greets Guests in Skyscraper |date=May 26, 1930 |work=Brooklyn Standard Union |access-date=April 9, 2020 |page=7 |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404225500/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49650195/manhattan-co-greets-guests-in/ |url-status=live}} The room could be accessed from ground level{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=131}} or directly from Pine Street. The Pine Street entrance had a foyer with two pairs of octagonal, black marble Ionic columns, while the Wall Street side of the room was supported by veined octagonal columns. The room itself consists of a main hall below five groin vaults, flanked by arcades that lead into smaller vaulted spaces. In the main hall were desks for tellers. To the north and south were two platforms for the officers of the Manhattan Company's subsidiaries, where officers and customers could meet privately in wood-paneled spaces.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|pp=132–133}} The walls were once decorated with three murals by Ezra Winter, depicting various scenes from the history of the Financial District;{{Cite news |date=August 6, 1930 |title=Maurice Hunter Dominates Murals in New Building of Manhattan Trust Co.: Artists' Model Depicts Characters in New York of Bygone Days—South American Occupies High Place in Odd Calling |page=11 |work=New York Amsterdam News |id={{proQuest|226290176}}}}{{cite magazine |date=July 1, 1930 |title=The First New York Stock Exchange: Mural by Ezra Winter |magazine=Town and Country |volume=85 |issue=4035 |pages=50–51 |id={{ProQuest|2133386901}}}} Winter's murals have since been removed. The second floor was occupied by a Duane Reade convenience store from 2011{{Cite web |last=Slotnik |first=Daniel E. |date=July 5, 2011 |title=At Duane Reade's Newest Outpost, Sushi and Hairstyling |url=https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/at-duane-reades-newest-outpost-sushi-and-hairstyling/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127150758/https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/at-duane-reades-newest-outpost-sushi-and-hairstyling/ |archive-date=January 27, 2020 |access-date=April 30, 2020 |website=City Room }} to 2023.{{cite web | last=Bratton | first=Laura | title=A Glitzy Duane Reade Pharmacy In Trump's Wall Street Tower Closes As Thefts Surge | website=The Messenger | date=September 18, 2023 | url=https://themessenger.com/business/a-glitzy-duane-reade-pharmacy-in-trumps-wall-street-tower-closes-as-thefts-surge | access-date=October 16, 2023 | archive-date=October 11, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231011222447/https://themessenger.com/business/a-glitzy-duane-reade-pharmacy-in-trumps-wall-street-tower-closes-as-thefts-surge | url-status=dead }}

A pair of stairs on the banking room's south wall flanks the escalators and leads up to what was originally the officers' quarters, a rectangular room with five white marble columns. This space had three doorways that led to private offices of Manhattan Company executives; the doorways to those offices were framed by round carvings symbolizing various sectors of the economy.{{harvnb|National Park Service|2000|ps=.|p=5}}

Stairs from the ground level led to the two basement stories, where the Manhattan Company's vaults were located. Under the lobby was a main vault that stored the company's own securities and funds. A safe-deposit vault for members of the public, with an {{convert|85|ST|LT t|adj=on}} door, was below the Manhattan Company's vault.

On the fourth floor was the boardroom of the Manhattan Company, designed in the Georgian style as an imitation of Independence Hall's Signers' Room.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=125}} It contained several elements of the Doric order, such as columns, pilasters, and a frieze. Wooden doors and fireplaces with segmental arches were on the eastern wall, while false windows were on the western wall. The space also included a fireplace, Chippendale furniture, and a blue rug. According to the Manhattan Company's magazine, the boardroom's design "recaptured the artistic spirit of the days of ... [the company's] founding".{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|pp=125–127}}

The offices of the Manhattan Company's officers overlooked the Wall Street entrance.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=123}} The offices were furnished with patterned carpets, soft chairs, and single desks, which were meant to evoke a feeling of luxury. According to Architecture and Building magazine, the executive offices' furnishings were intended as a "pleasingly striking contrast to the modern severity of the usual treatment of financial district structures".{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=124}} The sixth floor housed a trading floor for the International Manhattan Company, Inc. All of the offices on the upper stories were served by a pneumatic tube mail system; according to Matsui, the system was built to accommodate financial tenants "whose functions require rapid transfer of stocks and papers".{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=91}} The pneumatic-tube system delivered mail to and from terminals on the building's mezzanine, precluding the need for messengers to use the elevators or overcrowd the lobby.

The 26th and 27th stories housed the Luncheon Club of Wall Street, a members-only private club,{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=157}} built upon the suggestion of William A. Starrett, the building's general contractor.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=194}} The Luncheon Club occupied a Colonial-style space designed by Matsui and Robert L. Powell, and included an entrance hall and a main dining room covered in wood, as well as private dining rooms with wallpaper. The 55th floor was entirely occupied by the Manhattan Company's officers' club, which included a dining room. The officers' club was designed in a Colonial style with Windsor chairs, a fireplace, and a ceiling with fake wood beams.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=128}} Another members-only dining club, the Rookery Club, was located on the 58th story.{{Cite news |date=August 17, 1930 |title=Sky-High Lunch Clubs |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/08/17/archives/skyhigh-lunch-clubs.html |access-date=January 31, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |page=110}}{{cbignore}} The Bank of Manhattan Building had an observation deck on the 69th and 70th floors, {{Convert|836|ft|m}} above the street; it could fit up to 100 people.{{Cite news |date=June 1, 1930 |title=Tower Rises 836 Feet; Lofty Observation Floor in Bank of Manhattan Building |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/06/01/archives/tower-rises-836-feet-lofty-observation-floor-in-bank-of-manhattan.html |access-date=April 27, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |page=RE1}}{{cbignore}} The observation deck was closed to the public sometime after World War II.

The Manhattan Company was established by Aaron Burr in 1799, ostensibly to provide clean water to Lower Manhattan. The company's true focus was banking, and it served as a competitor to Alexander Hamilton's Bank of New York, which previously held a monopoly over banking in New York City.{{harvnb|National Park Service|2000|ps=.|p=7}}{{Cite news |last=Schulz |first=Bill |date=July 29, 2016 |title=Hamilton, Burr and the Great Waterworks Ruse |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/nyregion/hamilton-burr-and-the-great-waterworks-ruse.html |access-date=April 30, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030192845/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/nyregion/hamilton-burr-and-the-great-waterworks-ruse.html |archive-date=October 30, 2019 |url-status=live}} The Manhattan Company was headquartered at a row house at 40 Wall Street, which was the company's "office of discount and deposit". The bank remained on the site until the present skyscraper was constructed.{{cite news |date=April 26, 1942 |title=Bank of Manhattan Company On Same Ground, Since 1799 |page=C1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1256738766}}}} By the early 20th century, the company was growing quickly, having acquired numerous other banks.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jktOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA265 |title=The Commercial and Financial Chronicle |date=1920 |publisher=National News Service |page=265 |access-date=January 10, 2020 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331173352/https://books.google.com/books?id=jktOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA265 |url-status=live}}

The idea for the current skyscraper was devised by banker George L. Ohrstrom,{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/11/11/archives/g-l-0hrstrom-6i-fihci-dead-industrialist-and-horseman-downed-last-g.html |title=G. L. Ohrstrom, Financier, Dead; Industrialist and Horseman Downed Last German Plane in World War I Combat |date=November 11, 1955 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |page=25}}{{cbignore}}{{cite news |title=Banker at 34 to Build Highest Structure Here |date=April 10, 1929 |page=14 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1111573382}}}}{{harvnb|Levinson|1961|ps=.|p=230}} who began acquiring land for the building in 1928{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1995|ps=.|p=3}} under the auspices of 36 Wall Street Corporation.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1995|ps=.|p=9}} Stakeholders in the corporation included Ohrstrom and the builders, Starrett Brothers (later Starrett Corporation).{{cite web |url=http://old.skyscraper.org/TALLEST_TOWERS/t_manco.htm |title=Manhattan Company |publisher=The Skyscraper Museum |access-date=April 26, 2020 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331172744/https://old.skyscraper.org/TALLEST_TOWERS/t_manco.htm |url-status=live}} In September 1928, 36 Wall Street Corporation acquired 34–36 Wall Street under a 93-year lease from the Iselin family. At the time, the syndicate hoped to build a 20-story building.{{cite news |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49617527/ |title=Among the Millions |date=September 8, 1928 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |access-date=April 26, 2020 |page=74 |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404225441/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49617527/among-the-millions/ |url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/49617798/ |title=Wall St. Building in Long Leasehold to Cost $2,000,000 |date=September 9, 1928 |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |access-date=April 24, 2020 |page=25 |via=Brooklyn Public Library; newspapers.com |archive-date=August 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803144120/https://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/49617798/wall-st-building-in-long-leasehold-to/ |url-status=live}} By that December, Ohrstrom had purchased four buildings, with frontage along 27–33 Pine Street and 34–38 Wall Street, and controlled a total area of {{Convert|17,000|ft2|}}.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/12/06/archives/odonnell-resells-seventh-avcorner-operator-disposes-of-the-hotel.html |title=O'donnell Resells Seventh Av. Corner; Operator Disposes of the Hotel Grenoble at Fifty-Sixth Street |date=December 6, 1928 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |page=61}}{{cbignore}}{{cite news |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49617217/ |title=45-Story Building for Wall Street |date=December 16, 1928 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |access-date=April 26, 2020 |page=45}} The plans had been updated, and the syndicate at that point envisioned a 45-story building. In January 1929, the corporation planned a bond issue to fund the building's construction.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/01/14/archives/12500000-sought-for-new-skyscraper-forty-wall-street-corporation.html |title=$12,500,000 Sought for New Skyscraper; Forty Wall Street Corporation Plans Bond Issue for 70-Story Building. |date=January 14, 1930 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |page=B45}}{{cbignore}} That March, Ohrstrom announced that H. Craig Severance would design a 47-story structure at 36 Wall Street.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/03/02/archives/47story-building-to-rise-in-wall-st-plans-filed-for-structure-to-be.html |title=47-Story Building to Rise in Wall St.; Plans Filed for Structure to Be Erected Next to Sub-Treasury At Cost of $3,300,000. |date=March 2, 1929 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |page=9}}{{cbignore}} The corporation bought 25 Pine Street the same month.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/03/07/archives/25-pine-street-is-sold-ohrstrom-syndicate-adds-to-site-for.html |title=25 Pine Street Is Sold; Ohrstrom Syndicate Adds to Site for Skyscraper. Herald Tribune Plant Plans Filed Aero Underwriters Lease Space. |date=March 7, 1929 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |page=19}}{{cbignore}}

Shortly after Severance's original plans were announced, the skyscraper was modified to have 60 floors, which was shorter than the {{convert|792|ft|m|adj=on}} Woolworth Building and the then under construction {{convert|808|ft|m|adj=on}} Chrysler Building.{{cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/15/realestate/streetscapes-40-wall-street-a-race-for-the-skies-lost-by-a-spire.html |title=Streetscapes: 40 Wall Street; A Race for the Skies, Lost by a Spire |date=November 15, 1992 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 3, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107033354/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/15/realestate/streetscapes-40-wall-street-a-race-for-the-skies-lost-by-a-spire.html |archive-date=November 7, 2017 |url-status=live}} Plans for a 64-story skyscraper were announced after the Manhattan Company agreed to relocate to the new building in early April 1929.{{cite news |date=April 7, 1929 |title=64-Story Bank Building to Rise In Wall Street: $25,000,000 Bank of Manhattan Co. Structure Will Be Erected by Syndicate |page=1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1111990067}}}}{{Cite news |date=April 7, 1929 |title=Building in Wall St. To Rise 64 Stories; Manhattan Company Bank Leases Site at Sub-Treasury To Starrett Bros. For 88 Years. |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/04/07/archives/building-in-wall-st-to-rise-64-stories-manhattan-company-bank.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |page=24}}{{cbignore}} By April 8, Ohrstrom and Severance had planned to make the new skyscraper the world's tallest building.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/04/08/archives/revising-skyscraper-plan-wall-street-building-may-go-up-sixtyfour.html |title=Revising Skyscraper Plan; Wall Street Building May Go Up Sixty-Four Stories. |date=April 8, 1929 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |page=47}}{{cbignore}} Two days later, it was announced that Severance had increased the tower's height to {{convert|840|ft|m}} with 62 floors, exceeding the heights of the Woolworth and Chrysler buildings.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/04/10/archives/wall-st-building-to-top-all-in-world-840foot-bank-of-manhattan.html |title=Wall St. Building to Top All in World; 840-Foot Bank of Manhattan Structure to Rise 48 Feet Above Woolworth Tower |date=April 10, 1929 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |page=21}}{{cbignore}}{{cite news |url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/49623761/ |title=Ohrstrom Plans Tallest Building |date=April 10, 1929 |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |access-date=April 26, 2020 |page=23 |via=Brooklyn Public Library; newspapers.com |archive-date=August 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803144121/https://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/49623761/ohrstrom-plans-tallest-building/ |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=April 10, 1929 |title=Plan Tallest Skyscraper |page=19 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|130677365}}}} It was also announced that the Manhattan Company would be 36 Wall Street's main tenant and that the new building would be known as the Bank of Manhattan Building or the Manhattan Company Building. The height of the building was made possible by the {{Convert|33600|ft2|m2|adj=on}} lot, which was one of the largest in the densely-developed Financial District.{{harvnb|Bankers' Magazine|1929|ps=.|p=3}}

