Wall Street Plaza

The building was constructed by the firm I. M. Pei and Partners in 1973 for the Orient Overseas Association, a Hong Kong-based shipping line. The architect was James Ingo Freed. It was themed as a "light" tower, with glass and white-painted beams and columns, eschewing gray. Architecture critic Paul Goldberger remarked that for the era, the cost in building it was higher than more conventional office buildings, but not an extravagantly high budget either.{{cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Goldberger |date=February 21, 1974 |title=2 Towers Rise Above Mediocrity |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/21/archives/2-towers-rise-above-mediocrity-an-appraisal-2-office-buildings-rise.html |access-date=March 21, 2025 |newspaper=The New York Times}} Though the building is known as Wall Street Plaza, it does not adjoin Wall Street, instead being located at 88 Pine Street.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/30/nyregion/nyc-blow-it-up-just-try-to-find-it.html |title=NYC; Blow It Up? Just Try To Find It |first=Clyde |last=Haberman |author-link=Clyde Haberman |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 30, 1998 |access-date=March 21, 2025 }} David W. Dunlap wrote of the building's name that "Wall Street Plaza sounds more like a financial landmark than 88 Pine Street."{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |author-link=David W. Dunlap |date=July 15, 1990 |title=Addresses in Times Square Signal Prestige, if Not Logic |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/15/nyregion/addresses-in-times-square-signal-prestige-if-not-logic.html |access-date=2025-03-23 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}

One early tenant of Wall Street Plaza was Banca Serfin.{{Cite news |date=1981-03-15 |title=Reality News; Broadway |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/15/realestate/reality-news-broadway.html |access-date=2025-03-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} After I. M. Pei & Partners rebranded as Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the firm moved into 88 Pine Street as tenants themselves in 2000. Another notable tenant – if for the wrong reasons – was telecommunications company Global Crossing, which was known to spend money rather loosely before their 2002 bankruptcy, and commissioned various changes to their rented floors at great expense.{{cite web |url=https://archello.com/project/global-crossing |title=Global Crossing |website=Archello |access-date=March 22, 2025 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/03/business/the-rise-and-fall-of-global-dreams.html |title=The Rise And Fall Of Global Dreams |date=March 3, 2002 |first1=Simon |last1=Romero |author-link1=Simon Romero |first2=Geraldine |last2=Fabrikant |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=March 22, 2025 }}

In 2017, Orient Overseas was bought out by the conglomerate COSCO Shipping, a state-owned enterprise with its leaders hand-picked by the government of the People's Republic of China. This became relevant in a controversy two years later, in 2019. Amnesty International had been looking to lease office space at Wall Street Plaza, but the holding company pulled out of the deal at the last second, saying only that Amnesty was "not the best [potential] tenant". As owners are generally happy to lease space, this triggered speculation that pressure from the Chinese government was involved, as Amnesty has criticized human rights in China, in particular the actions of the government toward Western China's Uighur population.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/13/nyregion/amnesty-international-lease-china.html |first1=Michael |last1=Forsythe |author-link1=Michael Forsythe |last2=Haag |first2=Matthew |title=Amnesty International Is Denied Lease at New York Tower Owned by China, Group Says |date=May 13, 2019 |newspaper=The New York Times }}

File:Wall Street Plaza RMS Queen Elizabeth plaque.jpg dedicated the building in December 1973.]]

The lobby features a plaque commemorating the ship {{ship|RMS|Queen Elizabeth}}, which sank in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour in 1972.{{cite book |title=Fairplay: Weekly Shipping Journal |date=1974 |publisher=Fairplay Publications Limited. |volume=250 |page=13}} The bronze "Q" and "E" originally from the bow of the ship are displayed on it as a souvenir of the vessel.{{cite web |last=Kayden |first=Jerold S. |date=March 30, 2016 |title=88 Pine Street |url=https://apops.mas.org/pops/m010010/ |access-date=March 23, 2025 |website=Privately Owned Public Space (APOPS)}}

Outside at the plaza is a shiny stainless steel disc and square by Taiwanese artist Yuyu Yang, maintained by the building. C. Y. Tung, the founder of Orient Overseas, personally commissioned the sculpture, which cost around $120,000 (in 1975; {{Inflation|US|120000|1975|fmt=eq|r=-4}}).{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/23/archives/legacy-of-art-remains-after-surge-in-building-a-legacy-of-art.html |title=Legacy of Art Remains After Surge in Building |newspaper=The New York Times |first=Rita |last=Reif |author-link=Rita Reif |date=March 23, 1975 |access-date=March 22, 2025 }}

