The Barclay–Vesey Building (also known as 100 Barclay, the Verizon Building, and formerly the New York Telephone Company Building) is an office and residential building at 140 West Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The 32-story building was designed in the Art Deco style by Ralph Walker of Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker, and was Walker's first major commission as well as one of the first Art Deco skyscrapers. It occupies the entire block bounded by West Street to the west, Barclay Street to the north, Vesey Street to the south, and Washington Street to the east, abutting the World Trade Center.
The building was constructed from 1923 to 1927 and was the longtime corporate headquarters of New York Telephone and its successor Verizon Communications. The building, being adjacent to the original World Trade Center to the south and 7 World Trade Center to the east, experienced major damage in the September 11 attacks following the collapse of the World Trade Center. Restoration of the building and damaged communications infrastructure after the attacks took three years and cost $1.4 billion. In 2016, part of the building was converted into 100 Barclay, a residential condominium development.
The Barclay–Vesey Building's architects intended for the structure to have an imposing form, with vertical piers designed as buttresses; setbacks at upper floors; and a program of elaborate ornamentation on the exterior and interior. The Barclay–Vesey Building's design has been widely praised by architectural critics, both for its design scheme and for its symbolism. The building's exterior and first-floor interior were declared city landmarks by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1991, and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
Site The Barclay–Vesey Building is on the border of Lower Manhattan's Financial District and Tribeca neighborhoods. It occupies an entire city block bounded by West Street to the west, Vesey Street and the World Trade Center to the south, Washington Street to the east, and Barclay Street to the north. Adjacent buildings include 7 World Trade Center to the east and One World Trade Center to the south. The block is parallelogram-shaped, measuring about along West and Washington Streets and along Vesey and Barclay Streets. The total area of the block is .
Prior to the 19th century, the Barclay–Vesey Building's site was located off the shore of the North River (now Hudson River). The shore from Vesey Street north to King Street was infilled during the mid-19th century, and docks were constructed west of West Street. A wholesale market called the Washington Market was established on the future Barclay–Vesey Building block in 1812; or 1813. To support the market and the nearby food businesses, about 35 three- to five-story brick structures were erected on the block. In addition, there was a lighthouse on the site. When the building was erected, the site was still on the shoreline of the Hudson River.; In the 1970s, Battery Park City was built on filled land along the shore, severing the building from the waterfront.
Architecture The Barclay–Vesey Building, later known as the Verizon Building, was designed by Ralph Thomas Walker in the Art Deco style. It measures tall and contains 32 stories, with mezzanines above the ground, 17th, and 31st stories.; The Art Deco style was not yet established when the building was erected, and contemporary publications described the building as being "Modernistic" or "Modern Perpendicular". Consequently, some architectural critics describe the Barclay–Vesey Building as being the first Art Deco skyscraper. It was also the first major structure that Walker designed for McKenzie, Voorhees & Gmelin, and, as such, was aesthetically distinguished from the firm's previous commissions. The building was constructed by general contractor Marc Eidlitz & Son, with several consulting engineers assisting in the project.
Walker intended the building to be "as modern as the telephone activity it houses". His design took several elements from Eliel Saarinen's proposal for Chicago's Tribune Tower, as well as from Walker's own entry in the design competition for the Tribune Tower.; Such elements included the Barclay–Vesey Building's setbacks; its vertical piers; and its pyramidal roof, which had been a defining feature of Walker's Tribune Tower proposal. The Barclay–Vesey Building's architecture has been compared to San Antonio's Milam Building, the largest pre-stressed concrete and brick office building and the first to have an integrated designed-in air conditioning system. Walker subsequently designed other Art Deco buildings in the New York City area, such as the New Jersey Bell Headquarters Building (1929), 60 Hudson Street (1930), 101 Willoughby Street and 1 Wall Street (1931), and 32 Avenue of the Americas (1932), as well as telephone buildings in Upstate New York.;
Form
The massing of the Barclay–Vesey Building includes numerous setbacks.; Though setbacks in New York City skyscrapers were mandated by the 1916 Zoning Resolution to allow light and air to reach the streets below,; they later became a defining feature of the Art Deco style. The lowest ten floors of the building occupy the entire area of the city block. Above the 10th floor, there are setbacks on the north and south elevations of the facade. Narrow and deep light courts, to the west and east, create an H-shaped floor plan from the 11th to the 17th floors. There are smaller setbacks at each corner on the 13th floor. The building rises as a tower above the 17th floor, though smaller wings flank the northern and southern elevations on the 18th and 19th floors. The rectangular tower is aligned with buildings on Broadway to the east, so it is parallel to Barclay and Vesey Streets.