The builders intended to spend large sums to reduce the construction period to one year, which would allow rental tenants to move into the building sooner. By mid-April 1929, tenants of the existing buildings on the lot had moved elsewhere.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/04/25/archives/building-record-claimed-starrett-brothers-also-see-occupancy-record.html |title=Building Record Claimed; Starrett Brothers Also See Occupancy Record in 40 Wall Street. |date=April 25, 1930 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331172639/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/04/25/archives/building-record-claimed-starrett-brothers-also-see-occupancy-record.html |url-status=live}} The Manhattan Company and Chrysler buildings started competing for the distinction of "world's tallest building".{{cite web |title=The Trump Building |website=Emporis |url=http://www.emporis.com/building/the-trump-building-new-york-city-ny-usa |access-date=April 26, 2020 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224222332/http://www.emporis.com/building/the-trump-building-new-york-city-ny-usa |archive-date=February 24, 2012}}{{cite web |url=http://www.skyscraper.org/TALLEST_TOWERS/t_manco.htm |title=The Manhattan Company |publisher=Skyscraper Museum |access-date=September 27, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150515170003/http://skyscraper.org/TALLEST_TOWERS/t_manco.htm |archive-date=May 15, 2015}} The "Race into the Sky", as popular media called it at the time, was representative of the country's optimism in the 1920s, fueled by the building boom in major cities.{{cite book |last=Rasenberger |first=Jim |title=High Steel: The Daring Men Who Built the World's Greatest Skyline, 1881 to the Present |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-06-174675-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XDSxwPx-yJ4C |pages=388–389 |access-date=December 28, 2017 |archive-date=July 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729123328/https://books.google.com/books?id=XDSxwPx-yJ4C |url-status=live}} The Manhattan Company Building was revised to {{convert|927|ft|m}} in April 1929, which would make it the world's tallest.{{harvnb|Tauranac|2014|p=130|ps=.}} Severance then publicly claimed the title of the world's tallest building,{{efn|This distinction excludes structures that were not fully habitable, such as the Eiffel Tower.}} but the Starrett Corporation denied any allegations that the plans had been changed to beat the Chrysler Building.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/10/20/archives/denies-altering-plans-for-tallest-building-starrett-says-height-of.html |title=Denies Altering Plans for Tallest Building; Starrett Says Height of Bank of Manhattan Structure Was Not Increased to Beat Chrysler. |date=October 20, 1929 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |page=14 |url-access=subscription}}{{Cbignore}}

File:40 Wall Street 003.JPG

Construction of the Manhattan Company Building began in May 1929.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/05/12/archives/razing-buildings-on-wall-street-ten-tall-office-structures-are.html |title=Razing Buildings on Wall Street; Ten Tall Office Structures Are Being Torn Down for Two High Banking Edifices |date=May 12, 1929 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 27, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |page=RE1 |url-access=subscription}}{{Cbignore}}{{cite news |date=April 27, 1930 |title=Builders Beat Schedule By Week on Building: Promised Bank of Manhattan Structure by May 1 |page=E1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1113280949}}}} By that time, the syndicate developing the building was known as the 40 Wall Street Corporation, and the building was also known as 40 Wall Street. That same month, the Manhattan Company leased its lots at 40–42 Wall Street and 35–39 Pine Street to the 40 Wall Street Corporation for 93 years. Ownership would be divided among the Manhattan Company, the Iselin family, and the 40 Wall Street Corporation, with the Manhattan Company holding a plurality stake.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/05/12/archives/skyscraper-cost-set-at-low-of-9000000-minimum-figure-placed-in.html |title=Skyscraper Cost Set at Low of $9,000,000; Minimum Figure Placed in Lease of Bank of Manhattan Site in Wall Street. |date=May 12, 1929 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |page=S21 |url-access=subscription}}{{Cbignore}} Simultaneously, the U.S. government invited bids on the adjoining building at 28–30 Wall Street, then occupied by a federal assay office. In June 1929, the government announced that the 40 Wall Street Corporation had placed the highest bid for the lot, bringing the syndicate's total land holding to {{Convert|40,000|ft2|}}.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/06/26/archives/8501000-is-top-bid-for-assay-office-ohrstrom-interests-make-the.html |title=$8,501,000 Is Top Bid for Assay Office; Ohrstrom Interests Make the Highest Offer to Government for Wall Street Landmark |date=June 26, 1929 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |page=R49 |url-access=subscription}}{{Cbignore}}{{cite news |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49624341/ |title=Syndicate Bids U.S. Property in Wall Street |date=June 26, 1929 |work=Brooklyn Citizen |access-date=April 26, 2020 |page=5 |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404225437/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49624341/syndicate-bids-us-property-in-wall/ |url-status=live}}{{cite news |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49643965/ |title=Gets Assay Office Site |date=June 26, 1929 |work=Brooklyn Times-Union |access-date=April 24, 2020 |page=53}} The assay office plot was reserved for future expansion, instead of being incorporated into the plans for the new skyscraper.{{cite news |url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/49643812/ |title=The Historic Assay Office Plot |date=July 23, 1929 |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |access-date=April 26, 2020 |page=18 |via=Brooklyn Public Library; newspapers.com |archive-date=August 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803144126/https://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/49643812/the-historic-assay-office-plot/ |url-status=live}} The Manhattan Company moved to a temporary headquarters during construction.

Excavations for 40 Wall Street were complicated by numerous factors. There was little available space to store materials; the surrounding lots were all densely built up; the bedrock was {{Convert|64|ft|}} below street level, beneath boulders and quicksand; and the previous buildings on the lot had foundations up to {{Convert|5|ft|}} thick.{{harvnb|Fortune|1930|pp=33–35|ps=.}} Furthermore, the builders had a 12-month deadline, requiring them to plan the entire project backward from the planned completion date.{{cite news |date=January 25, 1931 |title=Building Speed Decided By Date of Occupancy |page=E20 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1331261208}}}} Starrett Brothers had drawn up a detailed construction schedule for 40 Wall Street, outlining the timeline for each major construction contract. The schedule indicated that structural-steel installation would commence in June 1929 and that all work was to be completed by May 1, 1930. The project employed 24 timekeepers and auditors, who checked employees' attendance, as well as seven job runners, who delivered architectural drawings and ensured that materials were delivered.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=80}}

To save money and time, the foundation of 40 Wall Street was constructed at the same time that buildings on the site were being cleared.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=75}} The old Manhattan Company building was the last to be cleared. Caisson construction could not be used to excavate the site since the existing foundation consisted of heavy masonry blocks. To ensure that the foundation could adequately support the structure, temporary lighter footings were installed during the demolition of the old buildings and construction of the first 20 stories, and permanent heavy footings were installed afterward.{{cite magazine |date=July 1930 |title=The Manhattan Company Building, New York City |journal=Architecture and Building |volume=62 |pages=193}} Workers excavated the site to the underlying layer of bedrock, which extended as much as {{convert|60|ft}} deep. They then installed several dozen hollow cylinders, each measuring {{convert|1|ft}} wide. In addition, workers installed several hundred steel pilings, which were clustered into piers, infilled with concrete, and topped by steel caps that could accommodate structural loads of up to {{convert|950|ST|LT t}}. The weight of the existing 12-story building on the site was used to drill the new building's foundations into the ground. Afterward, a concrete floor was poured into the excavation, which was then enclosed with a concrete cofferdam.

In July 1929, the builders held a ceremony where William A. Starrett, head of the Starrett Corporation, drove the first rivet into the building's frame. Starrett received a $5 million loan that same month to finance the building.{{cite news |date=July 16, 1929 |title=Col. William Starrett Gets $5,000,000 On His Wall St. Realty: Equitable Trust Gives Loan to Secure Bond Issue on Big Structural Project |page=41 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|1111653165}}}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/07/16/archives/review-of-the-day-in-realty-market-few-sales-reported-as-important.html |title=Review of the Day in Realty Market; Few Sales Reported as Important Leasehold and Mortgage Deals Are Announced |date=July 16, 1929 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |page=50 |url-access=subscription}}{{Cbignore}} Work on 40 Wall Street progressed quickly, and the contractors completed four stories each week.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=74}} The site was active 24 hours a day, with 2,300 workers working in three shifts; interior furnishing progressed as the steel frame rose. Workers used passenger elevators to transport materials, obviating the need for temporary construction cranes. Matsui described the steel frame as a "web system of rigidity", with joints and diagonal beams providing both lateral bracing and wind bracing.{{harvnb|Abramson|2001|ps=.|p=76}} The steel frame for 40 Wall Street was manufactured in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; transported to Jersey City, New Jersey, using 800 railcars; shipped across the Hudson River via barge; and transported from the dock to the construction site via truck. Derricks then lifted the steel beams into place, where groups of four workers riveted them onto the frame. As the tower rose, the derricks were themselves lifted two stories at a time.

Workers then installed the tower's facade by hanging pieces of curtain wall from the completed steel frame. Interior work proceeded simultaneously with the facade installation. The steel superstructure reached the 40th story by September 1929, when interior plasterwork began.{{cite news |date=September 15, 1929 |title=World's Highest Office Building Being Rushed Up in Record Time: Bank of Manhattan Building, 838-Foot Structure, Is Framed to 40th Floor |page=E2 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1112009724}}}} The building topped out on November 13, 1929.{{cite news |date=November 13, 1929 |title=Half -Ton Block Crashes From 70-Story Bank: Wall Street Crowd, Sensing Explosion, Gathers at Manhattan Co. Building |page=3 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1110671547}}}} By that time, the steel frame had reached {{Convert|900|ft|}} above street level, the facade had been completed to the 54th story, and much of the internal furnishing had been completed.{{cite news |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49644185/ |title=Steel Construction Completed on Bank of Manhattan Building |date=November 13, 1929 |work=Brooklyn Citizen |access-date=April 26, 2020 |page=7 |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404225503/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49644185/steel-construction-completed-on-bank-of/ |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/11/17/archives/bank-building-speeded-observation-tower-at-40-wall-st-to-be-845.html |title=Bank Building Speeded; Observation Tower at 40 Wall St. To Be 845 Feet Up. |date=November 17, 1929 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 27, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |page=R1 |url-access=subscription}}{{Cbignore}} By December, rental agents Brown, Wheelock, Harris, Vought & Company were leasing out the space at the Chrysler and Manhattan Company buildings, which aggregated {{Convert|2|e6ft2|m2|abbr=unit}}.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/12/29/archives/renting-keeps-pace-with-building-record-brokers-contract-to-find.html |title=Renting Keeps Pace With Building Record; Brokers Contract to Find Tenants for 2,000,000 Square Feet in Two Skyscrapers. |date=December 29, 1929 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 27, 2020 |page=RE2 |url-access=subscription}}{{Cbignore}}

The 40 Wall Street Corporation gave a $12.5 million mortgage for the building's completion in December 1929,{{cite news |date=December 11, 1929 |title=$12,500,000 Mortgage On Wall St. Skyscraper: Bank of Manhattan Building Now Being Erected on Plot |page=49 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1112010545}}}} and the corporation planned a bond issue of an equivalent value by January 1930.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/01/14/archives/12500000-sought-for-new-skyscraper-forty-wall-street-corporation.html |title=$12,500,000 Sought for New Skyscraper; Forty Wall Street Corporation Plans Bond Issue for 70Story Building. |date=January 14, 1930 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 27, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331172712/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/01/14/archives/12500000-sought-for-new-skyscraper-forty-wall-street-corporation.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=January 14, 1930 |title=Will Offer Bond Issue On Manhattan Building: 40 Wall Street Corporation to Sell $12,500,000 |page=33 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1113619567}}}} The building's roof was covered with scaffolding by March 1930, although Manhattan Company officials denied that they were trying to increase the building's height.{{cite news |date=March 14, 1930 |title=Bank of Manhattan Tower Not Being Lifted |page=41 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1113157544}}}} The work was completed one week ahead of schedule, on May 1, 1930.{{cite book |last=Hoster |first=Jay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MA0vBQAAQBAJ |title=Early Wall Street 1830–1940 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4671-2263-4 |location=Charleston |pages=127 |access-date=June 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210219214908/https://books.google.com/books?id=MA0vBQAAQBAJ |archive-date=February 19, 2021 |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |date=May 6, 1930 |title=Bank of Manhattan Built in Record Time; Structure 927 Feet High, Second Tallest in World, Is Erected in Year of Work. |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/05/06/archives/bank-of-manhattan-built-in-record-time-structure-927-feet-high.html |url-status=live |access-date=April 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331172628/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/05/06/archives/bank-of-manhattan-built-in-record-time-structure-927-feet-high.html |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}} Several workers received craftsmanship awards in a ceremony at the end of April 1930.{{Cite news |date=April 27, 1930 |title=Awards at 40 Wall Street; Nineteen Mechanics on Skyscraper Will Be Honored Tomorrow. |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/04/27/archives/awards-at-40-wall-street-nineteen-mechanics-on-skyscraper-will-be.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227005208/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/04/27/archives/awards-at-40-wall-street-nineteen-mechanics-on-skyscraper-will-be.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |date=April 22, 1930 |title=Will Reward Craftsmen Ln Wall Street Building: Bank of Manhattan Mechanics to Receive Certificates |page=45 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1113166116}}}} The building officially opened on May 26.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/05/26/archives/new-home-today-for-manhattan-co-federal-state-and-city-officials-to.html |title=New Home Today for Manhattan Co.; Federal, State and City Officials to Join in Formal Opening of the 71-Story Structure |date=May 26, 1930 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 27, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331172714/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/05/26/archives/new-home-today-for-manhattan-co-federal-state-and-city-officials-to.html |url-status=live}} In total, $24 million had been spent on construction.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1995|ps=.|p=2}} Four workers died while constructing 40 Wall Street; a similar mortality rate to other contemporary projects of similar scale. Paul Starrett, of the Starrett Corporation, said: "Of all the construction work which I have handled, the Bank of Manhattan was the most complicated and the most difficult, and I regard it as the most successful."{{cite book |last=Starrett |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JVRDAAAAIAAJ |title=Changing the Skyline: An Autobiography |publisher=Whittlesey house |year=1938 |page=283 |access-date=October 3, 2020 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331173618/https://books.google.com/books?id=JVRDAAAAIAAJ |url-status=live}}{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1995|ps=.|pp=5–6}}

