The Greater Whitehall Building

 office building, skyscraper, historic landmark

423-foot, 32-story office building completed in 1911. Designed by Clinton & Russell as an annex to the adjoining Whitehall Building to the south, in response to the success of the Whitehall Building. At the time of its completion, it was the largest office building in New York City.

The Greater Whitehall Building is joined to the original by a 2-story link on West Street that is topped by a stone balustrade. A further link is at the 6th floor level, where a stone skybridge with a shallow-arched bottom side spans the gap. It is also topped with a balustrade. Behind these are a small open courtyard, and a plain, 2-bay walls section rising parallel to West Street. This joins to another part which is convexly-curved, with five window bays, and clad in cast-iron. This, in turn, joins another section of the Greater Whitehall with three bays that face south (across from the older building), displaying unadorned, square-headed windows. Above this linked section, the south-facing facade is five bays wide. The paired windows in the two outside bays are encased in an elongated arch, running from the 24th to the 30th story. The wide bay in the center has four windows at each floor and extends higher than the side bays, to a broad, round-arched parapet which projects above the cornice line. Crowning the parapet is a raked stone balustrade flanked by volutes. Ornate terra-cotta ornaments, including human figures, are located on each side of the central arch.

The Greater Whitehall 11 bays has facing West Street. Although it is much taller than the original Whitehall, it carries many of the horizontal division of the earlier building. The recessed and paired square-headed windows are joined by thin pilasters and have metal spandrels between the floors. The double-height entrance to this building is located in the second-to-last bay toward the south; it is set within a stone portico formed by double columns supporting a simple entablature engraved with the worlds "WHITEHALL BUILDING". Two pyramidal pylons support a plain, stone parapet above this. A couple bays to the north are a vehicular entrance and exit to the parking garage.

The next four transitional floors are also faced in limestone, with continuous piers between the bays which are marked by capitals and terra-cotta ornament at the top. A terra-cotta, egg-and-dart motif band course tops this section. The main section of the building extends from the 7th to the 22nd floors. Simple, paired, square-headed windows with stones sills fill each bay while continuous, wide brick piers rise between the bays. Large, terra-cotta ornamented tablets are located between each bay at the 7th floor and hang down between each bay at the 22nd floor. The corner piers have a rusticated effect.

Terra-cotta band courses above and below the 23rd floor create another transition to the top section. Brick panels mark the piers between each bay. The windows of the 24th floor are more highly decorated, with scroll brackets between them which support small balconettes at the 25th floor. Between the 25th and 29th floors the piers rise continuously between paired, recessed windows to form a round-arched arcade. The double windows of the 30th floor are also round-headed within the arcade. Between the rounded arches of the large arcade are large terra-cotta ornaments including disks, panels and heads, joining with the terra-cotta cornice at this level. The 31st floor has elaborate terra-cotta ornament around each of the paired, square-headed windows. A brick parapet tops this level and is crowned by a metal railing. Recessed behind the railing is the 32nd penthouse floor. At the southern end of the roof is a large water tower.

The east facade of the Greater Whitehall Building extends to the north for five bays near the center of the rear of the original building. It then steps back one bay, and continues north for another eight bays, abutting the newer building that fronts Washington Street. The same ornamentation and patterns as on West Street are repeated here. The north facade is just visible above a low garage - it is faced in yellow brick and mostly plain, with rustication continuing on each corner pier. Above the 24th-floor cornice, the three bays are articulated in the form of an arcade, as on the other facades. The 30th-floor windows are round-headed, while the 31st floor has single, square-headed windows with terra-cotta ornament between them. The cornice has been removed from this facade, but there is a raked parapet in the form of a blind colonnade which projects above the building, creating a visual focus on this side of the structure, and balancing the larger parapet on the southern side.

The pair of buildings (Whitehall and Greater Whitehall) was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on February 8, 2000 and have maintained their integrity.