A façade or facade ( / f ə ˈ s ɑː d / ; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building . It is a loanword from the French façade ( pronounced [fasad] ), which means " frontage " or " face ".
123-601: The Greenwich Savings Bank Building , also known as the Haier Building and 1356 Broadway , is an office building at 1352–1362 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City . Constructed as the headquarters of the Greenwich Savings Bank from 1922 to 1924, it occupies a trapezoidal parcel bounded by 36th Street to the south, Sixth Avenue to the east, and Broadway to
246-530: A metonym for it, as well as in the names of alternative theatrical ventures such as Off-Broadway and Off-off-Broadway . Broadway was originally the Wickquasgeck trail, carved into the brush of Manhattan by its Native American inhabitants. This trail originally snaked through swamps and rocks along the length of Manhattan Island. Upon the arrival of the Dutch , the trail was widened and soon became
369-525: A Georgian building, but the appearance is only skin deep and some of the interior rooms still have Jacobean plasterwork ceilings. This new construction has happened also in other places: in Santiago de Compostela the three-metre-deep Casa do Cabido was built to match the architectural order of the square, and the main Churrigueresque façade of the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral , facing
492-460: A black-and-white tesserae border. The walls have wrought bronze radiator grills. Above the double door facing Broadway is a transom window with five panes. The ceiling is made of plaster and has shallow coffers. The vestibule on the east side of the ground floor, leading from Sixth Avenue, has nearly identical materials to the Broadway vestibule, but with taller dimensions. The Sixth Avenue vestibule
615-531: A design for the structure. The committee had decided to create a building with many elements in the Corinthian order. Furthermore, as the bank's headquarters had been on Sixth Avenue for nearly all of its history, the committee planned a facade to face Sixth Avenue as well. By early 1922, York and Sawyer were hired as architects while Marc Eidlitz & Son were awarded the general contract. York and Sawyer might have been selected because of their previous work with
738-676: A hotel, live seals were kept in indoor fountains inside its lobby. Later, it was home to the infamous Plato's Retreat nightclub. Immediately north of Verdi Square is the Apple Bank Building , formerly the Central Savings Bank, which was built in 1926 and designed to resemble the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Broadway is also home to the Beacon Theatre at West 74th Street , designated
861-512: A marble floor, and a coffered, domed ceiling with a large skylight. The bronze tellers' screens contain sculptures of Minerva (symbolizing wisdom) and Mercury (representing commerce). The Greenwich Savings Bank Building opened in May 1924 and operated as the headquarters of that bank until 1981. Afterward, the building was occupied by other banks for two decades. The building was purchased by Chinese appliance company Haier in 2001 and soon afterward
984-481: A national landmark in 1979 and still in operation as a concert venue after its establishment in 1929 as a vaudeville and music hall, and "sister" venue to Radio City Music Hall . At its intersection with West 78th Street, Broadway shifts direction and continues directly uptown and aligned approximately with the Commissioners' grid. Past the bend are the historic Apthorp apartment building, built in 1908, and
1107-476: A one-block stretch between 24th and 25th Streets. At Greeley Square (West 32nd Street), Broadway crosses Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas), and is discontinuous to vehicles until West 35th Street. Macy's Herald Square department store, one block north of the vehicular discontinuity, is located on the northwest corner of Broadway and West 34th Street and southwest corner of Broadway and West 35th Street; it
1230-599: A pilot program; the right-of-way is intact and reserved for cyclists and pedestrians. From the northern shore of Manhattan, Broadway crosses Spuyten Duyvil Creek via the Broadway Bridge and continues through Marble Hill (a discontiguous portion of the borough of Manhattan) and the Bronx into Westchester County . U.S. 9 continues to be known as Broadway until its junction with NY 117 . The section of lower Broadway from its origin at Bowling Green to City Hall Park
1353-586: A shared street. Broadway runs the length of Manhattan Island, roughly parallel to the North River (the portion of the Hudson River bordering Manhattan), from Bowling Green at the south to Inwood at the northern tip of the island. South of Columbus Circle , it is a one-way southbound street. Since 2009, vehicular traffic has been banned at Times Square between 47th and 42nd Streets , and at Herald Square between 35th and 33rd Streets as part of