File:Tallest buildings 1908 - 1974.svg

Prior to 40 Wall Street's completion, architect William Van Alen obtained permission to install a {{Convert|125|ft|m|0|adj=on|sp=us}} long spire on the Chrysler Building{{harvnb|ps=.|Stravitz|2002|p=161}}{{cite book |last=Binders |first=George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lcir7wwIzhIC&pg=PA102 |title=101 of the World's Tallest Buildings |publisher=Images Publishing Group |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-86470-173-9 |page=102 |access-date=December 28, 2017 |archive-date=July 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729125512/https://books.google.com/books?id=Lcir7wwIzhIC&pg=PA102 |url-status=live}} and had it constructed secretly. The Chrysler Building's spire was completed on October 23, 1929, bringing that building to {{convert|1,046|ft|m}},{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8djsCB8-OUC&pg=PA426 |title=Chrysler: The Life and Times of an Automotive Genius |last=Curcio |first=V. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-19-514705-6 |series=Automotive History and Personalities |page=426}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E30rCBeM8nkC |title=The History of Stainless Steel |last=Cobb |first=H.M. |publisher=ASM International |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-61503-011-8 |series=Asm Handbook |page=110 |access-date=December 28, 2017 |archive-date=July 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729124003/https://books.google.com/books?id=E30rCBeM8nkC |url-status=live}} thereby greatly exceeding 40 Wall Street's height.{{cite book |title=Building the Empire State |last1=Willis |first1=Carol |last2=Friedman |first2=Donald |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-393-73030-2 |location=New York |page=14}} Disturbed by Chrysler's victory, Shreve & Lamb wrote a newspaper article claiming that their building was the tallest, since it contained the world's highest usable floor. They stated that the observation deck at 40 Wall Street was nearly {{convert|100|ft|m}} above the top floor in the Chrysler Building. 40 Wall Street's observation deck was {{Convert|836|ft|}} high, while the Chrysler Building's observatory was {{Convert|783|ft|}} high.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/06/01/archives/tower-rises-836-feet-lofty-observation-floor-in-bank-of-manhattan.html |title=Tower Rises 836 Feet; Lofty Observation Floor in Bank of Manhattan Building. |date=June 1, 1930 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 27, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331172751/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/06/01/archives/tower-rises-836-feet-lofty-observation-floor-in-bank-of-manhattan.html |url-status=live}} As a result of the Chrysler Building's spire, 40 Wall Street was the tallest building in Lower Manhattan but not the tallest in New York City.

John J. Raskob, developer of the Empire State Building (which was also designed by Shreve & Lamb), also wanted to construct the world's tallest building.{{harvnb|Tauranac|2014|p=131|ps=.}} The "Race into the Sky" was defined by at least five other proposals, although only the Empire State Building would survive the Wall Street Crash of 1929.{{harvnb|ps=.|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=612}}{{efn|These proposals included the 100-story Metropolitan Life North Building; a {{convert|1050|ft|adj=on}} tower built by Abraham E. Lefcourt at Broadway and 49th Street; a 100-story tower developed by the Fred F. French Company on Sixth Avenue between 43rd and 44th streets; an 85-story tower to be developed on the site of the Belmont Hotel near Grand Central Terminal; and the Noyes-Schulte Company's proposed tower on Broadway between Duane and Worth streets. Only one of these projects was even partially completed: the base of the Metropolitan Life North Building.{{harvnb|ps=.|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|pp=610, 612}}}} Plans for the Empire State Building were changed multiple times; the final plan, published in December 1929, called for the building to be {{convert|1250|ft|m}} tall. The Empire State Building was completed in May 1931,{{Cite news |date=May 2, 1931 |title=Empire State Tower, Tallest In World, Is Opened By Hoover; The Highest Structure Raised By The Hand Of Man |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/05/02/archives/empire-state-tower-tallest-in-world-is-opened-by-hoover-the-highest.html |url-status=live |access-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331185017/https://www.nytimes.com/1931/05/02/archives/empire-state-tower-tallest-in-world-is-opened-by-hoover-the-highest.html |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}} becoming the world's tallest building both by roof height and spire height.{{harvnb|Tauranac|2014|p=185|ps=.}}{{Cite news |date=May 2, 1931 |title=Rivalry for Height Is Seen as Ended; Empire State's Record to Stand for Many Years, Builders and Realty Men Say |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/05/02/archives/rivalry-for-height-is-seen-as-ended-empire-states-record-to-stand.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227013855/https://www.nytimes.com/1931/05/02/archives/rivalry-for-height-is-seen-as-ended-empire-states-record-to-stand.html |url-status=live }}

Because of late changes to the plans of both 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building, as well as the fact that the buildings were erected nearly simultaneously, it is uncertain whether 40 Wall Street was ever taller than the Chrysler Building. John Tauranac, who wrote a book about the Empire State Building's history, later stated that if 40 Wall Street had "ever had been the tallest building, they would have had bragging rights, and if they did, I certainly never heard them".{{Cite news |last=Pollak |first=Michael |date=September 24, 2010 |title=Tall Towers and Sharp Razors |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/nyregion/26fyi.html |access-date=April 30, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180202211107/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/nyregion/26fyi.html |archive-date=February 2, 2018 |url-status=live}} If only completed structures are counted, 40 Wall Street was the world's tallest building for one month, from the first week of May 1930 until the opening of the Chrysler Building on May 27, 1930.{{cite web |date=May 28, 1930 |title=Chrysler Building, City's Highest, Open |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/05/28/archives/chrysler-building-citys-highest-open-fortysecond-street-merchants.html |access-date=November 4, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |page=13 |archive-date=March 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301001325/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/05/28/archives/chrysler-building-citys-highest-open-fortysecond-street-merchants.html |url-status=live }}{{efn|name=completed-tallest|{{note label|talleststatus}}Although 40 Wall Street was the world's tallest completed building in May 1930, the incomplete Chrysler Building had already reached its full height in 1929.}}

The new building housed four Manhattan Company subsidiaries: the Bank of Manhattan Trust Company, the International Acceptance Bank, the International Manhattan Company, and the Bank of Manhattan Safe Deposit Company. The Manhattan Company used the two basement levels for storage vaults; the 1st through 6th stories for bank operations; and the 55th floor for its officers' club.{{cite magazine |year=1930 |title=Manhattan Company Opens New Main Offices |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UGgmAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live |journal=The Bankers Magazine |volume=120 |pages=905–906, 916 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331173619/https://books.google.com/books?id=UGgmAQAAIAAJ |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |access-date=October 3, 2020}} Among the first tenants were Merrill Lynch & Co.{{cite news |date=April 11, 1930 |title=Bankers Take 54th Floor at 40 Wall Street: Merrill, Lynch & Co. Will Look Down on Street From Bank of Manhattan Bldg. |page=41 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1113135280}}}} and a private lunch club called the Wall Street Club.{{Cite news |date=February 13, 1931 |title=New Club Organized by Wall Street Men: Luncheon Group Will Open March 2 in Manhattan Company's Building. |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/02/13/archives/new-club-organized-by-wall-street-men-luncheon-group-will-open.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227013853/https://www.nytimes.com/1931/02/13/archives/new-club-organized-by-wall-street-men-luncheon-group-will-open.html |url-status=live }} 40 Wall Street opened following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and so suffered from a lack of tenants. Many of the original tenants had withdrawn their commitments to rent space in the building and, in some cases, had gone bankrupt.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/09/23/archives/40-wall-enjoys-its-bad-memories-skyscrapers-owners-now-riding-high.html |title=40 Wall Enjoys Its Bad Memories; Skyscraper's Owners, Now Riding High, Recall Hard Times With Pleasure Recalls Bad Old Days |date=September 23, 1956 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210219214834/https://www.nytimes.com/1956/09/23/archives/40-wall-enjoys-its-bad-memories-skyscrapers-owners-now-riding-high.html |url-status=live}}{{harvnb|Levinson|1961|ps=.|p=231}} As a result, only half of the space in 40 Wall Street was leased during the 1930s. Office space rented for {{Convert|3|$/ft2|}}, less than half of the {{Convert|8|$/ft2|}} that the building's owners had sought.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1995|ps=.|p=11}} For the first five years of the building's existence, 40 Wall Street Corporation was able to pay the $323,200 interest on the second mortgage-bond issue.

By early 1939, 40 Wall Street Corporation had fallen behind on rent payments, ground leases, and property taxes.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/05/10/archives/use-bond-security-on-40-wall-street-trustees-report-foreclosure.html |title=Use Bond Security on 40 Wall Street; Trustees Report Foreclosure Likely for Downtown Bank Skyscraper |date=May 10, 1939 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331172901/https://www.nytimes.com/1939/05/10/archives/use-bond-security-on-40-wall-street-trustees-report-foreclosure.html |url-status=live}} That May, the Marine Midland Trust Company started foreclosure proceedings against the corporation after it defaulted on "payments of interest, taxes and other charges".{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/05/25/archives/start-foreclosure-on-40-wall-street-trustee-presents-reorganization.html |title=Start Foreclosure on 40 Wall Street; Trustee Presents Reorganization Plan for Skyscraper |date=May 25, 1939 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-date=February 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204154434/https://www.nytimes.com/1939/05/25/archives/start-foreclosure-on-40-wall-street-trustee-presents-reorganization.html?searchResultPosition=2 |url-status=live}} In response, several bondholders formed a committee to protect their stakes;{{Cite news |date=May 15, 1939 |title=Form Protective Group; Committee to Represent Bondholders of 40 Wall St. Corp. |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/05/15/archives/form-protective-group-committee-to-represent-bondholders-of-40-wall.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227022140/https://www.nytimes.com/1939/05/15/archives/form-protective-group-committee-to-represent-bondholders-of-40-wall.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |date=May 15, 1939 |title=Holder Committee Named For Forty Wall St. Corp |page=23 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1255844769}}}} the committee expressed opposition to the proposed reorganization.{{Cite news |date=May 23, 1939 |title=Against 40 Wall St. Plan; Committee Says Bondholders Would Lose Lien |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/05/23/archives/against-40-wall-st-plan-committee-says-bondholders-would-lose-lien.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227022142/https://www.nytimes.com/1939/05/23/archives/against-40-wall-st-plan-committee-says-bondholders-would-lose-lien.html |url-status=live }} In July 1939, the corporation filed a plan to reorganize all assets that were not covered by the mortgage loans.{{cite news |date=July 1, 1939 |title=Forty Wall Street Corp. |page=2 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|131244071}}}}{{Cite news |date=July 1, 1939 |title=Segregates Its Assets; Forty Wall St. Corporation Takes Reorganization Step |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/07/01/archives/segregates-its-assets-forty-wall-st-corporation-takes.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227022139/https://www.nytimes.com/1939/07/01/archives/segregates-its-assets-forty-wall-st-corporation-takes.html |url-status=live }} Marine Midland became the trustee of 40 Wall Street's first-mortgage fee and its bonds on the lease in February 1940, supplanting the corporation.{{Cite news |date=February 2, 1940 |title=Bond Trustee Reports; $376,259 Excess for 1939 for 40 Wall Street Corp. |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/02/02/archives/bond-trustee-reports-376259-excess-for-1939-for-40-wall-street-corp.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227022139/https://www.nytimes.com/1940/02/02/archives/bond-trustee-reports-376259-excess-for-1939-for-40-wall-street-corp.html |url-status=live }} Marine Midland, acting on behalf of the bondholders, acquired the building that September in a transaction worth almost $11.5 million.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/09/26/archives/bondholders-acquire-40-wall-street-building-on-bid-of-11489500-in.html |title=Bondholders Acquire 40 Wall Street Building On Bid of $11,489,500 In Reorganization Plan |date=September 26, 1940 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331190219/https://www.nytimes.com/1940/09/26/archives/bondholders-acquire-40-wall-street-building-on-bid-of-11489500-in.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=September 26, 1940 |title=Trust Co. Takes 70-Story Tower In Wall Street: Marine Midland Acquires Financial Zone Realty With $11,489,500 Bid |page=36 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1261198221}}}} The New York Times later described the building as being "a monument to lost hope" during that era: at the time, the building's $1,000 debentures were being sold at $108.75 apiece. The structure as a whole was worth $1.25 million, which was less than the cost of the 43 elevators inside the building.{{Harvnb|ps=.|Abramson|2001|page=29}}

