23 Wall Street, Manhattan: architect, style and history

23 Wall Street, also known as the J.P. Morgan Building, is a four-story office building at the southeast corner of Wall Street and Broad Street in the Financial District. Designed by Trowbridge & Livingston in the Neoclassical style and constructed from 1913 to 1914, it served as the headquarters of J.P. Morgan & Co., becoming known as the "House of Morgan" even though the Morgan name never appeared on its exterior. Since the late 2000s the building has remained unoccupied for long stretches, occasionally hosting events.

the building

Facade materials. The building is faced in ashlar masonry and pink Tennessee marble, with a piano nobile over a low basement on the first floor, and a second story, main cornice, and two more stories above.

The banking room. The ground-floor banking room, which took up nearly the entire floor, was designed with a domed, coffered ceiling and later fitted with a large crystal chandelier. Vaults and mechanical systems sat in the basement, with executive offices on the upper floors.

the style

The Neoclassical design gave the private bank a monumental, temple-like presence at one of the financial world's most important corners, without ever needing to advertise its name.

the architect

Trowbridge & Livingston was a notable New York firm active in the early twentieth century, working on institutional and commercial commissions of this scale.

significance

23 Wall Street is a New York City Landmark and is both listed on and a contributing property to the National Register of Historic Places.

nearby

Federal Hall 150 ft · Greek Revival · 1842
New York Stock Exchange 180 ft · Neoclassical · 1903
40 Wall Street 240 ft · Art Deco · 1930
14 Wall Street 240 ft · Neoclassical · 1912
Broad Exchange Building 350 ft · Renaissance Revival
1 Wall Street Building 360 ft · Art Deco · 1932

All 413 buildings in Manhattan