The nonprofit organization Creative Time ran four public art projects at 88 Pine Street during its early years, from 1974 to 1978. The exhibits used a street-level space intended to eventually be leased to a bank, while waiting for an interested party to move in. The most acclaimed and notable was the first, an exhibit created by the artist Red Grooms and his wife at the time Mimi Gross, "Ruckus Manhattan". It was a not-to-scale, participatory diorama of Manhattan, and spread over more than 10,000 square feet.{{cite journal |last=Phillips |first=Patricia C. |title=Temporality and Public Art. |journal=Art Journal |volume=48 |issue=4 |year=1989 |pages=331–335 |doi=10.2307/777018 |jstor=777018 }}{{ublcb|{{cite book |title=Red Grooms and Ruckus Manhattan |first=Judd |last=Tully |author-link=Judd Tully |date=1977 |isbn=080760849-1 |publisher=George Braziller Inc. }}|See also [https://juddtully.net/criticism/ruckus-manhattan/ Ruckus Manhattan], a version freely accessible on Tully's website, although not including all the pictures.}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/06/arts/design/red-grooms-marlborough-tribeca-ruckus-.html |title=Art Is Fleeting, but Red Grooms Is Forever |first=M.H. |last= Miller |date=September 6, 2018 |access-date=March 20, 2025 |newspaper=The New York Times }}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/01/arts/design/01city.html |title=Remembrance of Downtown Past |first=Holland |last=Cotter |author-link=Holland Cotter |date=September 1, 2006 |access-date=March 20, 2025 |newspaper=The New York Times }}

After construction finished in 1974, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) gave the building an Honor Award.{{Cite news |date=1975-04-27 |title=Pei Wins Two A.I.A. Design Awards |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/27/archives/pei-wins-two-aia-design-awards.html |access-date=2025-03-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} The AIA Guide to New York City wrote that the building was "A white, crisp elegance of aluminum and glass" and "Water Street's classiest building".{{cite book |title=AIA Guide to New York City |pages=28–29 |date=2000 |publisher=Three Rivers Press |first1=Norval |last1=White |author-link1=Norval White |last2=Willensky |first2=Elliot |isbn=0-8129-3107-6 }} Others have also praised the building; Terrence Riley called it among the most refined examples of modern design, and Robert B. Tierney, chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, nominated the building for an award in 2005 (although it did not win).{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/17/arts/design/james-ingo-freed-75-dies-designed-holocaust-museum.html |title=James Ingo Freed, 75, Dies; Designed Holocaust Museum |date=December 17, 2005 |first=David W. |last=Dunlap |author-link=David W. Dunlap |access-date=March 20, 2025 |newspaper=The New York Times }}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/nyregion/in-city-of-skyscrapers-which-is-the-mightiest-of-the-high.html |title=In City of Skyscrapers, Which Is the Mightiest of the High? |date=September 1, 2005 |first=David W. |last=Dunlap |author-link=David W. Dunlap |access-date=March 20, 2025 |newspaper=The New York Times }}

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File:Water St Maiden Ln td (2018-08-09) 04 - Wall Street Plaza (88 Pine Street).jpg|Front entrance, August 2018

File:Wall Street Plaza evening March 2025.jpg|Wall Street Plaza in the early evening, from the intersection of Water and Pine St, March 2025

File:Wall Street Plaza side view March 2025.jpg|Side view of Wall Street Plaza ground floors from 88 Pine Street Plaza. Continental Center is in the far right background.

File:88 Pine Street Plaza td (2018-08-09) 01.jpg|The disc and square by Yang Yuyu in the plaza outside

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{{Reflist}}

{{commonscat|Wall Street Plaza (88 Pine Street)}}

{{commonscat|88 Pine Street Plaza}}

• [https://juddtully.net/criticism/ruckus-manhattan/ Ruckus Manhattan] on Judd Tully's website, with the text (if not the full images) of his 1977 book on the exhibit

{{Financial District, Manhattan}}

Category:1974 establishments in New York City

Category:Financial District, Manhattan

Category:Office buildings completed in 1974

Category:Office buildings in Manhattan

Category:Broad Street (Manhattan)

Category:1970s architecture in the United States