C. F. Noyes was hired as the building's leasing agent at the end of 1940.{{Cite news |date=December 30, 1940 |title=To Manage Skyscraper; C.F. Noyes Co. Named Agent for 40 Wall St. Building |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/12/30/archives/to-manage-skyscraper-cf-noyes-co-named-agent-for-40-wall-st.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227022140/https://www.nytimes.com/1940/12/30/archives/to-manage-skyscraper-cf-noyes-co-named-agent-for-40-wall-st.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |date=December 30, 1940 |title=Noyes Co. Takes Management of 40 Wall Street: $20,250,000 Building Is Believed Record Agency Job in City's History |page=48 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1335193562}}}} One of the larger tenants during the 1940s was the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, which in 1941 leased four floors.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/02/26/archives/takes-four-floors-in-40-wall-street-westinghouse-company-will-move.html |title=Takes Four Floors in 40 Wall Street; Westinghouse Company Will Move Three Divisions Into Downtown Quarters |date=February 26, 1941 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331172838/https://www.nytimes.com/1941/02/26/archives/takes-four-floors-in-40-wall-street-westinghouse-company-will-move.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=February 26, 1941 |title=Westinghouse Leases 4 Floors In 40 Wall St: Electric Industry Concern Gets 90,000 Square Feet in Big Downtown Deal |page=33 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1266870094}}}} Other tenants included real-estate agents, lawyers, brokers, and bankers,{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/05/16/archives/40-wall-street-adds-and-extends-tenants-linen-importer-rents-store.html |title=40 Wall Street Adds and Extends Tenants; Linen Importer Rents Store and Basement on Fifth Ave. |date=May 16, 1941 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |url-status=live |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180226032748/https://www.nytimes.com/1941/05/16/archives/40-wall-street-adds-and-extends-tenants-linen-importer-rents-store.html |archive-date=February 26, 2018}} as well as a short-film theater in 1941.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/04/15/archives/movies-used-for-renting-features-of-wall-street-offices-shown-in.html |title=Movies Used for Renting; Features of Wall Street Offices Shown in Fifteen Minutes |date=April 15, 1941 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309005226/https://www.nytimes.com/1941/04/15/archives/movies-used-for-renting-features-of-wall-street-offices-shown-in.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=April 13, 1941 |title=Space at 40 Wall Street To Be Displayed in Films: Inspection by Prospective Tenants Is Made Easy |page=C5 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1265921716}}}} More tenants came during World War II, starting with the United States Department of the Navy. By 1943, the building was 80 percent leased, and that rate increased to 90 percent a year later. After the United States Department of War leased four floors in July 1944, the building reached full occupancy for the first time in its history.{{cite news |date=July 16, 1944 |title=Army Leases 4-Floor Offices In Wall Street: Special Settlements Unit Concentrates Activities of 2 Former Departments Heads Queens Office |page=B4 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1260922593}}}}{{cite news |date=July 16, 1944 |title=All Space Leased in 40 Wall Street: War Department Group Rents 85,000 Square Feet in 70-Story Skyscraper |page=R1 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |id={{ProQuest|107000121}}}} Many large tenants such as Prudential Financial, Westinghouse, and Western Union signed long-term leases. After several tenants left during the late 1940s, the building was completely rented again in 1951.{{cite news |date=April 22, 1951 |title=40 Wall St. Fully Rented For First Time Since '30 |page=3C |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1291370271}}}}{{Cite news |date=September 26, 1951 |title=All Space Taken at 40 Wall Street; Lease on 66th Floor Completes Renting of Seventy-Story Downtown Skyscraper |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/09/26/archives/all-space-taken-at-40-wall-street-lease-on-66th-floor-completes.html |url-status=live |access-date=April 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308165026/https://www.nytimes.com/1951/09/26/archives/all-space-taken-at-40-wall-street-lease-on-66th-floor-completes.html |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}} At the time, 40 Wall Street's office space was renting for {{Convert|4.22|$/ft2|}}, a relatively high price for a building constructed before air conditioning became popular.

On the evening of May 20, 1946, a Beechcraft C-45F Expediter airplane belonging to the United States Army Air Forces crashed into 40 Wall Street's northern facade. The twin-engine plane was heading for Newark Airport on a flight originating at Lake Charles Army Air Field in Louisiana. It struck the 58th floor of the building at about 8:10 pm, creating a {{convert|20|x|10|ft|m|adj=on}} hole in the masonry. The crash killed all five aboard the plane, including a Women's Army Corps officer, though no one in the building or on the ground was hurt. The fuselage and the wing of the splintered plane fell onto the 12th-story setback, while parts of the aircraft and pieces of brick and mortar from the building fell into the street below. Fog and low visibility were identified as the main causes of the crash, since LaGuardia Field had reported a heavy fog that reduced the ceiling to {{convert|500|ft|m}}, obscuring the view of the ground for the pilot at the building's 58th story.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1946/05/21/archives/pilot-lost-in-fog-scene-of-plane-crash-last-night-airplane-crashes.html |title=Pilot Lost in Fog; Scene of Plane Crash Last Night Airplane Crashes Into Skyscraper |date=May 21, 1946 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 27, 2020 |url-status=live |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216193054/https://www.nytimes.com/1946/05/21/archives/pilot-lost-in-fog-scene-of-plane-crash-last-night-airplane-crashes.html |archive-date=February 16, 2020}}{{cite news |last=Peck |first=Robert B. |date=May 21, 1946 |title=Army Plane Rams Tallest Wall St. Tower; 5 Die in Fog at Dusk at 58th Floor of No. 40 |page=1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1284524778}}}}{{Cite news |last=Moore |first=William |url=https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/clip/49647960/ |title=Plane Hits Wall St. Bank |date=May 21, 1946 |issn=1085-6706 |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=April 26, 2020 |page=1 |archive-date=August 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803153551/https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/clip/49647960/plane-hits-wall-st-bank/ |url-status=live}}

The month after the crash, the owners of 40 Wall Street filed a building application with the Department of Buildings to fix the hole in the facade. This crash was the second in New York City in less than a year; an Army B-25 bomber struck the 78th floor of the Empire State Building in July 1945, also caused by fog and poor visibility.{{cite news |date=May 23, 1946 |title=$400,000 Paid In Empire State Crash Claims: Ten of 124 Filed Remain To Be Settled; Army Expects Three From 40 Wall St. A Buddy Poppy for the Mayor |page=25 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1291142960}}}} The incident prompted the Army, in June 1946, to ban planes from landing in New York City during heavy fog.{{cite news |date=June 29, 1946 |title=Army Bars Landings in Fogs Here After 40 Wall St. Crash: Orders Its Planes to Report to Mitchell Field by Radio When 50 Miles From City, And Shun La Guardia Field and Newark in Bad Weather |page=1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1291255352}}}}{{Cite news |date=June 29, 1946 |title=AAF Bans Planes Over City in Fogs; Service Acts on Bad Weather as Board Reports on Wall Street |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1946/06/29/archives/aaf-bans-planes-over-city-in-fogs-service-acts-on-bad-weather-as.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227200847/https://www.nytimes.com/1946/06/29/archives/aaf-bans-planes-over-city-in-fogs-service-acts-on-bad-weather-as.html |url-status=live }} It was the last time a plane crashed into a building in New York City in the 20th century.{{cite book |last1=Levy |first1=Matthys |url=https://archive.org/details/whybuildingsfall00levy_0 |url-access=registration |title=Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail |last2=Salvadori |first2=Mario |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-393-31152-5 |series=Norton – Library of Congress visual sourcebooks in architecture, design, and engineering |page=[https://archive.org/details/whybuildingsfall00levy_0/page/n31 30] |quote=no plane has accidentally hit a skyscraper since the Empire State and Wall Street catastrophes}}

File:40 Wall Street IMG 9048.JPG is to the right, Federal Hall National Memorial is to the left, and 30 Wall Street is in the foreground.|alt=The building as seen from street level. 23 Wall Street is to the right, Federal Hall National Memorial is to the left, and 30 Wall Street is in the foreground.]]

In August 1950, the building's owners submitted plans for an alteration of the building at a cost of $300,000.{{Cite news |date=August 10, 1950 |title=40 Wall St. Plans $300,000 Alteration |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/08/10/archives/40-wall-st-plans-300000-alteration.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227200850/https://www.nytimes.com/1950/08/10/archives/40-wall-st-plans-300000-alteration.html |url-status=live }} Over the following years, the building was retrofitted with air conditioning.{{Cite news |last=Fowler |first=Glenn |date=January 17, 1966 |title=News of Realty: Expansion Move; Bache & Co. Increases Its Space at 40 Wall Street |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/01/17/archives/news-of-realty-expansion-move-bache-co-increases-its-space-at-40.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227205528/https://www.nytimes.com/1966/01/17/archives/news-of-realty-expansion-move-bache-co-increases-its-space-at-40.html |url-status=live }} The directors of the Manhattan Company and Chase National Bank voted in January 1955 to merge their respective companies,{{cite news |date=January 14, 1955 |title=Merger of Chase Into Bank of Manhattan Is Approved By Directors; Would Produce 2Nd Largest Bank in U.S.: Proposal Must Get the Nod From Stockholders, Other Appropriate Authorities |page=3 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|132219374}}}} and Chase Manhattan Bank was created as a result of the merger.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/03/29/archives/chase-and-manhattan-holders-approve-merger-by-big-margin-holders.html |title=Chase and Manhattan Holders Approve Merger by Big Margin |date=March 29, 1955 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103103745/https://www.nytimes.com/1955/03/29/archives/chase-and-manhattan-holders-approve-merger-by-big-margin-holders.html |url-status=live}}{{harvnb|National Park Service|2000|ps=.|p=11}} The new company was headquartered at Chase National's previous building at 20 Pine Street,{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1995|ps=.|p=7}}{{cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/02/24/archives/chase-bank-buys-nassau-st-block-plans-expansion-on-old-home-office.html |title=Chase Bank Buys Nassau St. Block |date=February 24, 1955 |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331190213/https://www.nytimes.com/1955/02/24/archives/chase-bank-buys-nassau-st-block-plans-expansion-on-old-home-office.html |url-status=live}} immediately north of 40 Wall Street; soon afterward, Chase constructed a building at the neighboring 28 Liberty Street to serve as its headquarters.{{cite web |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2294.pdf |title=One Chase Manhattan Plaza |date=February 10, 2009 |publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission |page=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223174436/http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2294.pdf |archive-date=December 23, 2016 |access-date=February 17, 2020}} Meanwhile, several offices as well as a bank branch remained in 40 Wall Street.

By 1956, the building's financial situation had improved considerably, and 40 Wall Street Corporation's $1,000 debentures were selling for $1,550. That year, real estate developer William Zeckendorf had his company Webb and Knapp buy the leaseholds for the land from 40 Wall Street Inc., Chase, and the estate of the Iselin family. Webb and Knapp also bought 32 percent of 40 Wall Street Corporation's stock,{{Cite news |date=January 11, 1957 |title=Stock Tenders Invited; Webb & Knapp Offers to Buy 40 Wall St. Building Shares |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/01/11/archives/stock-tenders-invited-webb-knapp-offers-to-buy-40-wall-st-building.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227205527/https://www.nytimes.com/1957/01/11/archives/stock-tenders-invited-webb-knapp-offers-to-buy-40-wall-st-building.html |url-status=live }} eventually increasing their stake to two-thirds of the corporation's shares.{{cite news |date=October 26, 1957 |title=40 Wall St. Action Put Off |page=A4 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1338380383}}}} The firm attempted to sell 40 Wall Street in October 1957 for $15 million,{{cite news |date=October 24, 1957 |title=Webb & Knapp Plans To Sell 40 Wall Street At Public Auction: But Some of Building's Holders Oppose Plan, Threaten Suit Unless They Get $30 a Share |page=21 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|132298651}}}} but a New York Supreme Court justice enjoined the sale in November 1957 after several minority shareholders claimed the sale was illegal.{{cite news |date=November 15, 1957 |title=Webb & Knapp Fails To Win Board Control Of 40 Wall Street: Real Estate Firm Elects Three Of Nominees and Minority Stockholders Name One |page=4 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|132322923}}}}{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/11/09/archives/court-enjoins-sale-of-40-wall-street.html |title=Court Enjoins Sale of 40 Wall Street |date=November 9, 1957 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308203617/https://www.nytimes.com/1957/11/09/archives/court-enjoins-sale-of-40-wall-street.html |url-status=live}}

