The Whitehall Building (New York City, New York)

 office building, apartment building, 1904_construction, historic landmark, historical building

259-foot, 20-story Beaux-Arts mixed-use building completed in 1904 as a speculative office building. Designed by Henry J. Hardenbergh with an addition by Clinton & Russell, the building received its name from Peter Stuyvesant's 17th-century home, "White Hall," which had been located nearby. It is located on a highly visible site at the southern end of Manhattan, overlooking Battery Park.

The Battery Place facade is symmetrical and divided vertically into six sections; the six central bays are faced differently and slightly recessed from the three bays on each side. The building sits on a raised granite basement, above which the first and mezzanine floors are clad in rounded, rusticated limestone. The center section has three large, round-arched openings; the outer two are reached by sets of stone stairs, and have the original stone lintels with a grotesque carved head and flanking disks mounted on the center keystone of the entablature. Above the central opening is a stone plaque with "17 BATTERY PLACE" on it, and lion's heads and bellflower ornaments flanking it. To each side of this center opening is a large, historic, copper-and-glass lantern. Above each of these, at the mezzanine level, is a stone panel embellished by a torch, wings and entwined serpents. Above each of the three main openings is a semi-circular transom window with multi-layered keystones. Each of the two side sections of the base is three bays wide, with a smaller central doorway and two flanking windows on the first floor, and three windows on the mezzanine floor. All these openings are topped by flat arches with bold, rounded voussoirs. A plain, broad limestone band course separates this lowest part of the building from that above.

The next, transitional section is four stories high, topped again by a terra-cotta band course. This section is clad in tan brick with stone trim, the brick laid with deep recesses to simulate rustication. Within each bay are paired, square-headed windows joined by a narrow cast-iron pilaster. The windows and the terra-cotta spandrels, which are embellished by ornamented cartouches and tablets, are slightly recessed to create the effect of continuous piers between the bays. In the center section these piers are edged with stone and have concave corners. The 4th-story window openings are more highly ornamented, with narrow, ornate cast-iron railings in front, and voussoirs and pediments above the windows on the two side sections. On the recessed center section, each window of the 4th floor has a prominent keystone and swags that run across the top and down the sides. The paired, 5th-story windows are plain, with brick and terra-cotta piers between them. The piers at the four corners of the side sections are ornamented by large, square, embellished terra-cotta tablets.

The largest section of the building rises from the 6th to the 16th floor. The six central bays are clad in red brick, the darker color making this part of the building appear to recede even more than it does. On the two flanking sections, the brickwork is yellow alternating with recessed, narrow red brick bands. Throughout this section the windows are plain, square-headed, and paired in each bay, with terra-cotta sills.

The top section of the building is set off by an elaborate terra-cotta band course above the 16th floor. Each bay has paired windows with broad brick piers between them. Large, rounded, and embellished terra-cotta tablets are affixed to each pier at the 17th floor. Above a projecting cornice, the next two floors have paired windows in each bay with terra-cotta spandrels. The windows of the 19th floor are fronted by ornate cast-iron railings and topped by brick voussoirs. The brick piers between each bay have simulated rustication and each is crowned by a terra-cotta ornament with foliate swags hanging from each side. A narrower, replacement fiberglass cornice crowns the building above this floor. In the center, a shallow, triangular, brick-faced pediment rises above this cornice with an oculus window surrounded by torches and swags in the highest part. Small turrets topped by pyramid-like forms in terra-cotta rise above the roof at the corners of each side section, remnants of a balustrade that originally crowned the roof.

The 5-bay wide West Street facade continues the motifs and materials used on the south facade. The lower two floors are faced in rusticated limestone, a 4-story transitional section in tan brick, and the upper floors in yellow brick with recessed narrow red brick bands. The two metal cornices seen near the top of the Battery Place facade have been removed from this side. The east facade is exactly the same as the west, except that it is four bays wide instead of five. The northern elevations are mostly obscured by the adjoining annex, but the exposed walls are clad in plain tan brick, with regular square-headed windows.

The Whitehall Building, together with its later annex building (Greater Whitehall) were designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on February 8, 2000. It was largely converted into apartments in 1999. Part of the ground floor is occupied by Cucina Liberta Bakery, Deli, and Grocery, and a Duane-Reade pharmacy.

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1911-03-12/e...