319 Broadway, also known as the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Home Office, is a five-story office building on the corner of

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

and Thomas Street in the

Tribeca Tribeca ( ), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Str ...

neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

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 is a cast-iron building in the

Italianate architecture The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century ...

style, built in 1869–70 and designed by D. & J. Jardine. It is the lone survivor of a pair of buildings at 317 and 319 which were known as the "Thomas Twins". The cast iron for these mirror-twin buildings was provided by Daniel D. Badger's Architectural Iron Works. The building became a

New York City designated landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and c ...

on August 29, 1989.NYCLPC, p.34

History

The site of 319 Broadway, at the northwest corner of Thomas Street and Broadway, was previously owned by the

New York Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center (; previously known as New York Hospital, Old New York Hospital, and City Hospital) is a research hospital in New York City. It is the teaching hospital for Cornell University's medical school and is part of NewYork-P ...

, which sat adjacent to the property. In 1869, the Union Army general and real-estate developer Thomas Alfred Davies leased two lots flanking Thomas Street from the Society of New York Hospital, commissioning the firm of D. & J. Jardine to design a cast-iron building for each lot. The two buildings faced each other until 1971, when 317 Broadway was torn down. Early tenants of 319 Broadway included the Security State Bank and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Corporation. Above the first story, 319 Broadway remains similar to the way it looked at the time of its construction. The stoop was removed in 1912, along with sidewalk encumbrances. Around that time, the basement level was designated as the first story, which classified the building as a five-story structure. The building continues to house offices and a restaurant.

Description

The

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

-style building extends along Broadway and along Thomas Street. Faced in cast iron, the building contains many original two-over-two wood

sash windows A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...

. The Broadway

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

originally contained a stoop at the north and two openings with flattened arches and a corner pier. This pattern was continued on the Thomas Street elevation.

Plate glass Plate glass, flat glass or sheet glass is a type of glass, initially produced in plane form, commonly used for windows, glass doors, transparent walls, and windscreens. For modern architectural and automotive applications, the flat glass is ...

windows have replaced the flat-arched openings on Broadway, and the first story of the Thomas Street elevation has been largely enclosed by a building addition, although the arched openings are still present. On Broadway, the second through fifth floors have one bay containing three window openings. The north opening of the second floor contains a slightly projecting

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

with flanking engaged columns supporting a triangular pediment and brackets with incised

neo-Grec Néo-Grec was a Neoclassical Revival style of the mid-to-late 19th century that was popularized in architecture, the decorative arts, and in painting during France's Second Empire, the reign of Napoleon III (1852–1870). The Néo-Grec vogue ...

ornament, which is likely a later replacement. This opening contains a single-pane window with a decorative metal

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window (transom window), often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing (window), glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open Hand fan, fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, ...

above. All of the windows are arched and capped by a scrolled keystone and flanked by

Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order, which was the earliest, ...

. A

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

marks the south corner. Stories three through five contain three window openings each, gradually decreasing in size, flanked by Corinthian columns and terminated by piers at each end supporting a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

. The center window on the fourth floor contains paired glass doors installed in recent years, leading to a fire escape containing wrought-iron

filigree Filigree (also less commonly spelled ''filagree'', and formerly written ''filigrann'' or ''filigrene'') is a form of intricate metalwork used in jewellery and other small forms of metalwork. In jewellery, it is usually of gold and silver, m ...

extending from the second story to the fifth. The roof is surmounted by a projecting cornice containing

dentils A dentil (from Lat. ''dens'', a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice. Dentils are found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, and also in later styles such as Neoclassical, Federal, Georgian Rev ...

and scrolled brackets. The Thomas Street elevation is similar to that on Broadway. It has three bays; the outer two containing five window openings per story and the center bay with four, each bay separated by Corinthian piers. With the exception of the two western openings and the eastern opening, articulated by flattened arches, the first floor has been enlarged since the building's construction. At the base of the service entrance, a metal plaque reads "Architectural Iron Works / 14th Street between / A B & C NY." Above the service entrance, each window contains an arched transom with paired wood sash windows. The rear wall, adjacent to the Thomas Street elevation, is covered with gray stucco.

References

{{Broadway (Manhattan) 1870 establishments in New York (state) Broadway (Manhattan) Cast-iron architecture in New York City Italianate architecture in New York City New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan Office buildings in Manhattan Tribeca

History

Description

See also

References