The corporation's stockholders voted in June 1959 to sell the building for no less than $17 million.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/06/24/archives/sale-of-40-wall-street-voted-by-stockholders.html |title=Sale of 40 Wall Street Voted by Stockholders |date=June 24, 1959 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210219214906/https://www.nytimes.com/1959/06/24/archives/sale-of-40-wall-street-voted-by-stockholders.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=June 23, 1959 |title=Forty Wall Street's Stockholders Approve Sale, Minimum Price |page=17 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|132507174}}}} To reduce disagreements, a State Supreme Court justice ordered that an auction be held for the building.{{cite news |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49764461/ |title=$18,150,000 Buys Wall Street Building |date=October 28, 1959 |work=Press and Sun-Bulletin |access-date=April 28, 2020 |page=8}} That October, stockholders held an auction for 40 Wall Street.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/10/26/archives/fourth-tallest-building-will-be-auctioned-here.html |title=Fourth Tallest Building Will Be Auctioned Here |date=October 26, 1959 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210219214844/https://www.nytimes.com/1959/10/26/archives/fourth-tallest-building-will-be-auctioned-here.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Rogers |first=John G. |date=October 26, 1959 |title=40 Wall St., 70 Stories, Up for Bids: Once Was Tallest Of Skyscrapers |page=1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1325267197}}}} Zeckendorf submitted the highest bid, at $18.15 million, although there was only one other bidder.{{Cite news |last=Stern |first=Walter H. |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/10/28/archives/70story-building-brings-18150000-zeckendorf-one-of-the-two-bidders.html |title=70-Story Building Brings $18,150,000; Zeckendorf, One of the Two Bidders, Buys 40 Wall St. In Tense Auction Sale |date=October 28, 1959 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331172225/https://www.nytimes.com/1959/10/28/archives/70story-building-brings-18150000-zeckendorf-one-of-the-two-bidders.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49764797/a-tall-story-about-18150000/ |title=A Tall Story About $18,150,000 |date=October 29, 1959 |work=Brooklyn Daily |access-date=April 28, 2020 |page=3 |archive-date=September 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200915010409/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49764797/a-tall-story-about-18150000/ |url-status=live}} At the time, 40 Wall Street was believed to be the most valuable real-estate property ever to be auctioned in New York City. Webb & Knapp had spent $32 million to acquire the building; excluding the auction, the remainder of the cost was used to pay Chase and the Iselin estate.

Webb and Knapp sold the property to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in April 1960 for $20 million. Metropolitan Life leased the building back to Webb and Knapp for 99 years, under a leasehold that cost $1.2 million a year.{{Cite news |last=Stern |first=Walter H. |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/04/29/archives/40-wall-st-sold-by-webb-knapp-metropolitan-life-acquires-building.html |title=40 Wall St. Sold by Webb & Knapp; Metropolitan Life Acquires Building for $20,000,000 And Leases It Back |date=April 29, 1960 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331172218/https://www.nytimes.com/1960/04/29/archives/40-wall-st-sold-by-webb-knapp-metropolitan-life-acquires-building.html |url-status=live}} Chase Manhattan was relocating to its new headquarters at 28 Liberty Street,{{cite news |date=April 26, 1960 |title=Hanover Bank Plans To Move N.Y. Office To 40 Wall Street: Webb & Knapp, Inc., To Purchase Broadway Buildings That Bank Is Leaving |page=9 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|132608553}}}} and the Manufacturers Hanover Corporation was planning to relocate to the second through fifth floors, which Chase Manhattan was vacating.{{Cite news |date=April 26, 1960 |title=Bank to Stay Downtown |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/04/26/archives/bank-to-stay-downtown.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227205528/https://www.nytimes.com/1960/04/26/archives/bank-to-stay-downtown.html |url-status=live }} That September, Webb and Knapp sold the leasehold to British investors City & Central Investments (later City Centre Properties) for $15 million.{{Cite news |last=Fowler |first=Glenn |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/09/13/archives/british-firm-buys-40-wall-st-lease-london-concern-expected-to-pay.html |title=British Firm Buys 40 Wall St. Lease; London Concern Expected to Pay $15,000,000 To Zeckendorf for It |date=September 13, 1960 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331172227/https://www.nytimes.com/1960/09/13/archives/british-firm-buys-40-wall-st-lease-london-concern-expected-to-pay.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49776776/ |title=Briton Leases Wall St. Building |date=September 13, 1960 |work=Glens Falls Post-Star |access-date=April 28, 2020 |page=1 |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404225456/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49776776/briton-leases-wall-st-building/ |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=September 13, 1960 |title=Webb & Knapp to Sell 40 Wall St. Leasehold; Price Put at $15 Million: Terms to Be Listed When British Firm's Purchase Is Effective in About Two Weeks |page=3 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|132585905}}}} The sale was finalized in November 1960,{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/11/12/archives/40-wall-st-in-deal-webb-knapp-to-sell-lease-to-british-interests.html |title=40 Wall St. In Deal; Webb & Knapp to Sell Lease to British Interests |date=November 12, 1960 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308140609/https://www.nytimes.com/1960/11/12/archives/40-wall-st-in-deal-webb-knapp-to-sell-lease-to-british-interests.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=November 12, 1960 |title=British Company Buys Lease on 40 Wall St |page=20 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1337926943}}}} and City & Central acquired title that following month.{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/12/02/archives/40-wall-st-lease-shifted.html |title=40 Wall St. Lease Shifted |date=December 2, 1960 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210219214848/https://www.nytimes.com/1960/12/02/archives/40-wall-st-lease-shifted.html |url-status=live}} The new operator renovated the interior and exterior. Manufacturers Hanover moved to the building in 1962, relocating $24 billion in deposits to 40 Wall Street from its old headquarters at 70 Broadway.{{cite news |last=Baker |first=Guthrie |date=June 24, 1962 |title=Biggest Moving Day Ever: Bank Shifts $24 Billion |page=2 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1325943468}}}}

City Centre sold the leasehold to Loeb, Rhoades & Co., 40 Wall Street's largest tenant, in June 1966.{{Cite news |last=Porterfield |first=Byron |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/06/13/archives/leasehold-of-71story-building-in-the-financial-district-is-sold-40.html |title=Leasehold of 71-Story Building In the Financial District Is Sold; 40 Wall St. Property Bought by Tenant and Associates From British Group |date=June 13, 1966 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331173608/https://www.nytimes.com/1966/06/13/archives/leasehold-of-71story-building-in-the-financial-district-is-sold-40.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=June 13, 1966 |title=Loeb-Rhoades Group Buys 70-Story Building At 40 Wall, New York |page=5 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|133124281}}}} Other major tenants at the time included Bache & Co., which had rented {{convert|180000|ft2}} by 1966. Manufacturers Hanover relocated many of its offices to 600 Fifth Avenue and 55 Water Street.{{Cite news |last=Tomasson |first=Robert E. |date=April 13, 1975 |title=Big Banks in City Expanding |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/13/archives/big-banks-in-city-expanding-citys-3-largest-banks-are-expanding.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411040637/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/13/archives/big-banks-in-city-expanding-citys-3-largest-banks-are-expanding.html |url-status=live }} After Loeb, Rhoades & Co. merged with Shearson in 1980, the {{Convert|251,000|ft2|}} of office space occupied by Loeb, Rhoades & Co. was vacated; the space was quickly leased to Morgan Guaranty and Toronto-Dominion Bank. At the time, 40 Wall Street had {{Convert|875|ft2|}} that was not yet rented, and office space in the Financial District was typically rented for {{Convert|16|to|20|$/ft2}}.{{Cite news |last=Oser |first=Alan S. |date=April 16, 1980 |title=Real Estate; Realigning Tenants at 40 Wall St. |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/04/16/archives/real-estate-realigning-tenants-at-40-wall-st.html |url-status=live |access-date=April 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331172720/https://www.nytimes.com/1980/04/16/archives/real-estate-realigning-tenants-at-40-wall-st.html |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}

In 1982, the property was purchased by a German investment group headed by Walter Hinneberg.{{cite web |url=https://therealdeal.com/2017/01/06/meet-the-obscure-german-magnates-who-actually-own-trumps-most-valuable-building/ |title=Meet the Obscure German Magnates Who Actually Own Trump's Most Valuable Building |last=Putzier |first=Konrad |date=January 6, 2017 |work=The Real Deal |access-date=January 6, 2017 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331172144/https://therealdeal.com/2017/01/06/meet-the-obscure-german-magnates-who-actually-own-trumps-most-valuable-building/ |url-status=live}} Hinneberg and two of his siblings transferred their 80 percent ownership stake to an entity named 40 Wall Street Holdings Corporation in 1992. The other two owners conveyed their combined 20 percent stake to an entity named New Scandic Wall Ltd.{{Cite news |last=Craig |first=Susanne |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/us/politics/donald-trump-debt.html |title=Trump's Empire: A Maze of Debts and Opaque Ties |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |date=August 20, 2016 |access-date=March 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506223557/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/us/politics/donald-trump-debt.html |archive-date=May 6, 2020 |url-status=live}}

At the end of 1982, Loeb, Rhoades & Co. sold the leasehold to a holding company;{{Cite news |last=Fowler |first=Glenn |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/05/business/landmark-at-40-wall-is-sold.html |title=Landmark At 40 Wall Is Sold; |date=January 5, 1983 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150731054925/http://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/05/business/landmark-at-40-wall-is-sold.html |archive-date=July 31, 2015 |url-status=live}} the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda would be revealed as the real buyers in 1985.{{cite web |last1=Faux |first1=Zeke |last2=Abelson |first2=Max |date=June 22, 2016 |title=Inside Trump's Most Valuable Tower: Felons, Dictators and Girl Scouts |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2016-trump-40-wall-street/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427033453/https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2016-trump-40-wall-street/ |archive-date=April 27, 2020 |access-date=April 30, 2020 |publisher=Bloomberg L.P.}} According to a broker who was involved in the sale, the Marcos family's agents, brothers Joseph J. and Ralph E. Bernstein, were initially believed to be buying the building for the wealthy Gaon family of Switzerland, as Joseph Bernstein's wife was a member of that family.{{cite news |last=Lipman |first=Joanne |date=March 6, 1986 |title=The Landlord's Lot Is Not an Easy One; Ask the Marcoses --- Minding New York Property And Its Hired Managers Is Difficult From Manila |page=1 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|398034533}}}}{{Cite news |last=Gottlieb |first=Martin |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/17/world/2-cited-by-house-panel-are-active-in-real-estate.html |title=2 Cited by House Panel Are Active in Real Estate |date=December 17, 1985 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=April 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171125233008/http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/17/world/2-cited-by-house-panel-are-active-in-real-estate.html |archive-date=November 25, 2017 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49841703/ |title=Men Admit They Made Land Deals for Marcos |date=April 10, 1986 |work=Press and Sun-Bulletin |access-date=April 28, 2020 |page=6 |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404225446/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49841703/men-admit-they-made-land-deals-for/ |url-status=live}}{{efn|Marcos was also found to have purchased several other New York City buildings; see Overseas landholdings of the Marcos family.{{Cite news |last=Perlez |first=Jane |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/06/world/manila-under-aquino-lawyers-joust-manhattan-manila-wins-round-with-marcos-new.html |title=Manila Under Aquino: Lawyers Joust in Manhattan; Manila Wins Round with Marcos in New York Court |date=March 6, 1986 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 29, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524184933/http://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/06/world/manila-under-aquino-lawyers-joust-manhattan-manila-wins-round-with-marcos-new.html |archive-date=May 24, 2015 |url-status=live}}}} The operators planned to gild 40 Wall Street's roof.{{Cite news |last=Goncharoff |first=Katya |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/12/realestate/the-glitter-of-gold-gains-in-facade-and-lobby-door-some-owners.html |title=The Glitter of Gold Gains in Facade and Lobby Door Some Owners Say Gilding May Enhance Values |date=August 12, 1984 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 29, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331172644/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/12/realestate/the-glitter-of-gold-gains-in-facade-and-lobby-door-some-owners.html |url-status=live}} In coded cables between the Marcos family and their alleged "front" in Manhattan, Gliceria Tantoco, the 40 Wall Street building was referred to using the secret code-word "Bridgetown".{{Cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/03/30/the-philippines-anatomy-of-a-looting/620251dc-cffe-46f3-be40-a248f501882c/ |title=The Philippines: Anatomy of a Looting |first=Dale |last=Russakoff |date=March 30, 1986 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=August 4, 2020 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=August 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200825214557/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/03/30/the-philippines-anatomy-of-a-looting/620251dc-cffe-46f3-be40-a248f501882c/ |url-status=live}} By February 1986, 40 Wall Street's leasehold, and three other buildings reportedly owned by the Marcoses, were placed for sale.{{Cite news |last=Gerth |first=Jeff |date=February 22, 1986 |title=4 New York Buildings Linked to Marcos Up for Sale |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/22/world/4-new-york-buildings-linked-to-marcos-up-for-sale.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228033208/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/22/world/4-new-york-buildings-linked-to-marcos-up-for-sale.html |url-status=live }} Around that time, the Bernsteins were contemplating paying $250 million for 40 Wall Street and two of the other buildings.{{cite news |last=Bivins |first=Larry |date=February 28, 1986 |title=Bernstein Brothers: Killer B's |page=3 |work=Newsday |issn=2574-5298 |id={{ProQuest|285254349}}}}{{cite news |last=Lipman |first=Joanne |date=February 25, 1986 |title=Three Buildings Linked to Marcos May Change Hands: Option Calls for Purchase Of New York Properties At Price of $2 |page=2 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|135113247}}}}

