63 Nassau Street is a landmark building located on Nassau Street between Maiden Lane and John Street 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 ...

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 was built in the Italianate style c.1844, and had its

cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

facade, attributed to James Bogardus, added in 1857-59, making it one of the first cast-iron buildings in the city. The attribution to Bogardus, a pioneer in the architectural use of cast iron, comes because of medallions of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

identical to those on four other Bogardus projects, all now demolished. George Washington was also once represented with medallions. The building is an extremely rare extant example of the work of Bogardus, one of only five known Bogardus buildings in the United States. The building was designated a

New York City 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 May 15, 2007.

Structural detail

The 5-story, 3-bay Italianate style cast-iron front facade was originally composed of superimposed arcades, with a 2-story arcade capped by an intermediate modillioned foliate cornice, surmounted by a 3-story arcade. The arcades are formed by elongated fluted Corinthian

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

s (most of the capitals’ leaves are now missing); rope moldings, which also surround the spandrel panels; molded arches with faceted keystones and molded paneled reveals; and foliate spandrels. The ground floor was first altered in 1919. Between the second and third floors the building featured a series of wreath-encircled portraits of

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

and

cast, like the rest of the facade, in iron. The two portraits of Washington are missing from the facade as of 2008. Similar portraits once appeared on two other Bogardus buildings, the Baltimore Sun building in Baltimore, Maryland, and the New York building of

Harper & Brothers Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship Imprint (trade name), imprint of global publisher HarperCollins, based in New York City. Founded in New York in 1817 by James Harper (publisher), James Harper and his brother John, the compan ...

. Both of those buildings have been torn down. The facade is terminated by a widely projecting, modillioned foliate cornice supported by a corbel table. Windows were originally two-over-two double-hung wood sash. These were replaced by wood casement windows with transoms prior to 1928 on the upper three stories, and by single-pane windows on the second story during the 1980s. The northern storefront consists of a deeply recessed entrance with glass door and transom, flanking show windows set above recessed bases, and a mosaic tile floor. A metallic signage band extends partially into the second story. The southern metal-and-glass storefront is non-historic, with a fixed awning.

References

Notes Sources
Landmarks Committee Press Release

NYC Planning Commission

External links

* {{Coord, 40.7093, -74.0087, type:landmark_region:US-NY, display=title New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan Commercial buildings completed in 1859 Italianate architecture in New York City James Bogardus buildings Financial District, Manhattan Cast-iron architecture in New York City Historic district contributing properties in Manhattan

Structural detail

See also

References

External links