The Mount Morris Bank Building, also referred to as the Corn Exchange Bank (Mount Morris Branch) and Corn Exchange Building, is an historic building in the

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...

neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, located at 81-85 East 125th Street on the northwest corner of

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Aven ...

. Although an architectural standout when new in 1883, by the late 1970s it was vacant, and remained so for three decades, vandalized and deteriorating. In 2009 the city demolished, for safety, most of what remained after a 1997 fire, but in 2012 a developer undertook to rebuild it for commercial occupancy, and the building reopened in May 2015. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

in 1989, and 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 cu ...

in 1993.

The banking years

The Mount Morris Bank was organized in December 1880 when

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Harl ...

was being transformed from a suburb into an urban residential neighborhood, connected to downtown commercial and residential districts by the new

Manhattan Railway Company The Manhattan Railway Company was an elevated railway company in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City, United States. It operated four lines: the Second Avenue Line, Third Avenue Line, Sixth Avenue Line, and Ninth Avenue Line. History 19 ...

lines. The bank initially rented space at 133 East 125th Street, just west of Lexington Avenue. Construction began on its new building – which was selected by competition and located at 81, 83, and 85 East 125th Street – on April 3, 1883 and was completed on February 1, 1884, although the bank, occupying the main floor, moved in by late 1883. Like its plainer neighbors, the building was designed for a mix of commercial and residential use. The basement, partially above ground, was initially occupied by the Mount Morris Safe Deposit Company at #83, which built and owned the building. There were six apartments on four floors above the commercial space, plus an attic. The apartments – called "The Morris" – were completely separated from the banking portion of the building. They had their own entrance at #81 and were served by an elevator, but they barely lasted two decades: by the early twentieth century the apartments were converted into offices. Architects

Lamb & Rich Hugh Lamb (ca. 1850-1903) and Charles Alonzo Rich (ca. 1850-1943) were partners in the New York City architecture firm of Lamb & Rich, which operated from 1880 to 1899.The firm was preceded by the firm of Lamb & Wheeler (1877–1881) and succeed ...

utilized rock-faced sandstone in the

Romanesque Revival style Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

for the bank portions of the structure and red Philadelphia brick cladding for the residential portion in the Queen Anne style. At the time, the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mi ...

ran in an open cut along Park Avenue, with a (below-grade) station at 125th Street. The building's location was thus convenient for commuters as well as for commerce. In 1889-90 the building was doubled in size using the adjacent lot on its north (Park Avenue) side, in an expansion designed by the original architects, which included a basement entrance at 1820 Park Avenue. In 1912, architect Frank A. Rooke removed the front stoops and stairs, which projected onto the public sidewalk, and rebuilt the entranceways. In 1913 the Mount Morris Bank became a

branch A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term '' twig'' usually ...

of the

Corn Exchange Bank The Corn Exchange Bank was a retail bank founded in 1853 in New York state. Over the years, the company acquired many community banks. History In 1855, the Corn Exchange Bank moved into an existing building in New York City at the northwest ...

, the first New York City bank to establish local branches. The Corn Exchange Bank merged with

Chemical Bank Chemical Bank was a bank with headquarters in New York City from 1824 until 1996. At the end of 1995, Chemical was the third-largest bank in the U.S., with about $182.9 billion in assets and more than 39,000 employees around the world. Beginning ...

in 1954 and became the Chemical Corn Exchange Bank. Chemical closed the branch in the mid 1960s and moved its operations to a new location nearby, following which various commercial tenants and a church occupied the building. New York City took

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

in 1972 for back taxes.

Destruction and rebuilding

By the late 1970s, when properties were being abandoned all over the city, the Corn Exchange structure was vacant, and remained mostly empty for three decades, vandalized and deteriorating. It was sealed up in 1987 at the request of the local Community Board. In 1989 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The city's

Landmarks Preservation Commission 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 cu ...

considered the structure for designation as an official landmark in 1984, but didn't act at that time; in 1993, however, they did designate it, asserting that it retained its architectural integrity to a surprisingly high degree. (By law, the commission's powers over a city-owned property are merely advisory.) A fire destroyed the mansard roof and the two floors enclosed by it in 1997. In 2003 a community activist paid $10,000 for the building, planning a culinary school, but she was unable to finance her project, and the idea was never executed. The city repossessed the building in 2000 and in 2009 demolished all but the basement and main floor, for safety's sake. Developer Artimus Construction purchased the structure in 2012 and undertook to rebuild it for commercial and retail occupancy. The design, by Danois Architects, is not intended to be an exact copy of the original, but rather strongly suggestive of it, and was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2013. The Corn Exchange Building reopened with an art fair in May 2015.

References

External links

"Corn Exchange Bank Building"
(search) ''Library of Congress'' website. Photos of the partly destroyed building
''East Harlem Preservation''
website. Links to articles. Retrieved October 2, 2015. {{National Register of Historic Places in New York, state=collapsed Bank buildings in Manhattan Bank buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City Commercial buildings completed in 1883 Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan East Harlem New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan Queen Anne architecture in New York City Romanesque Revival architecture in New York City

The banking years

Destruction and rebuilding

See also

References

External links