After Marcos was forced out of office, the administration of his successor Corazon Aquino froze Marcos's assets within U.S. banking channels in March 1986,{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|285295278}} |title=Marcos' NY Properties Frozen By State Court at Aquino Behest |first=Neill S. |last=Rosenfeld |date=March 4, 1986 |page=5 |work=Newsday|issn=2574-5298}}{{Cite news |last=Pace |first=Eric |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/04/world/marcos-holdings-frozen-by-judge.html |title=Marcos Holdings Frozen by Judge |date=March 4, 1986 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 29, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524184057/http://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/04/world/marcos-holdings-frozen-by-judge.html |archive-date=May 24, 2015 |url-status=live}} and the building's future became uncertain.{{Cite news |last=Oser |first=Alan S. |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/20/realestate/perspectives-40-wall-street-asian-buyer-accepts-a-leasing-challenge.html |title=Perspectives: 40 Wall Street; Asian Buyer Accepts a Leasing Challenge |date=June 20, 1993 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191110141245/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/20/realestate/perspectives-40-wall-street-asian-buyer-accepts-a-leasing-challenge.html |archive-date=November 10, 2019 |url-status=live}} Citicorp, which had placed a mortgage on the building, indicated in December 1986 that it would foreclose on the property.{{cite news |last=Cohen |first=Laurie P. |date=December 8, 1986 |title=Citicorp Unit Moves to Foreclose on Tower In New York Believed Owned by Marcoses |page=1 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|397969225}}}} After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled to block the sale of the Marcos properties that November, the Aquino administration filed a lawsuit against the Marcos estate to obtain title to the buildings.{{Cite news |date=December 30, 1986 |title=Manila Seeks Possession of 4 Manhattan Buildings |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/30/world/manila-seeks-possession-of-4-manhattan-buildings.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228033207/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/30/world/manila-seeks-possession-of-4-manhattan-buildings.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |date=December 30, 1986 |title=Manila Sues for Title to Marcos' N.Y. Properties |page=5 |work=Los Angeles Times |issn=0458-3035 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115334531/manila-sues-for-title-to-marcos-ny-pr/ |access-date=December 28, 2022 |id={{ProQuest|292531084}} |archive-date=August 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230802024327/https://www.newspapers.com/article/115334531/manila-sues-for-title-to-marcos-ny-pr/ |url-status=live }} The Bernsteins alleged that they paid $235 million for 40 Wall Street, Herald Center, and the Crown Building,{{cite news |last1=Berkowitz |first1=Harry |last2=Selvin |first2=Barbara W. |date=February 22, 1989 |title=Marcos Properties on Block Manila 'Auctions' City Sites |work=Newsday |page=7 |issn=2574-5298 |id={{ProQuest|278075383}}}} but the Philippine government claimed that the sale was never finalized.{{Cite news |last=Moses |first=Paul |date=February 15, 1988 |title='Pot of Gold' Steeped in Intrigue |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-pot-of-gold-steeped-in-intrigu/149547228/ |access-date=June 18, 2024 |work=Newsday |pages=7 |archive-date=June 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240618022224/https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-pot-of-gold-steeped-in-intrigu/149547228/ |url-status=live }} The Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi also claimed to be involved with the building's purchase;{{Cite news |last=Perlez |first=Jane |date=December 11, 1986 |title=Marcos and Manhattan Property Case: Enter Saudi Billionaire |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/11/world/marcos-and-manhattan-property-case-enter-saudi-billionaire.html |access-date=June 17, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240617220144/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/11/world/marcos-and-manhattan-property-case-enter-saudi-billionaire.html |url-status=live }} he asserted that he had owned the building for several years before the Bernsteins' alleged purchase. Khashoggi was subsequently accused of helping the Marcoses hide their stakes in their buildings,{{cite news |last=Moses |first=Paul |date=May 10, 1990 |title=Bank VP: Marcos Didn't Repay $16M |work=Newsday |issn=2574-5298 |id={{ProQuest|278266847}}}} although he was acquitted of all racketeering charges in relation to the properties.{{Cite news |last=Wolff |first=Craig |date=July 3, 1990 |title=The Marcos Verdict; Marcos Is Cleared of All Charges In Racketeering and Fraud Case |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/03/nyregion/marcos-verdict-marcos-cleared-all-charges-racketeering-fraud-case.html |access-date=December 28, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222144020/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/03/nyregion/marcos-verdict-marcos-cleared-all-charges-racketeering-fraud-case.html |url-status=live }}

Capital improvements to the building, including upgrades to its unreliable elevators, were suspended while legal proceedings were ongoing.{{Cite news |last=McCain |first=Mark |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/27/realestate/commercial-property-elevator-service-vertical-commuters-growing-less-tolerant.html |title=Commercial Property: Elevator Service; Vertical Commuters Growing Less Tolerant of Delays |date=November 27, 1988 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 29, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201135015/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/27/realestate/commercial-property-elevator-service-vertical-commuters-growing-less-tolerant.html |archive-date=February 1, 2018 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=November 13, 1995 |title=New Trump Buy Is a Tall Order |page=40 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49841885/ |access-date=April 30, 2020 |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404225439/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49841885/100-extra-wins-bargain-building/ |url-status=live}} The Aquino administration attempted in early 1989 to sell the four Marcos properties to Morris Bailey for $398 million.{{cite magazine |last=Grant |first=Peter |date=May 1, 1989 |title=New Twists in Battle for Marcos' Spoils |magazine=Crain's New York Business |volume=5 |issue=18 |page=23 |id={{ProQuest|219147299}}}}{{cite news |last=Barsky |first=Neil |date=February 22, 1989 |title=Philippines Sets Sale of Buildings Marcos Owned |page=1 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|398089675}}}} Federal district court judge Pierre N. Leval ordered a foreclosure sale of the Marcos properties in August 1989;{{Cite news |last=Marshall |first=Christy |date=August 12, 1989 |title=108M for Former Marcos Building |pages=14 |work=Newsday |issn=2574-5298 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115334450/108m-for-former-marcos-buildingchristy/ |access-date=December 28, 2022 |id={{ProQuest|278166916}} |archive-date=December 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228204426/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115334450/108m-for-former-marcos-buildingchristy/ |url-status=live }} the Bailey group hoped that Citigroup would name them as the preferred bidders. At the court-ordered auction, the Bernsteins submitted the winning bid of $108.6 million after another bidder, Jack Resnick & Sons, refused to raise its bid of $108.55 million.{{cite news |last=Barsky |first=Neil |date=August 14, 1989 |title=New York Tower Once Owned by Marcos Is Sold at Auction for $108.6 Million |page=1 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|398109057}}}} The second mortgage with Citicorp comprised $60 million of this total.{{Cite news |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/20/realestate/marcos-holdings-shedding-web-of-intrigue.html |title=Marcos Holdings Shedding Web of Intrigue |date=August 20, 1989 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 29, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427070252/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/20/realestate/marcos-holdings-shedding-web-of-intrigue.html |archive-date=April 27, 2020 |url-status=live}} The Bernstein brothers paid the $1.5 million down payment,{{cite news |last=Donovan |first=Roxanne |date=November 14, 1989 |title=$100 Extra Wins Bargain Building |page=571 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49841885/ |url-status=live |access-date=April 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404225439/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49841885/100-extra-wins-bargain-building/ |archive-date=April 4, 2022}}{{Cite news |last=Selvin |first=Barbara |date=October 12, 1989 |title=Bankruptcy in Curacao Muddles Marcos Parcels |pages=57 |work=Newsday |issn=2574-5298 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100187633/bankruptcy-in-curacao-muddles-marcos/ |url-status=live |access-date=April 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421182253/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100187633/bankruptcy-in-curacao-muddles-marcos/ |archive-date=April 21, 2022}} but they could not pay the remainder of the purchase price before the October 10, 1989, deadline.{{cite news |last=Selvin |first=Barbara W. |date=November 6, 1989 |title=Commercial Real Estate Marcos Sales Tough Task to Master |page=2, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115334759/marcos-auctions/ 13] |work=Newsday |issn=2574-5298 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115334606/commercial-real-estate-marcos-sales-toug/ |access-date=December 27, 2022 |id={{ProQuest|278166916}} |archive-date=August 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230802024826/https://www.newspapers.com/article/115334606/commercial-real-estate-marcos-sales-toug/ |url-status=live }} At the time, the Bernsteins were also involved in a bankruptcy proceeding in Curaçao; a special master there had refused to repeal a bankruptcy action that would have allowed the Bernsteins to pay the remainder of 40 Wall Street's purchase price. This prompted a second auction of the building's leasehold.{{cite news |last=Lebow |first=Joan |date=November 14, 1989 |title=Developer Wins Marcos Tower For $77 Million |page=1 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|398217978}}}}

At a second auction in November 1989, Burton Resnick of Jack Resnick & Sons paid $77,000,100 for the leasehold, beating Citicorp's bid by $100.{{cite news |date=November 13, 1989 |title=Marcos Skyscraper on Wall Street Auctioned for a Paltry $77 Million: Real Estate: New York City Building Secretly Bought by Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos Sold for Just Above the Minimum Asking Price |page=1B |work=Los Angeles Times |issn=0458-3035 |id={{ProQuest|1148158840}}}} By then, demand for real estate in Lower Manhattan had declined in the aftermath of Black Monday in 1987. Resnick's lawyer, Howard J. Rubenstein, said his client planned to spend $30 million to $40 million renovating 40 Wall Street, although real-estate experts said the building needed closer to $50 million in renovations. Resnick decided in 1990 to spend $50 million on upgrades. The renovation would have included fire, electrical, and mechanical system replacement; renovation of the lobby; restoration of the facade and windows; and replacement of the elevators.{{Cite news |last=Lyons |first=Richard D. |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/10/business/real-estate-sprucing-up-marcos-gem-on-wall-st.html |title=Real Estate; Sprucing Up Marcos Gem On Wall St. |date=January 10, 1990 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 29, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191004124106/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/10/business/real-estate-sprucing-up-marcos-gem-on-wall-st.html |archive-date=October 4, 2019 |url-status=live}} The Resnicks were only able to upgrade the windows; they defaulted on their mortgage in 1991, and Citicorp took over the leasehold.{{cite magazine |last=Grant |first=Peter |date=May 10, 1993 |title=Chinese Group to Buy Troubled 40 Wall |magazine=Crain's New York Business |volume=9 |issue=19 |page=4 |id={{ProQuest|219120066}}}} Citicorp canceled financing for the renovation that year,{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=November 10, 1991 |title=Commercial Property: 40 Wall Street; Citicorp Aborts $50 Million Financing of Renovation |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/10/realestate/commercial-property-40-wall-street-citicorp-aborts-50-million-financing.html |access-date=December 28, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107061438/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/10/realestate/commercial-property-40-wall-street-citicorp-aborts-50-million-financing.html |url-status=live }} citing concerns that tenants, including Manufacturers Hanover, which had moved from the lower stories of the building in 1982, might move out.{{Cite news |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/10/realestate/commercial-property-40-wall-street-citicorp-aborts-50-million-financing.html |title=Commercial Property: 40 Wall Street; Citicorp Aborts $50 Million Financing of Renovation |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=November 10, 1991 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 7, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107061438/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/10/realestate/commercial-property-40-wall-street-citicorp-aborts-50-million-financing.html |archive-date=November 7, 2017 |url-status=live}}

By the early 1990s, 40 Wall Street was 80 percent vacant.{{cite news |last=Pacelle |first=Mitchell |date=June 11, 1992 |title=Skyline Turning Hollow Near Wall Street: Vacancies Rise in Old Downtown New York Towers |page=A2 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|135555688}}}} The building's maintenance had declined to the point that tenants reported that they frequently waited 20 minutes for an elevator,{{Cite news |last=Brooks |first=Andree |date=September 6, 1992 |title=Commercial Property: Troubled Office Tenants; When an Owner Defaults, What of Past Promises? |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/06/realestate/commercial-property-troubled-office-tenants-when-owner-defaults-what-past.html |access-date=December 28, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206234239/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/06/realestate/commercial-property-troubled-office-tenants-when-owner-defaults-what-past.html |url-status=live }} and many interior spaces had been stripped to the steel frame. Homeless people were squatting in vacant floors because the building had limited security. The building was also seen as outdated, since it had no freight elevator, the upper stories were too small, and the office floors had large numbers of structural columns.{{Cite news |last=Hampson |first=Rick |date=January 17, 1993 |title=40 Wall St.: A 70-Story Ghost Town in New York |pages=32 |work=Los Angeles Times |issn=0458-3035 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115336683/40-wall-st-a-70-story-ghost-town-in/ |access-date=December 28, 2022 |archive-date=December 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228211953/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115336683/40-wall-st-a-70-story-ghost-town-in/ |url-status=live }} In 1992, Citicorp prepared to sell 40 Wall Street again;{{cite news |last=Kleege |first=Stephen |date=July 21, 1992 |title=Tenant Found for Building Citicorp Is Seizing |page=6 |work=The American Banker |id={{ProQuest|292926220}}}} the asking price was reportedly as low as $10 million. The building's valuation had declined from $123 million in 1990 to $75 million in 1993. If 40 Wall Street's lease were not sold and renovated before the end of 1992, the owners were entitled to exercise a clause to evict the leaseholder.

