American Surety Building

 office building, bank, skyscraper, 1896_construction

338-foot, 23-story neo-Renaissance office building completed in 1896. Designed by Bruce Price, it was originally built as the American Surety Company Building, and was the 2nd-tallest in the city when completed. It was one of the first buildings in the city to incorporate such structural techniques as steel framing, curtain wall construction, and caisson foundation piers that carry a cantilevered steel foundation structure. From 1920-1922, the building was expanded by four bays along two of the facades greatly altering the proportions of the building. The architect, Herman Lee Meader, matched the original design, but the tower lost much of it's "soaring" character.

The facades are clad in grey Maine granite with terra-cotta facing at the penthouse. The neo-Renaissance design has a tripartite arrangement of stories with a three-story base, a twelve-story mid-section, and a six-story top (with an additional two-story setback penthouse), organized in to eleven bays on each facade. The two facades are almost identical in design, except for the sculptural elaboration on Broadway.

The 3-story base features a double-height fluted Ionic colonnade supporting an entablature with a foliate frieze above the carved inscription "BANK OF TOKYO" accented with applied gold leaf. An open arcade has been created behind the columns. The first-story windows are set back and open onto the arcade, while the second-story windows are set slightly behind the upper portions of the columns. At the south end of the facade is the entrance to the office floors, set within an overscaled surround surmounted by a stylized pediment containing a helmeted head. The carved inscription over the doorway reads "100 BROADWAY." A bronze transom over the entrance doors is filled with a shield and eagle and a tablet reading "100 BROADWAY." At the 3rd floor the windows are flanked by classical sculptured figures, while carved eagles perched on swords and set on rondels , the symbol of American Surety, are placed at the north and south ends. An entablature surmounts the 3rd floor, setting off the transitional 4th floor.

On Pine Street, above a granite water table, 2-story piers with anthemion capitals support an entablature which is a continuation of that on the Broadway facade. A service entrance at the east end is set within an over-scaled granite surround with stylized pediment, and has a sign reading "100 BROADWAY" over the doorway. The 3rd-floor windows have projecting surrounds linked by foliate spandrels. The entablature surmounting the third story is a continuation of that on the Broadway facade.

On both facades, the transitional 4th floor is topped by a bandcourse. The walls of the mid-section are treated as banded piers and pierced by rectangular window openings which are set off by vertical strips and sill panels decorated with a Greek key pattern or a series of disks. Stylized applied figural sculptures, flanking the 4th and 8th bays, extend from the 14th floor to the transitional 15th floor on the Broadway facade. On both facades, the 15th floor has arched window openings with masks incorporated into the arch spandrels that set off a cornice.

The top section of the building on both facades is articulated by a 2-story colonnade composed of Corinthian pilasters which flank window openings; those at the 17th floor are surmounted by arched pediments. The colonnade is set off by transitional stories above and below, each punctuated by square window openings. This is crowned by a massive projecting stone cornice with foliate modillions. The set-back 20th & 21st floors have openings flanked by piers and topped by a cornice. The southern elevation of these two stories, part of Price's tower scheme, are still partially visible. The 2-story penthouse is set back even further; it is topped by its own cornice, crested with a row of anthemia.

Inside, overhead, the coffered ceiling was originally black with abundant detail picked out in gold. On both sides below it were friezes. The ground floor is currently occupied by a Duane-Reade pharmacy, and TD Ameritrade.

archive.org/details/landmarksofnewyo0006eddiam_h5l5/pag...