Built 1900-01 Designated NHL December 22, 1977 Opened 1901 Architectural style Beaux-Arts architecture | NRHP Reference # 73001214 Designated NYCL January 18, 1966 Area 3,642 m² Added to NRHP 6 February 1973 | |
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Location 65 Liberty Street
Manhattan, New York City Similar Alfred E Smith House, Chester A Arthur House, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Hamilton Fish House, Equitable Building | ||
The Chamber of Commerce Building is located on 65 Liberty Street between Nassau Street and Broadway in the Financial District in Manhattan, New York. The building's architect was James Barnes Baker who designed the building with a Beaux-Arts style. The building is about four stories tall built with Vermont marble and includes a terrace and a mansard roof. The first floor of the building contains the Great Hall where the walls of the hall are filled with portraits of important individuals from American history. Some of the portraits include John Cruger, the first president of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, Alexander Hamilton, Ulysses S. Grant and many others.
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The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1966, and a National Historic Landmark in 1977.
Original and reprographic architectural drawings for this building are held in the Department of Drawings & Archives at Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University
Construction and Renovation
Since the opening of the chamber in 1902, the building had gone through several renovations. The first renovation was in 1903 where sculptors Daniel Chester French and Philip Martiny sculpted statues of John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and Dewitt Clinton on the pillars at the front of the building. The next renovation was in 1921 when architects Helmle and Corbett remodeled the interior of the building and built a new floor resulting in changes to the mansard roof. The final renovation occurred between the years 1990 to 1991 by Haines Lundber Weahler after the International Commercial Bank of China bought the building. The new owner wanted to renovate the building as years of pollution and rain had caused irreversible damages to the building. The building as of 2016, does not have the three pillars of the three men anymore as the sculptures were too damaged to be fixed.
History of the Building
The Chamber of Commerce Building was built for the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York to hold their meetings. The building was crowd funded by members of the Chamber as well as those who supported the Chamber. The building was funded by people such as John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and J. Pierpont Morgan.