Completed 1900 Floor count 18 Designated January 14, 1992 Opened 1900 Construction started 1899 | Roof 225 feet (69 m) Structural engineer Purdy & Henderson Height 69 m Architectural style Beaux-Arts architecture | |
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Similar Marbridge Building, Baudouine Building, Grand Hotel, 287 Broadway, Church of the Messiah | ||
The Broadway–Chambers Building, located at 277 Broadway on the northwest corner of Chambers Street in the Civic Center / TriBeCa neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, was constructed from 1899 to 1900, and was architect Cass Gilbert's first design in the city. The 18-story office building is designed in the Beaux-Arts style.
Map of Broadway-Chambers Building, 277 Broadway, New York, NY 10007, USA
On the building's completion in 1900, the critic Montgomery Schuyler said that it was "...the summation of that type of design of a tall building," and in 1998 Herbert Muschamp wrote in the New York Times of Gilbert's design:
[He] refined the proportions between [the building's] elements and articulated them by using different materials for each: stone base, brick shaft, terra cotta crown. The brickwork, red flecked with blue, is especially fine. In contrast with the light-colored stone and terra cotta, it gives an almost colonial feel to an otherwise classically conceived structure. Garlands, cornucopias and a polychrome penthouse arcade garnish the composition.
The building incorporates one of Gilbert's trademarks, the extensive use of architectural sculpture on the cornice of the arcade at the top of the building, which includes the heads of lions and women. Gilbert went on to be one of the pre-eminent architects of his time, designing the Woolworth Building and the United States Supreme Court building, among many others.
Several companies collaborated to create an exhibit about the construction of the building at the Paris Exposition of 1900.
The Broadway–Chambers Building was designated a New York City landmark in 1992.