United States Realty Building (New York City, New York)

 office building, high-rise, Neo-Gothic (architecture), 1907_construction

 Upload a photo

282-foot, 21-story Neo-Gothic office building completed in 1907. Designed by Francis H. Kimball, it is one of the "Thames Twins" towers, along with One Trinity Centre. There is a bridge connecting the two buildings at the roof line, added in 1912 to designs by Kimball. Originally conceived as two freestanding office buildings to be erected simultaneously, they were actually built two years apart and not as identical structures due to delays in securing the sites. To obtain equal sites, it was necessary to move Thames Street 28 feet to the north, and to close Temple Street, which then ran between Thames and Cedar Streets, bisecting the site of the U.S. Realty Building.

The foundations of both buildings were set using pneumatic caissons sunk to a depth of 85 feet. The U.S. Realty Building, like the Trinity Building, is clad in Indiana limestone atop a shallow water table of pink granite. On the north and south sides, a basement of unpolished granite with blind, segmental-arches increases in height as the site slopes downward 11 feet between Broadway and Trinity Place.

The main Broadway facade features a basket-arched portal. The grand entrance has ornamental, molded jambs and archivolts springs from elaborate, figurative bosses. The recessed doorway has a decorative bronze grille at the transom which was fabricated by the Winslow Bros. Company. The portal is set within a projecting, stepped pediment ornamented with two shields and a ribbon on which is written "ERECTED A.D. 1907". One shield has stars and stripes, and the other has a sunset and the world "EXCELSIOR". The pediment intersects a molded stringcourse, similar to those marking the 5th, 8th, 14th & 18th floors. Flanking the entrance are large, basket-arched windows, the transoms of which have bronze tracery and stained glass.

The Broadway facade has a 3-story gabled bay centered above the entrance. It contains three rectangular windows, continued above a stone balustrade by double-height, pointed-arched windows. Bundled piers topped by engaged finials, some with crouching lions, outline the bays and give an undulating effect to the wall surface. This major bay is identical to bays on the northern and Trinity Place elevations, which together articulate the base of the building.

The 4-story base of the northern side elevation features an arcade of single- and double-height basket-arched windows, with paired, rectangular "clerestory" windows above. Bays alternate with thin, bundled piers, topped with ornate engaged finials. The arched windows have bronze tracery and infill panels, as well as stained glass. Tall, gables bays flank the arcade. The pointed gables intersect a dentiled cornice with gargoyles at the corners capping the base.

The 13-story shaft, on all three major elevations, is punctuated by bays of paired , rectangular windows with simple sills. Alternating bays have Gothic details: inscribed arches with decorative shields at the 6th floor, balustrades at the 8th, blind tracery at the 9th, and pointed gables at the 15th floor. Decorative moldings, and figurative finials and bosses add texture to the flat treatment of the wall surface. The shaft is terminated by a row of Gothic brackets supporting a dentiled cornice.

The upper floors feature an arcade of double-height, basket-arched windows containing bronze infill panels and tracery in the transoms, alternating with pointed, engaged buttresses. End bays, continuing the gabled bays of the base, have triple-height Gothic windows, framed with fretwork and are surmounted by high, crenelated parapets on the northern elevation, or stepped parapets with ribbed panels on the Broadway and Trinity Place facades, which form tower-like terminations to the roof line. Tall pinnacles with ball finials also add interest to the roof line of the northern elevation. In 1912, a copper-clad addition was erected on a portion of the roof in order to accommodate one story of the new Lawyers Club.

The Trinity Place facade, much narrower than the southern elevation, has the same general bay articulation, with one major bay rising from base to crown. The entrance is much less elaborate than that of the primary facade, consisting of a simple rectangular opening in the granite base. The Thames Street elevation is comparatively unarticulated, apart from 1-bay returns from the Broadway and Trinity Place ends. In 1912 a small footbridge was erected across Thames Street, joining the roofs of the two buildings. Designed by Kimball, the bridge has steel framing and ornamental wrought-iron panels with a quatrefoil pattern.

The U.S. Realty Building has continually served as offices since its completion. The ground floor is occupied by a Starbucks coffee, and Men's Wearhouse, with the basement level at the west end occupied by Big Al's Pizza, Stanley's Shoe Shoe/Shoe Repair, Sabor de Mexico restaurant, Panini & Co. Breads, and Trinity Place bar.

archive.org/details/WinslowBrothersCompany/page/n23/mod...
archive.org/details/gri_33125005937038/page/n420/mode/1...