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#17327827654361476-578: A similar street in Amsterdam – or "High Street" or "the Highway"; it was renamed "Broadway" after the British took over the city, because of its unusual width. Although currently the name of the street is simply "Broadway", in a 1776 map of New York City, it is labeled as "Broadway Street". In the 18th century, Broadway ended at the town commons north of Wall Street . The part of Broadway in what
1599-432: A square at the center, with a rosette as well as a hexagonal lantern hanging from the rosette. South of the Broadway foyer is an irregularly shaped space that was used as a comptroller's office. The comptroller's office has a coffered ceiling, moldings on the walls, two stone columns, and doorways from the foyer and banking room. North of the foyer is a stair hall with a coffered ceiling and smooth stone walls, which leads to
1722-419: A staircase with a barrel-vaulted ceiling. The western wall of this stair hall has a vestibule leading to the boardroom; this vestibule has wooden walls and a plaster ceiling. In both the stair hall and the boardroom vestibule, the floor is tiled similarly to in the Broadway foyer. The elliptical banking room was designed to maximize space usage in the trapezoidal lot. It is accessed from the Broadway vestibule on
1845-488: A subsidiary of the Chinese appliance company Haier, purchased the building the following month for $ 14 million. The sale excluded 235,000 square feet (21,800 m) of development rights associated with the building, which a buyer could potentially transfer to a nearby structure. Haier planned to operate a showroom and restaurant in the banking space, leasing the restaurant operations to another entity, and making 1356 Broadway
1968-535: A tenant who could sign a long-term triple net lease running for at least 10 years. They created several renderings for alternative uses of the banking hall, including an auditorium, trading floor, restaurant, and store. HSBC , which occupied the banking space, was planning to relocate to a much smaller space at 1350 Broadway. Himmel & Meringoff had not wanted to sell the building, but they were forced to reject several potential applicants for having insufficient credit . HSBC departed in May 2001, and Haier America,
2091-552: A thickness of 3 feet (0.91 m), was designed by Frederick S. Holmes and was the second-largest in the United States at the time of the building's completion, surpassed only by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland 's vault. There was a telephone and small emergency exit in the vault. The vault still existed by the 2000s, but the layout of the basement had changed drastically. Two mezzanines were placed at
2214-408: Is a Corinthian octastyle , a portico with eight columns. Behind the colonnade, the ceiling of the portico is divided into coffers . Behind the colonnade are rusticated blocks, as well as three large arched windows topped by archivolts . There are antae and unfluted pilasters on either side of the octastyle. The bottom of the colonnade consists of a dado , which corresponds to the second floor and
2337-823: Is a loanword from the French façade , which in turn comes from the Italian facciata , from faccia meaning 'face', ultimately from post-classical Latin facia . The earliest usage recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is 1656. It was quite common in the Georgian period for existing houses in English towns to be given a fashionable new façade. For example, in the city of Bath , The Bunch of Grapes in Westgate Street appears to be
2460-494: Is a molded doorway and bronze double doors near the center of this facade. Because the site slopes upward slightly toward the east, there are no stairs in front of this doorway. In addition, the eared tablet above the Sixth Avenue facade instead bears the carved word 985 sixth ave . There are three windows on either side of the doorway, the outer two of which have iron grills and the inner of which has bronze frames. South of
2583-435: Is a vestibule shaped as an irregular octagon. This vestibule has a travertine marble floor that is bordered by Belgian black marble. A strip of black-and-white tesserae and a double strip of black tesserae run around the black marble floor. The center of the floor surface has a lozenge measuring 29 by 31 inches (740 by 790 mm), which has a depiction of a black-tesserae triton within a green-and-white marble background and
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#17327827654362706-401: Is also cruciform and symmetrical, rather than being irregularly shaped. From the Broadway entrance vestibule, a revolving door leads east to another octagonal space, a foyer. This room has a symmetrical shape consisting of alternating longer and shorter sides, with the longer sides corresponding to the four cardinal directions . The foyer floor is made of travertine with tesserae. The center of