During the design process, Walker had considered plans for "a series of stacked blocks connected by blunt transitions", though this proposal lacked a unified sense of character. The appearance of unity was ultimately attained through the inclusion of piers on the facade. These piers divide the facade into bays. The western and eastern elevations of the Barclay–Vesey Building's facade are 19 bays wide, while the northern and southern elevations contain 23 bays each.
The Barclay–Vesey Building's form was also influenced by its interior use. There were numerous functions that did not necessitate sunlight and could operate using artificial light, such as the central operating system and the mechanical space, which was placed inside the building's core. The mechanical core was an important consideration since, at the time, office buildings largely relied on natural ventilation through means such as light courts. Because the office space was placed on the exterior walls, the lowest ten stories did not need light courts. As a result, the base could also occupy the entire lot area, with higher setbacks than in other office buildings.
Facade The facade was inspired by Maya architecture. Above the granite base, the exterior is clad with brick in hues of green, gold, and buff, a material that Walker preferred for its texture and color. There is cast-stone ornamentation on the building's upper floors, as well as patterned motifs and limestone decoration on the lower floors. The builders used machines to create as many of the decorative features as possible.; The Barclay–Vesey Building also contains serrated stone-and-light-brick parapets, which, when combined with the building's vertical piers, give a naturalistic "alpine" look to the setbacks. When taken as a whole, the materials of the facade were intended to give an impression of stability and mass.
The facade also serves a protective purpose: the steel frame is enclosed within , heavy masonry in the exterior infill walls. This was composed of of face brick and of terracotta, laid in Portland cement mortar with a waterproofing compound. Face brick on terracotta was used because it was cheaper than solid brick. The windows had wire-glass panes and hollow steel frames for fireproofing. The modern-day facade contains some Indiana limestone slabs measuring thick; these were installed after the building was damaged during the September 11 attacks in 2001. Thicker limestone panels, measuring thick, were installed around the main entrance.The ornamentation on the facade was carried out by Ulysses Ricci and John De Cesare. Walker wanted the ornamentation to attract passersby and to temper the building's large mass. For the Barclay–Vesey Building, Walker eschewed traditional motifs, such as egg-and-dart patterns, which he saw as cliched. He wrote that the decorative elements should be "so complicated in its structure as not to be readily comprehended; its framework should be as hidden as the steel structure itself."; It includes complex foliage; babies and animal heads; and a bell above the door, symbolizing the telephone company. The bell was the only decoration on the facade that indicated the building's original use as a telecommunications center. Though Walker characterized the ornamental program as "free and flowing", it was actually rigid and complex. Architectural critic Lewis Mumford stated that the ornamental program at ground level was an extensive "rock garden".;
Ground story The main facades are on West and Washington Streets to the west and east, respectively. At the center of each side, there are large entrance portals that are three bays wide and two stories tall. These portals contain bronze-framed doorways with decorative motifs. Above the doors are bronze screens with vine-and-grape ornamentation; these formerly also contained motifs of bells to represent the New York Telephone Company. The main entrance portals are framed with a decorative limestone lintel depicting a bird and human figures. The limestone friezes above each set of doors depict a bell flanked by a Mongolian and a Native American, which respectively symbolize the Eastern world and the Western world.; On the West Street facade, the main entrance portal is flanked on either side by two single-width double-height bays, a triple-width double-height bay, and another single-width double-height bay. These double-height bays contain storefronts. From top to bottom, the storefronts at the base are generally composed of a solid panel, glazed glass, and a decorative transom.
There is an enclosed, arched arcade above the Vesey Street sidewalk on the southern facade, measuring approximately wide and long. There are 12 arches in total; each corresponds to two window bays above, except the westernmost arch, which corresponds to one window bay. The arches are supported by brick piers while the ceilings are composed of Guastavino tiles. The arcade was a compromise design because the city wanted to expand the street during the building's construction, while Walker wanted a larger base. The arcade was called "one of the most comfortable shopping fronts in New York City" when the Barclay–Vesey Building was completed, but because it was so dark, the arcade did not receive too much pedestrian traffic. Nevertheless, numerous enterprises were located in the arcade, including a circulating library. The Vesey Street storefronts were converted to office space by the 2000s.
The north facade also contains storefronts set within double-width, double-height arches. Two of the central arches were converted into rectangular garage openings.
Upper stories