American International Group attempted to acquire Citicorp's stake in the building for $6.5 million, but the negotiations failed in November 1992, in what Crain's New York magazine described as a "collapse of downtown real estate".{{cite magazine |last=Grant |first=Peter |date=November 23, 1992 |title=40 Wall Sale Crumbles as Citicorp Won't Deal |magazine=Crain's New York Business |volume=8 |issue=47 |page=2 |id={{ProQuest|219116459}}}} Citicorp auctioned off the building in May 1993; the bank wrote down the building's value to zero.{{cite news |last1=Pacelle |first1=Mitchell |last2=Lipin |first2=Steven |date=June 7, 1993 |title=Banks Mull Benefits of Bulk Vs. Single Real Estate Sales --- Opt for Quickly Clearing the Books Or Try to Recoup as Much as Possible |page=B4 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|398357771}}}} Hong Kong firm Glorious Sun considered buying the building but ultimately decided against it.{{Cite news |last=Henry |first=David |date=July 18, 1994 |title=Overseas Chinese' Money Pours into High Profile Manhattan Real Estate |pages=73, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/95601215/ 76], [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/95601292/ 77] |work=Newsday |issn=2574-5298 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/95601123/overseas-chinese-money-pours-into-high/ |access-date=February 20, 2022 |archive-date=February 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220005839/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/95601123/overseas-chinese-money-pours-into-high/ |url-status=live}} Another group from Hong Kong, the consortium Kinson Properties, agreed to lease the property, paying $8 million.{{cite news |date=July 19, 1995 |title=Trump Buys 40 Wall St From Kinson |page=7 |work=South China Morning Post |id={{ProQuest|265252162}}}} Kinson planned to renovate the building for $60 million, including the lobby for $4 million and electrical and mechanical systems for $5–7 million. By the time Kinson sold the leasehold in 1995, little had been done to improve the property.

File:Lower part of The Trump Building in New York City IMG 1693.JPG

In July 1995, real estate developer Donald Trump signed a letter of intent to buy Kinson's lease and spend $100 million on renovations.{{Cite news |last=Slatin |first=Peter |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/12/business/about-real-estate-trump-to-buy-leasehold-at-40-wall-st.html |title=About Real Estate; Trump to Buy Leasehold At 40 Wall St. |date=July 12, 1995 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 29, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331172712/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/12/business/about-real-estate-trump-to-buy-leasehold-at-40-wall-st.html |url-status=live}} The leasehold was transferred that December. There have been conflicting accounts about the price of the leasehold. The New York Times reported that Trump purchased the leasehold for $8 million,{{Cite news |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/07/business/40-wall-street-is-sold-to-trump.html |title=40 Wall Street Is Sold to Trump |date=December 7, 1995 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 7, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107062334/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/07/business/40-wall-street-is-sold-to-trump.html |archive-date=November 7, 2017 |url-status=live}} while Barron's cited the leasehold as having cost between $3 million and $5 million.{{Cite news |last=Slatin |first=Peter |date=July 28, 1997 |title=There Goes the Neighborhood |pages=15–18 |work=Barron's |id={{ProQuest|201043920}}}} In November 1995, Trump stated that he was buying the leasehold from Kinson for $100,000. During a 2005 episode of The Apprentice, Trump claimed he only paid $1 million for the leasehold but that the property was actually worth $400 million. Trump's legal advisor, George H. Ross, restated this claim in a 2005 book.{{harvnb|ps=.|Ross|2005|page=51}} On a 2007 episode of CNBC's The Billionaire Inside, Trump again claimed that he paid $1 million for the leasehold but stated the building's value as $600 million. In 2012, it was reported that Trump paid $10 million for the leasehold.{{cite web |date=January 23, 2012 |title=Trump Fills 40 Wall Street With Low Rents, Incentives |url=http://therealdeal.com/blog/2012/01/23/trump-fills-40-wall-street-with-high-incentives-low-rents/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926200822/http://therealdeal.com/blog/2012/01/23/trump-fills-40-wall-street-with-high-incentives-low-rents/ |archive-date=September 26, 2015 |access-date=April 26, 2020 |work=The Real Deal}}

Estimates of the building's worth also varied. City tax assessors had valued the building at $90 million by 2000{{cite magazine |last=Kamen |first=Robin |date=May 15, 2000 |title=Obnoxious. Egomaniacal. Bullish as Ever and Back in Black |magazine=Crain's New York Business |page=72 |volume=16 |issue=20 |id={{ProQuest|219153251}}}} and reported that the building was worth the same amount in 2004.{{Cite news |last=O'Brien |first=Timothy L. |date=October 23, 2005 |title=What's He Really Worth? |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/23/business/yourmoney/whats-he-really-worth.html |access-date=April 30, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160225085813/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/23/business/yourmoney/whats-he-really-worth.html |archive-date=February 25, 2016 |url-status=live}} While Trump estimated the building's worth at $1 billion in 2012, an external appraisal the same year valued the building at $220 million.{{cite web |last=Chan |first=Wilfred |date=February 23, 2024 |title=What Real Estate Does Trump Own in NYC Anyway? |url=https://www.curbed.com/article/trump-lawsuit-real-estate-nyc-letitia-james.html |access-date=March 3, 2024 |website=Curbed |archive-date=October 6, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241006204436/https://www.curbed.com/article/trump-lawsuit-real-estate-nyc-property-letitia-james.html |url-status=live }} Trump maintained in 2013 that the building was worth $530 million. Trump's lenders estimated that the building was worth $540 million in 2015 (though the Trump Organization gave a higher figure of $735 million),{{cite web |last=Callimachi |first=Rukmini |date=September 28, 2023 |title=Properties Trump May Lose Control of in New York Fraud Case |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/28/realestate/trump-tower-real-estate-nyc.html |url-access=limited |access-date=November 17, 2023 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=October 6, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241006204436/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/28/realestate/trump-tower-real-estate-nyc.html |url-status=live }} and Bloomberg News estimated the next year that 40 Wall Street was worth $550 million.

Trump spent $35 million refurbishing 40 Wall Street.{{cite news |last=Ciandelli |first=Donald R. |date=April 26, 1997 |title=Downtown N.Y., Back in Business: Leasing Is Up and Developers Are Busy as Companies Seek More Space |page=F13 |newspaper=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286 |id={{ProQuest|1456474574}} |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/realestate/1997/04/26/downtown-ny-back-in-business/dcb35694-a172-407f-84d3-089fa1b3d11a/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=November 13, 2023}}{{cite news |last=Sandler |first=Linda |date=June 24, 1998 |title=Why Trump's Bullish on Wall Street |page=B14 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|398607772}}}} Der Scutt Architects renovated the lobby, and the Trump Organization replaced several hundred windows, refurbished 30 elevator cabs, and added lights to illuminate the roof. He planned to convert the upper half of 40 Wall Street to residential space, leaving the bottom half as commercial space. The plan was contingent on the passage of a state law in late 1995, which granted tax exemptions to developers who renovated office buildings in New York into residential and commercial space.{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=October 15, 1995 |title=Bringing Downtown Back Up |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/15/realestate/bringing-downtown-back-up.html |access-date=March 30, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=January 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200130173040/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/15/realestate/bringing-downtown-back-up.html |url-status=live }} Trump had planned to rent out some space as studio apartments and one- to three-bedroom apartments,{{Cite news |last=Hevesi |first=Dennis |date=July 13, 1997 |title=Rental Fever: Temperature Drops – a Bit |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/13/realestate/rental-fever-temperature-drops-a-bit.html |access-date=March 30, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330162604/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/13/realestate/rental-fever-temperature-drops-a-bit.html |url-status=live }} but real-estate experts, quoted in the New York Daily News, said the lowest 25 floors were so large that it would not be profitable to convert them to apartments. By 1997, Trump was negotiating with hotel chains to occupy the lower stories of 40 Wall Street.{{Cite news |last=Halbfinger |first=David M. |date=May 28, 1997 |title=Trump's Bank Making Deal He Declined |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/28/nyregion/trump-s-bank-making-deal-he-declined.html |url-status=live |access-date=April 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228023209/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/28/nyregion/trump-s-bank-making-deal-he-declined.html |archive-date=December 28, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}} Among these chains was Marriott International, which proposed operating a Ritz-Carlton hotel on either ten{{Cite news |last=Bagli |first=Charles V. |date=May 22, 1997 |title=Marriott Set Out to Prove Itself In New York; Now It Dominates |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/22/nyregion/marriott-set-out-to-prove-itself-in-new-york-now-it-dominates.html |access-date=March 30, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107231442/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/22/nyregion/marriott-set-out-to-prove-itself-in-new-york-now-it-dominates.html |url-status=live }} or twelve stories.{{Cite news |last=Halbfinger |first=David M. |date=April 9, 1997 |title=Wall Street Space Leased |work=The New York Times |url-access=limited |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/09/nyregion/wall-street-space-leased.html |access-date=March 30, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330162606/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/09/nyregion/wall-street-space-leased.html |url-status=live }} At the time, the building was about 25 percent occupied.

Trump canceled his plans to convert the upper floors to residential space, citing high costs.{{harvnb|ps=.|Ross|2005|page=50}} By 1998, almost all of the space in the building had been leased.{{cite news |last=Morrissey |first=Janet |date=June 23, 2004 |title=Trump Hopes to Make Big Bucks on Building; Real Estate Mogul Wants $400 Million for Property He Bought for $1 Million |page=1 |work=Oakland Tribune |id={{ProQuest|351887072}}}} Several large tenants, such as American Express, CNA Financial Corporation, Bear Stearns, Nomura Holdings, Country-Wide Insurance Company, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, and Union Bank of California, had moved into 40 Wall Street after its renovation. The same year, Trump obtained a $125 million mortgage loan for the building from several European banks.{{cite news |last=Grant |first=Peter |date=May 30, 1998 |title=Trump's 5M Deal Now 125M |page=43 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |id={{ProQuest|313612967}}}} Trump tried to sell the building in 2004, expecting offers in excess of $400 million, which did not materialize.{{Cite web |url=https://therealdeal.com/new-research/topics/property/40-wall-street/ |title=40 Wall Street |work=The Real Deal New York |access-date=April 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200410042046/https://therealdeal.com/new-research/topics/property/40-wall-street/ |archive-date=April 10, 2020 |url-status=live}} The New York Times wrote in 2005 that the building had $145 million of debt. At the time, the building was earning $32 million in rental income a year, and 40 Wall Street was still about 90 percent occupied; many tenants' leases were not scheduled to expire for several years.

In early July 2011, Duane Reade opened its flagship drugstore branch inside the former banking space.{{Cite news |last=Kadet |first=Anne |date=August 20, 2011 |title=Yes, It's Still A Drugstore |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111903639404576518443633131046 |access-date=April 30, 2020 |issn=0099-9660 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=May 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190516025855/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111903639404576518443633131046 |url-status=live }} 40 Wall Street Ltd. transferred its ownership stake in the building to 40 Wall Street Holdings in 2014. According to Federal Election Commission applications filed during Trump's 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, Trump had an outstanding mortgage of over $50 million on the property.{{cite news |last=Zurcher |first=Anthony |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33644498 |title=Five Take-Aways From Donald Trump's Financial Disclosure |date=July 23, 2015 |publisher=BBC |access-date=March 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124190136/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33644498 |archive-date=January 24, 2016 |url-status=live}} At the time, Trump leased the building for $1.65 million a year, and the Trump Organization paid $1 million annually in expenses and fees. According to Bloomberg News, several of the building's 21st-century tenants had been accused of fraudulent activity or had been associated with people accused of such activities. Rental income from 40 Wall Street's commercial spaces increased from $30.5 million in 2014 to $43.2 million in 2018.{{Cite news |last1=Buettner |first1=Russ |last2=Craig |first2=Susanne |last3=McIntire |first3=Mike |date=September 27, 2020 |title=Trump's Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax Avoidance |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html |access-date=October 18, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=September 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927211558/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html |url-status=live |url-access=limited}} Forbes estimated in 2020 that Trump owed Ladder Capital $138 million for 40 Wall Street as part of a loan that was scheduled to mature in 2025.{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Dan |title=Donald Trump Has At Least $1 Billion In Debt, More Than Twice The Amount He Suggested |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2020/10/16/donald-trump-has-at-least-1-billion-in-debt-more-than-twice-the-amount-he-suggested/ |access-date=October 18, 2020 |website=Forbes |archive-date=January 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115191339/https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2020/10/16/donald-trump-has-at-least-1-billion-in-debt-more-than-twice-the-amount-he-suggested/ |url-status=live}}