2829-437: Is composed of a coffered plaster dome hanging from a steel frame. At the center of the ceiling is a light diffuser with a bronze chandelier hanging from it. The space is illuminated by skylight measuring 66 feet (20 m) long and 35 feet (11 m) wide. Several small trolleys were hung from the ceiling to assist in cleaning the skylight. The skylight is about 72 feet (22 m) above the floor at its highest point. Besides
2952-473: Is flanked by a pair of rectangular windows. There are antae and unfluted pilasters only on the south side of the octastyle. On Broadway, the attic is faced with smooth limestone. The attic once contained letters with the bank's name on them, which were replaced by those of later owners. A long inscription above the attic on Broadway welcomed bank visitors. This inscription was written by the Rev. Russell Bowie, who at
3075-849: Is now Lower Manhattan was initially known as Great George Street . Traffic continued up the East Side of the island via Eastern Post Road and the West Side via Bloomingdale Road, which opened in 1703, continued up to 117th Street and contributed to the development of the modern Upper West Side into an upscale area with mansions. In her 1832 book Domestic Manners of the Americans , Fanny Trollope wrote of her impressions of New York City in general and of Broadway in particular: This noble street may vie with any I ever saw, for its length and breadth, its handsome shops, neat awnings, excellent trottoir , and well-dressed pedestrians. It has not
3198-439: Is now known as South Broadway. It trends ever westward, closer to the Hudson River , remaining a busy urban commercial street. In downtown Yonkers, it drops close to the river, becomes North Broadway and 9A leaves via Ashburton Avenue. Broadway climbs to the nearby ridgetop runs parallel to the river and the railroad, a few blocks east of both as it passes St. John's Riverside Hospital . The neighborhoods become more residential and
3321-535: Is one of the largest department stores in the world. One famous stretch near Times Square , where Broadway crosses Seventh Avenue in midtown Manhattan , is the home of many Broadway theatres , housing an ever-changing array of commercial, large-scale plays, particularly musicals . This area of Manhattan is often called the Theater District or the Great White Way, a nickname originating in
3444-403: Is the historical location for the city's ticker-tape parades , and is sometimes called the " Canyon of Heroes " during such events. West of Broadway, as far as Canal Street , was the city's fashionable residential area until c. 1825 ; landfill has more than tripled the area, and the Hudson River shore now lies far to the west, beyond Tribeca and Battery Park City . Broadway marks
3567-423: Is the shortest of the three street frontages. The building is 80 feet (24 m) tall, equal to a six- or seven-story building, but when completed it was smaller than many neighboring buildings. At the center of the Broadway facade is an entryway with a molded surround approached by four steps made of pink granite. The entrance doorway contains a double door made of bronze with classical reliefs. The soffits under
3690-482: Is topped by a fret design. The dado contains five rectangular windows: three corresponding to the arches above them and two outside the colonnade. An entablature , with an architrave and frieze , runs above the columns and pilasters, wrapping around to the other two facades. Above that is a cornice with modillions , as well as cymatium containing lions' heads. On 36th Street, the colonnade consists of nine engaged columns , which are all fluted. To either side of
3813-487: Is typically reached within minutes of the start of a fire. Fire stops for such building joints can be qualified, too. Putting fire sprinkler systems on each floor has a profoundly positive effect on the fire safety of buildings with curtain walls. The extended use of new materials, like polymers , resulted in an increase of high-rise building façade fires over the past few years, since they are more flammable than traditional materials. Some building codes also limit
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3936-470: The 72nd Street subway station, one of the first 28 subway stations in Manhattan, remains located on one of the wide islands in the center of Broadway, on the south side of West 72nd Street. For many years, all traffic on Broadway flowed on either side of this median and its subway entrance, and its uptown lanes went past it along the western edge of triangular Verdi Square. In 2001 and 2002, renovation of
