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120 Wall Street is a skyscraper in the
About 120 Wall Street by Silverstein Properties
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Skyscraperpage.com - 120 Wall Street
120 Wall Street
Images of 120 Wall Street by Silverstein Properties
{{Authority control Financial District, Manhattan Skyscraper office buildings in Manhattan Art Deco architecture in Manhattan Wall Street
120 Wall Street is a skyscraper in the Financial District
A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies, and other related finance corporations have their headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host ...
of Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...
in New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. It was completed in 1930. The building is 399 ft (122 m) tall, has 34 floors, and is located on the easternmost portion of Wall Street
Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...
, and also borders Pine Street and South Street
South Street may refer to:
Streets by that name
* South Street (Durham), England
* South Street, Mayfair, England
*South Street (Manhattan), United States
*South Street (Perth, Western Australia)
* South Street (Perth, Scotland)
*South Street (Ph ...
. The architect was Ely Jacques Kahn
Ely Jacques Kahn (June 1, 1884September 5, 1972) was an American commercial architect who designed numerous skyscrapers in New York City in the twentieth century. In addition to buildings intended for commercial use, Kahn's designs ranged throug ...
of Buchman & Kahn
Ely Jacques Kahn (June 1, 1884September 5, 1972) was an American commercial architect who designed numerous skyscrapers in New York City in the twentieth century. In addition to buildings intended for commercial use, Kahn's designs ranged throug ...
.
The tower is tiered on three sides, forming the classic wedding-cake style outline emblematic of post-1916 Zoning Resolution
The 1916 Zoning Resolution in New York City was the first citywide Zoning in the United States, zoning code in the United States. The zoning resolution reflected both Boroughs of New York City, borough and local interests, and was adopted primar ...
New York skyscrapers. The setbacks recede in shallow formations from a large 16-story platform. Red-granite panels frame wide-paned commercial windows at street level as part of the five-story limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
base.
The building has of space and occupies a lot.
History
Greenmal Holding Corporation (Henry Greenberg and David Malzman) acquired the site in 1928 from the American Sugar Company. In February 1929, the company obtained a $4,050,000 construction loan for the building. The cost was estimated at $12,000,000, with the edifice resting upon a 51 caissondeep foundation
A pile or piling is a vertical structural element of a deep foundation, driven or drilled deep into the ground at the building site. A deep foundation is a type of foundation (architecture), foundation that transfers building loads to the e ...
.
The building opened in March 1930. The original anchor tenant of the building was the American Sugar Refining Company
The American Sugar Refining Company (ASR) was the most significant American business unit in the sugar refining industry in the early 1900s. It had interests in Puerto Rico and other Caribbean locations and operated one of the world's largest s ...
. New York Life Insurance Company
New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC) is the third-largest life insurance company and the largest mutual insurance, mutual life insurance company in the United States, and is ranked #69 on the 2025 Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. corporat ...
bid $1,000,000 to foreclose a $5,569,605 lien against the skyscraper at a June 26, 1933 foreclosure auction
Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.
Formally, a mort ...
. 120 Wall Street was the only major high-rise building on the East River downtown waterfront for many years until the post-1970s construction boom.
In 1980, the 120 Wall Company, LLC, an affiliate of Silverstein Properties
Silverstein Properties Inc. is an American family-held, full-service real estate development, investment and management firm based in New York City. Founded in 1957 by Chairman Larry Silverstein, the company specializes in developing, acquiri ...
, acquired the building for $12 million. In 1992, in cooperation with the city's Economic Development Corporation
An economic development corporation ("EDC") is an organization common in the United States, usually a 501(c)(3) non-profit, whose mission is to promote economic development within a specific geographical area. These organizations are complementary ...
, Silverstein Properties obtained the designation of 120 Wall Street as New York City's only Association Center. The designation creates reduced rents for not-for-profit organizations
A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives.
While not-for-profit organizations and non-profit organizations (NPO ...
. Tenants include The New Press
The New Press is an independent non-profit public-interest book publisher established in 1992 by André SchiffrinReid, Calvin (December 2, 2013)"New Press Founder André Schiffrin Dead at 78" ''Publishers Weekly''. Accessed August 1, 2014. (Chev ...
, AFS Intercultural Programs
AFS Intercultural Programs (or AFS, originally the American Field Service) is an international youth exchange organization. It consists of over 50 independent, not-for-profit organizations, each with its own network of volunteers, professional ...
, the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Illuminating Engineering Society of North America
The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), is an industry-backed, not-for-profit, learned society that was founded in New York City on January 10, 1906. The IES's stated mission is "to improve the lighted environment by bringing together thos ...
, Pacifica Foundation
Pacifica Foundation is an American nonprofit organization that owns five independently operated, Non-commercial educational, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations known for their Contemporary progressivism, progressive/liberal polit ...
WBAI
WBAI (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. Its programming is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic musi ...
-FM, the Lucis Trust & World Goodwill, the world headquarters locations of the National Urban League
The National Urban League (NUL), formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for Afri ...
, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF) is a type 1 diabetes (T1D) research and advocacy organization.
Breakthrough T1D funds research for the development of new therapies and treatments for type 1 diabetes. The organization advocates for federal resear ...
, The United Negro College Fund
UNCF, the United Negro College Fund, also known as the United Fund, is an American philanthropic organization that funds scholarships for black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private historically black colleges and universities. ...
, the Alan Guttmacher Institute
The Guttmacher Institute is a research and policy NGO that aims to improve sexual health and expand reproductive rights worldwide. The organization was started in 1968 as part of Planned Parenthood; it became independent from Planned Parenthood in ...
, the Center for Reproductive Rights
The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) is a global legal advocacy organization, headquartered in New York City, that seeks to advance reproductive rights, such as abortion. The organization's stated mission is to "use the law to advance reprod ...
, and Lambda Legal
The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, better known as Lambda Legal, is an American civil rights organization that focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) communities as well as people living with HIV/AIDS ( PWAs) throug ...
. Concepts of Independence, a consumer organization for the disabled, is also a tenant.
In October 2020, Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with a significant global presence. The company operates in 35 countries and serves over 70 million customers worldwide. It is a systemically important fi ...
, JP Morgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is the largest bank in the United States, and the world's largest bank by mark ...
and Citigroup
Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...
provided a $165 million mortgage loan
A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners t ...
.
References
Notes Sources * *External links
About 120 Wall Street by Silverstein Properties
*
Skyscraperpage.com - 120 Wall Street
120 Wall Street
Images of 120 Wall Street by Silverstein Properties
{{Authority control Financial District, Manhattan Skyscraper office buildings in Manhattan Art Deco architecture in Manhattan Wall Street