New York prosecutors had scrutinized several of the Trump Organization's properties by 2021, at the end of Trump's first presidency. They found that, between 2011 and 2015, far higher values were presented to potential lenders than were reported to tax officials. The most extreme case involved 40 Wall Street, which in 2012 was cited as being worth $527 million to lenders but only $16.7 million to tax officials.{{cite news |last1=Fahrenthold |first1=David A. |last2=O'Connell |first2=Jonathan |last3=Dawsey |first3=Josh |last4=Jacobs |first4=Shayna |date=November 22, 2021 |title=N.Y. Prosecutors Set Sights on New Trump Target: Widely Different Valuations on the Same Properties |newspaper=The Washington Post |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-organization-investigation-property-values-vance-james/2021/11/19/78c15850-4706-11ec-95dc-5f2a96e00fa3_story.html |access-date=November 28, 2021 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=November 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123011224/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-organization-investigation-property-values-vance-james/2021/11/19/78c15850-4706-11ec-95dc-5f2a96e00fa3_story.html |url-status=live}} By February 2023, the building had been placed on a lender watchlist because of its rising vacancy rate, which had reached 18 percent in the third quarter of 2022, and its maintenance costs, which had risen 11 percent since the mortgage was issued in 2015.{{Cite news |last=Gittelsohn |first=John |date=February 10, 2023 |title=Trump's 40 Wall St. Put on Lender Watch as Vacancies, Costs Rise |publisher=Bloomberg L.P. |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-10/trump-s-40-wall-st-put-on-lender-watch-as-vacancies-costs-rise |access-date=February 18, 2023 |archive-date=February 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224123921/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-10/trump-s-40-wall-st-put-on-lender-watch-as-vacancies-costs-rise |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last=Dilakian |first=Steven |title=Trump's 40 Wall Street on Lender Watchlist |website=The Real Deal |date=February 13, 2023 |url=https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2023/02/13/trumps-40-wall-street-on-lender-watchlist/ |access-date=February 19, 2023 |archive-date=February 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230219054023/https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2023/02/13/trumps-40-wall-street-on-lender-watchlist |url-status=live }} Fitch Ratings downgraded the credit rating for the building's loans in August 2023 because new tenants were slow to move into the building while old tenants relocated elsewhere.{{cite web |last=Elstein |first=Aaron |date=August 30, 2023 |title=Trump-Owned Tower Downgraded as Tenants Flee Financial District |url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/trump-owned-40-wall-st-downgraded-tenants-flee-fidi |access-date=August 31, 2023 |website=Crain's New York Business}} The building's Duane Reade location closed later that year due to increased shoplifting. The loan on the property was transferred to a special servicer that November because there was a possibility that the state government's ongoing civil investigation of the Trump Organization could result in the organization's dissolution.{{cite news | last=Gittelsohn | first=John | title=Trump's 40 Wall St. Tower Loan Transferred to Special Servicer | publisher=Bloomberg L.P. | url-access=subscription | date=November 10, 2023 | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-10/trump-s-40-wall-st-tower-loan-transferred-to-special-servicer | access-date=November 13, 2023 }}
{{cite web | last=Hallum | first=Mark | title=40 Wall Street Transfers to Special Servicing Amid Trump Fraud Trial | website=Commercial Observer | date=November 13, 2023 | url=https://commercialobserver.com/2023/11/40-wall-street-transfers-to-special-servicing-amid-trump-fraud-trial/ | access-date=January 8, 2024 | archive-date=January 8, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240108014328/https://commercialobserver.com/2023/11/40-wall-street-transfers-to-special-servicing-amid-trump-fraud-trial/ | url-status=live }}

Following a January 2024 ruling in which the Trump Organization was found liable for civil fraud, New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office was prepared to seize the building if he could not pay a judgment of approximately $355 million.{{cite web |last1=Katersky |first1=Aaron |last2=Charalambous |first2=Peter |date=February 20, 2024 |title=Letitia James Says She's Prepared to Seize Trump's Buildings If He Can't Pay His $354M Civil Fraud Fine |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/letitia-james-shes-prepared-seize-trumps-assets-pay/story?id=107381482 |access-date=March 3, 2024 |website=ABC News |archive-date=March 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240303072145/https://abcnews.go.com/US/letitia-james-shes-prepared-seize-trumps-assets-pay/story?id=107381482 |url-status=live }} By that April, the building's vacancy rate had increased to 21 percent,{{cite web | last=Elstein | first=Aaron | title=Vacancies continue rising at Trump-owned 40 Wall St. | website=Crain's New York Business | date=April 19, 2024 | url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/vacancies-hit-21-percent-trump-owned-tower-40-wall-st | access-date=May 3, 2024}} and the building's mortgage loan was scheduled to come due in 2025.{{cite news |last=Grant |first=Peter |date=May 7, 2024 |title=The Office-Market Meltdown Comes for Trump's Prized Wall Street Building |url=https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/the-office-market-meltdown-comes-for-trumps-prized-wall-street-building-31b3a667 |access-date=September 20, 2024 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=September 20, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240920143810/https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/the-office-market-meltdown-comes-for-trumps-prized-wall-street-building-31b3a667 |url-status=live }} The building had become a tourist attraction, and The Washington Post wrote that Trump's detractors sometimes came to the building to express their animosity.{{Cite news |last1=Dawsey |first1=Josh |last2=Parker |first2=Ashley |date=April 18, 2024 |title=Trump trial further splinters his relationship with his beloved New York |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/17/trump-hush-money-new-york-manhattan-queens/ |access-date=September 20, 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=April 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418013402/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/17/trump-hush-money-new-york-manhattan-queens/ |url-status=live }} A reporter for Curbed wrote in late 2024 that 40 Wall Street was so controversial, even in the real estate industry, that few people in that industry were willing to publicly discuss the building's finances. At the time, the retail space and several floors were vacant.{{cite web | last=Rice | first=Andrew | title=The Weird Worth of 40 Wall Street | website=Curbed | date=October 31, 2024 | url=https://www.curbed.com/article/donald-trump-nyc-40-wall-street-building-worth.html | access-date=November 7, 2024}}

In February 1930, the Down Town League proclaimed 40 Wall Street the best building completed in Lower Manhattan during the preceding year.{{Cite news |date=February 16, 1930 |title=Downtown League Building Awards; Bank of Manhattan Gets First Honor, With 120 Wall Street Second. Transit Plans for Kings. Building Owners' Convention. |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/02/16/archives/downtown-league-building-awards-bank-of-manhattan-gets-first-honor.html |access-date=December 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227005207/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/02/16/archives/downtown-league-building-awards-bank-of-manhattan-gets-first-honor.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |date=February 16, 1930 |title=Manhattan Bank Building Best Downtown: 70-Story Structure Awarded First Prize by Down Town League Committee 120 Wall St. Comes Next Big Structure at River's Edge Wins Praise of Association |page=E1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1113127888}}}} Fortune magazine praised Ohrstrom in 1930, noting that "[h]is piece de resistance thus far has been the shrewd and able financing of the Manhattan Company Building".{{harvnb|Fortune|1930|p=13|ps=.}} Two years later, W. Parker Chase wrote that "no building ever constructed more thoroughly typifies the American spirit of hustle than does this extraordinary structure".{{cite book |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x000525067&view=1up&seq=161 |last=Chase |first=W. Parker |title=New York, The Wonder City |publisher=New York Bound |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-9608788-2-6 |location=New York |page=157 |oclc=9946323 |orig-date=1932 |access-date=April 15, 2021 |archive-date=April 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415213038/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x000525067&view=1up&seq=161 |url-status=live}} When the neighboring 28 Liberty Street was being built in 1960, Architectural Forum wrote of 40 Wall Street: "Viewed from the street, the detailing of the top of this middle-aged tower becomes insignificant, but it can be said that the draftsmen in the Severance office, who spent many painstaking hours perfecting the ornamental peak more than three decades ago, have been justified at last."{{cite magazine |date=July 1961 |title=The Chase: Portrait of a Giant |url=https://usmodernist.org/AF/AF-1961-07.pdf |journal=Architectural Forum |volume=115 |page=84 |via=usmodernist.org |ref={{harvid|Architectural Forum|1961}} |number=1 |access-date=May 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228102235/https://www.usmodernist.org/AF/AF-1961-07.pdf |archive-date=February 28, 2020 |url-status=live}}

Architecture critic Robert A. M. Stern wrote in his 1987 book New York 1930 that 40 Wall Street's proximity to other skyscrapers, including 70 Pine Street, 1 Wall Street, 20 Exchange Place, and the Downtown Athletic Club, had reduced older skyscrapers "to the status of foothills in a new mountain range".{{harvnb|ps=.|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=603}} Eric Nash wrote in his book Manhattan Skyscrapers that 40 Wall Street's impact was blunted by its location in the middle of the block, "surrealistically situated next to the mighty Greek Revival Federal Hall National Memorial". A critic for Newsday wrote in 2003: "It appears on few postcards, and no tourists queue to peer from its celestial ramparts. The AIA Guide to New York City does not even mention the singular ambition, pursued with almost reckless abandon, that forged its construction: to be the world's tallest building."{{cite news |last=Vanderbilt |first=Tom |date=October 19, 2003 |title=On Top Of The World / Two New Books Chronicle the Golden Age of the New York Skyscraper |page=D28 |work=Newsday |issn=2574-5298 |id={{ProQuest|279708533}}}}

On December 12, 1995, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 40 Wall Street as a city landmark, noting that the Bank of Manhattan Building was historically significant for being the headquarters of the Manhattan Company and for being part of New York City's 1929–1930 skyscraper race. Five years later, on June 16, 2000, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places,{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/weekly-list-2000-national-register-of-historic-places.pdf |title=National Register of Historic Places 2000 Weekly Lists |year=2000 |publisher=National Park Service |page=118 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228214610/https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/weekly-list-2000-national-register-of-historic-places.pdf |archive-date=December 28, 2019 |access-date=March 8, 2020}} largely for the same reason as the city designation. In 2007, the building was designated as a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a NRHP district.{{cite web |year=2007 |title=National Register of Historic Places 2007 Weekly Lists |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/weekly-list-2007-national-register-of-historic-places.pdf |access-date=July 20, 2020 |publisher=National Park Service |page=65 |archive-date=December 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228214611/https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/weekly-list-2007-national-register-of-historic-places.pdf |url-status=live}}

• List of tallest buildings in New York City
• List of tallest freestanding steel structures
• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan below 14th Street
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan below 14th Street
• Overseas landholdings of the Marcos family

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Abramson |first=Daniel M. |year=2001 |title=Skyscraper Rivals: The AIG Building and the Architecture of Wall Street |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |isbn=978-1-56898-244-1}}
• {{cite book |last1=Bascomb |first1=Neal |title=Higher: A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City |year=2003 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=978-0-385-50661-8 |title-link=Higher: A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City |ref=none}}
• {{cite report |url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/00000577.pdf |title=Historic Structures Report: Manhattan Company Building |date=June 16, 2000 |publisher=National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service |ref={{harvid|National Park Service|2000}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Levinson |first=Leonard L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E446AQAAIAAJ |title=Wall Street: A Pictorial History |publisher=Ziff-Davis |year=1961}}
• {{cite report |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1936.pdf |title=Manhattan Company Building |date=December 12, 1995 |publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission |ref={{harvid|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1995}}}}
• {{Cite magazine |date=May 1929 |title=New Bank of Manhattan Building to Be New York's Tallest: Ready for Occupancy May 1, 1930 Historic Site Founding of the Bank of the Manhattan Company |magazine=Bankers' Magazine |volume=118 |issue=5 |page=896 |id={{ProQuest|124385406}} |ref={{harvid|Bankers' Magazine|1929}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Ross |first=George H. |url=https://archive.org/details/trumpstrategiesf00geor_0 |title=Trump Strategies for Real Estate: Billionaire Lessons for the Small Investor |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-471-73643-1 |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last=Stravitz |first=David |title=The Chrysler Building: Creating a New York Icon Day by Day |year=2002 |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |isbn=1-56898-354-9}}
• {{cite book |title=New York 1930: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Two World Wars |last1=Stern |first1=Robert A. M. |last2=Gilmartin |first2=Patrick |last3=Mellins |first3=Thomas |publisher=Rizzoli |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-8478-3096-1 |oclc=13860977}}
• {{cite book |title=The Empire State Building: The Making of a Landmark |last=Tauranac |first=John |publisher=Scribner |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-684-19678-7}}
• {{cite magazine |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/101998496 |title=The Skyscraper |year=1930 |magazine=Fortune |publisher=American Institute of Steel Construction |ref={{sfnref|Fortune|1930}}}}

• [https://www.trump.com/commercial-real-estate-portfolio/40-wall-street 40 Wall Street] on The Trump Organization's website
• [http://skyscrapercenter.com/building/the-trump-building/619 The Trump Building] on CTBUH Skyscraper Center

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{{s-ttl|title=Tallest building in the world|years=1929–1930}}

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{{s-ttl|title=Tallest building in the United States|years=1929–1930}}

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Category:1930 establishments in New York City

Category:Art Deco architecture in Manhattan

Category:Art Deco skyscrapers

Category:Bank buildings in Manhattan

Category:Bank buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City

Category:Office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan

Category:Financial District, Manhattan

Category:Former world's tallest buildings

Category:Historic district contributing properties in Manhattan

Category:Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in New York (state)

Category:New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan

Category:Office buildings completed in 1930

Category:Skyscraper office buildings in Manhattan

Category:Wall Street

Category:Gothic Revival architecture in New York City

Category:New York State Register of Historic Places in New York County

Category:1930s architecture in the United States