4059-475: The 72nd Street station was built in the exact location of these lanes. Northbound traffic on Broadway is now channeled onto Amsterdam Avenue to 73rd Street, makes a left turn on the three-lane 73rd Street, and then a right turn on Broadway shortly afterward. In August 2008, two traffic lanes from 42nd to 35th Streets were taken out of service and converted to public plazas. Bike lanes were added on Broadway from 42nd Street to Union Square . Since May 2009,
4182-809: The First Baptist Church in the City of New York , incorporated in New York in 1762, its current building on Broadway erected in 1891. The road heads north and passes historically important apartment houses such as the Belnord , the Astor Court Building , and the Art Nouveau Cornwall . At Broadway and 95th Street is Symphony Space , established in 1978 as home to avant-garde and classical music and dance performances in
4305-669: The George Washington Bridge / I-95 underpass comprises a portion of U.S. Route 9 . It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in New York City, with much of the current street allegedly beginning as the Wickquasgeck trail before the arrival of Europeans. This then formed the basis for one of the primary thoroughfares of the Dutch New Amsterdam colony, which continued under British rule, although most of it did not bear its current name until
4428-610: The Harlem River on the Broadway Bridge to Marble Hill . Afterward, it then enters the Bronx , where it is the eastern border of Riverdale and the western border of Van Cortlandt Park . At 253rd Street, NY 9A joins with US 9 and Broadway. (NY 9A splits off Broadway at Ashburton Avenue in Yonkers.) The northwestern corner of the park marks the New York City limit and Broadway enters Westchester County in Yonkers , where it
4551-675: The John William Draper House , was the site of the first astrophotograph of the Moon . In the next village, Dobbs Ferry , Broadway has various views of the Hudson River while passing through the residential section. Broadway passes by the Old Croton Aqueduct and nearby the shopping district of the village. After intersecting with Ashford Avenue, Broadway passes Mercy College , then turns left again at
4674-647: The Manhattan street grid , the land lot is trapezoidal, with the western facade on Broadway running at an irregular angle. Prior to the construction of the Greenwich Savings Bank Building, the two-story Sheridan Building occupied the site. The land was owned by the Van Ingen estate immediately before the bank had purchased it in 1921. The neighborhood had become dense after World War I with the construction of hotels and stores, as well as
4797-543: The New York City Department of City Planning , the building has a gross floor area of 76,804 square feet (7,135.3 m). At the building's opening, The Wall Street Journal dubbed it "a wonderful piece of architectural work". Architect magazine wrote, "it seems worth while [ sic ] to express appreciation of all those concerned in the construction of the bank and in the furnishing of all its varied details". Wrapping around three sides of
4920-466: The New York City Department of Sanitation . Facade In architecture , the façade of a building is often the most important aspect from a design standpoint, as it sets the tone for the rest of the building. From the engineering perspective, the façade is also of great importance due to its impact on energy efficiency . For historical façades, many local zoning regulations or other laws greatly restrict or even forbid their alteration. The word
5043-522: The Plaza del Obradoiro , is actually encasing and concealing the older Portico of Glory . In modern high-rise building, the exterior walls are often suspended from the concrete floor slabs. Examples include curtain walls and precast concrete walls. The façade can at times be required to have a fire-resistance rating , for instance, if two buildings are very close together, to lower the likelihood of fire spreading from one building to another. In general,
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5166-704: The U.S. Rubber Company Building at 58th Street , the B.F. Goodrich showroom at 1780 Broadway (between 58th and 57th Streets ), the Fisk Building at 250 West 57th Street, and the Demarest and Peerless Buildings at 224 West 57th Street. Broadway once was a two-way street for its entire length. The present status, in which it runs one-way southbound south of Columbus Circle ( 59th Street ), came about in several stages. On June 6, 1954, Seventh Avenue became southbound and Eighth Avenue became northbound south of Broadway. None of Broadway became one-way, but
5289-512: The borough of Manhattan , over the Broadway Bridge , and 2 mi (3.2 km) through the Bronx , exiting north from New York City to run an additional 18 mi (29.0 km) through the Westchester County municipalities of Yonkers , Hastings-On-Hudson , Dobbs Ferry , Irvington , Tarrytown , and Sleepy Hollow , after which the road continues, but is no longer called "Broadway". The latter portion of Broadway north of
