1 Wall Street Court

1 Wall Street Court is in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. It occupies most of the block bounded by Hanover Street to the west, Pearl Street to the southeast, and Beaver Street to the north, with facades on Pearl and Beaver Streets. The building faces eastward toward the five-pointed intersection of Pearl, Beaver, and Wall Streets. It is near 55 Wall Street and 20 Exchange Place to the northwest, 63 Wall Street to the north, and 75 Wall Street to the east. The property measures on Beaver Street, on Pearl Street, on the intersection with Wall Street, and on the west. The plot covers . Including a four-story annex at 80 Beaver Street, it measures on Beaver Street and on Pearl Street. The narrow lot was a result of the Financial District's street grid, as outlined in the Castello Plan, a street map for the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. The site was historically part of the estate of pirate William Kidd. Nearby buildings include the Wall and Hanover Building to the north and 20 Exchange Place to the northwest. == Architecture ==

1 Wall Street Court was designed by Clinton and Russell in the Renaissance Revival style. It is tall with 15 stories and a partially raised basement. 1 Wall Street Court is one of a few buildings in Lower Manhattan that are shaped like a flatiron, but its design was largely overlooked in favor of other buildings such as the Flatiron Building at 23rd Street. Facade 1 Wall Street Court's articulation consists of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, shaft, and capital. The two principal elevations on Pearl and Beaver Streets are joined by a rounded corner on Wall Street. The western facade, treated as the rear of the building, is a plain brick wall with windows. There was a fire escape on the Pearl Street side, dating from 1916, but was removed in the early 21st century. Additional entrances were on the building's western end, originally leading to the elevator lobby. The entrance on Pearl Street, which was formerly located under the Third Avenue elevated line, is more simply designed and contains revolving doors under a canopy. There are panels between the window groupings on the third story, and a cornice over the third story. Features 1 Wall Street Court contains a superstructure made entirely of steel. The floor arches and partitions are made of fireproof brick. In the original layout, all woodwork was covered with fireproof materials; the floors of the corridors were made of mosaic and marble, while the office floors were made of cement. 1 Wall Street Court contains four elevators along its western side. An enclosed fire stair with marble treads is on the building's northwest corner. The first-story and mezzanine space was intended to be used by banks, while the basement was reserved for restaurants. and there were glass panels along the corridors prior to the building's 1937 renovation. Further renovations led to the replacement of the floors, walls, and doors. By 2006, the office space was converted to 126 condominium apartments. == History ==

Construction During the late 19th century, builders began erecting tall office buildings in New York City, especially in Lower Manhattan, where they were compelled to build tall structures due to a lack of available land. One such project was led by the Century Realty Company, who hired Clinton and Russell in 1903 to design a speculative development on a narrow lot at Beaver and Pearl Streets. took up offices in the Beaver Building in May 1904. The building was sold to the Hoffman family in 1905 for $1.25 million in cash. The New York Times described the transaction as the "first cash purchase of a downtown skyscraper reported in several years". Shortly afterward, the company announced plans for the 25-story Munson Building at 67 Wall Street, across Beaver Street from the Beaver Building. When the Munson Building opened in 1921, it replaced the Beaver Building as the Munson Line's headquarters. Cocoa Exchange use In April 1931, the New York Cocoa Exchange—at the time described by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and The New York Times as the world's largest cocoa market—moved to the Beaver-Munson Building from its original headquarters at 124 Water Street. By 1937, the Munson Building Corporation had a debt of $831,690, and the Beaver Building was foreclosed upon. The Beaver Building and a four-story extension at 80 Beaver Street went up for auction in April 1937. The winning bid was from the Bowery Savings Bank, who had bid $500,000. increasing the exchange's floor area from to . In October 1937, the bank announced plans to renovate the building at a cost of between two and three hundred thousand dollars. The Beaver Building's electrical, heating, and plumbing systems would be replaced, and the facade would be extensively cleaned. The interiors would also receive major modifications, with new automatic elevators and rearranged interior partitions. The first floor partition wall was relocated to the west and a new stair was built to the mezzanine. The building was sold again in 1951, this time to an investment syndicate represented by lawyer David Rapoport. At the time, the Buffet Exchange Restaurant and the Cocoa Exchange were both lessees of the space. Records indicate that the lobby was renovated again during 1952, during which deteriorated marble paneling was removed. However, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission states that 82 Beaver Company owned the Cocoa Exchange Building between 1951 and 1981. Later use In January 1985, British developers London & Leeds acquired the Beaver Building, at which point about 70 percent of the space was vacant. After purchasing the building, London & Leeds renamed it One Wall Street Court and renovated the interior, refurbishing the lobby, elevators, and electrical and HVAC systems. Inside, the first-floor partition wall was removed and the mezzanine stair was again replaced. By mid-2004, 1 Wall Street Court was undergoing conversion into a residential building. The conversion was completed around 2006, and the building became a residential condominium development with 126 units. A sushi restaurant was also opened at the building's base. == Impact ==

1 Wall Street Court was one of the first tall structures in New York City to use multicolored glazed terracotta. Prior to the 1920s, few buildings in the city used this type of material, exceptions including the Madison Square Presbyterian Church and the Broadway–Chambers Building. The writer Herbert Croly, in an Architectural Record article, was a proponent of such decoration. However, he was critical of its use on 1 Wall Street Court, saying that the tiles did not "harmonize with each other, nor do they constitute a pleasing scheme of decoration for the top stories of a tall building". The building was used as the setting for the exterior shots of the Continental Hotel in the 2014 film John Wick. Nicholas Bernstein, the location manager for the film, said 1 Wall Street Court had been selected because "it was so unique and so cool and so different". The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 6, 2005. In 2007, the building was designated as a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, == See also ==