Ted Weiss Federal Building (New York City, New York)

 office building, skyscraper, 1994 construction, environmental protection agency, federal government, postmodern (architecture)

475-feet, 34-story postmodern office building completed in 1994, also known as the Foley Square Federal Office Building. Designed by Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum (HOK Architects), it was designed to be among the most energy efficient buildings in its class. The facades are clad in grey granite with punched windows in bronze-colored aluminum frames. The base portion of the building, comprised of the first seven floors, is a plinth-like shape pushed out from the rest of the building. The water table of the base section is clad with a Cedar Rose granite. On the north facade, fronting Duane Street, the base is further enhanced by a block-wide barrel-vaulted lobby that is pierced by a series of 2-story, large window openings at the ground level.

The south, east and west elevations of the building lack the depth of the north elevation, and are more modest in design. The east elevation, facing Elk Street and the west elevation, fronting Broadway, are very similar in design and fenestration. The form of the east and west elevations follows a stepped back design emanating from the north side of the building. The east elevation, fronting the African Burial Ground, has a nearly symmetrical axis established by a series of banked louvered windows in the base section of the building. The west elevation mirrors the configuration of the east elevation. Unlike the east elevation, the west elevation fronts a busy commercial street. The base section incorporates large show windows placed above the granite water table.

Above the base, the center section of the south facade bulges outward in an shallow arc, capped at the 28th floor by a wider, 2-story arc with horizontal bands of glass. Above this, the facade is punctuated by a 3-story tall cylinder, centered in the main roof line. Crowning the entire building is an open barrel vaulted cage, placed atop a granite-sheathed, box-shaped penthouse housing the mechanical systems for the building. On the north facade, the center section rises vertically to a setback near the roof line, above which there is a shallow-arced colonnade, and then the penthouse with its rounded, barrel-vaulted top.

Among other federal agencies the building houses:
Internal Revenue Service,
the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and
the Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2 offices.

The 30th floor is devoted to conference and meeting room space with ten conference rooms and pre-assembly areas. As with all new Federal buildings one half of one percent (00.5%) of the estimated construction cost for the Foley Square Federal Building was set aside for Art-in-Architecture projects. One of the upper conference floors was used as a filming location for the S2 E01 premiere of White Collar where Peter Burke was being deposed after the death of Kate. The cast remarked that they were so lucky to have found a location that had magnificent views.

During construction of the Foley Square Project which included both the Weiss Federal Building and the Moynihan Courthouse at 500 Pearl Street, an African burial ground was discovered. The project was revised in order to preserve what is now known as the African Burial Ground National Monument and was transferred to the National Park Service in 2006. The African Burial Ground National Monument Visitor Center is located on the first floor of the Weiss Federal Building.