55 Wall Street - Architecture

Architecture

The original building was designed by Boston architect Isaiah Rogers in the Greek Revival style and built in 1836-1842. The facade of the original four-story, Greek revival style featured sixteen massive Ionic columns, each a single block of Quincy Granite.

In 1899, National City Bank, which subsequently became Citibank, commissioned architect Charles McKim of McKim, Mead & White to remodel the building for use as their headquarters. The architects added four stories to the building and superimposed a second colonnade of Corinthian columns above the original facade. They also redesigned the interior into an immense banking hall featuring a sixty-foot-high central dome and offices at each corner. Monumental Corinthian columns support an elegant entablature that circles the space. The room features elegant gray marble floors and walls, a coffered ceiling, and delicate mezzanine railings.

The exterior of this building was designated a New York City Landmark in 1965. The building was named a National Historic Landmark in 1978.

In 1998 it was completely rebuilt as The Regent Wall Street Hotel. After the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, 55 Wall Street served as a relief center for workers and area residents. The hotel closed in 2003 due to lack of business after the 9/11 attacks. It has recently been renovated again and was converted to condos by the Cipriani S.A. empire of restaurants and ballrooms. The main banking hall "now serves as one of the most elegant ballrooms in the world", and has been called a "facility unequaled in America"

The Designated Landmark of New York City plaque was installed by the New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation in 2002.