5412-416: The 36th Street facade with engaged columns instead of flat pilasters. On Sixth Avenue, the colonnade is also an octastyle, and the ceiling of the portico is coffered. However, the arrangement of windows behind the colonnade is different from that on Broadway. Within the dado, there are four rectangular windows, two each on the extreme ends of the facade. Above is a single arched window with an archivolt, which
5535-410: The Broadway and Sixth Avenue mezzanines. On both the north and south walls, between the loggias, are five blind window openings above the fret. Two of these blind openings are topped by tablets with inscriptions relating to thrift. A cast stone frieze, with motifs of swags and a candelabra , runs near the top of the wall. An entablature with another inscription runs just beneath the ceiling. The ceiling
5658-854: The Crossland Bank Building, the Manufacturers Hanover Building , and the Apple Bank for Savings Building . The building became a Crossland Federal Savings Bank branch in January 1992 after the FDIC seized the Crossland Savings Bank. The LPC designated the Greenwich Savings Bank Building and the interior banking hall as a landmark on March 3, 1992. By then, the building was owned by Gerald and Malcolm Rosenberg, who were recorded as being opposed to
5781-492: The Greenwich Savings Bank had 94,026 accounts and a combined $ 92 million. By January 1924, the building was scheduled to open the following month. On May 17, 1924, two days before the new Broadway headquarters' opening, one hundred million dollars of the Greenwich Savings Bank's holdings were moved from the old headquarters, using armored cars guarded by heavily armed policemen. At the time, this represented
5904-880: The Greenwich Savings Bank started having big losses and, in 1981, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the New York State Banking Department sought buyers for the bank. The building was then occupied in 1981 by the Metropolitan Savings Bank, followed in 1985 by the Crossland Savings Bank. With the closure or downsizing of bank branches in the late 20th century, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) proposed designating several major bank interiors in 1990, including
6027-472: The Haier Building's large rooms through 2033. The old banking room, board room, and executive office were rented out for corporate events, private parties, and other functions. The events at Gotham Hall have attracted guests such as U.S. President Barack Obama , actress Eva Mendes , and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger . By 2004, Haier employed 120 people in the building. To prevent pigeon droppings,
6150-673: The Herald Square area. Additionally, portions of Broadway in Madison Square and Union Square have been dramatically narrowed, allowing ample pedestrian plazas to exist along the side of the road. A terrorist attempted to set off a bomb on Broadway in Times Square on May 1, 2010. The attempted bomber was sentenced to life in prison. In May 2013, the NYCDOT decided to redesign Broadway between 35th and 42nd Streets for
6273-531: The Square's northwest corner; Union Square is the only location wherein the physical section of Broadway is discontinuous in Manhattan (other portions of Broadway in Manhattan are pedestrian-only plazas). At Madison Square , the location of the Flatiron Building, Broadway crosses Fifth Avenue at 23rd Street , thereby moving from the east side of Manhattan to the west, and is discontinuous to vehicles for
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#17327827654366396-764: The address of Alexander Hamilton 's house, The Grange , which has been moved. Broadway achieves a verdant, park-like effect, particularly in the spring, when it runs between the uptown Trinity Church Cemetery and the former Trinity Chapel, now the Church of the Intercession near 155th Street. NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital lies on Broadway near 166th, 167th, and 168th Streets in Washington Heights . The intersection with St. Nicholas Avenue at 167th Street forms Mitchell Square Park . At 178th Street, US 9 becomes concurrent with Broadway. Broadway crosses
6519-540: The bank had 131,156 accounts and $ 154 million in deposits. York and Sawyer filed plans in 1940 to add office space to the Greenwich Savings Bank Building at a cost of $ 100,000. The new office space, equivalent to one-third of a full story, was to be constructed between the trusses that held up the ceiling of the banking area. The work was to be conducted by general contractor Eglehart, Caldwell & Scott Inc. as well as consulting engineers Meyer, Strong & Jones Inc. and H. Balcom Associates. With bank deregulation in 1980 ,
6642-496: The bank moved to the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 16th Street, further north in Chelsea . By the 1920s, development was moving northward in Manhattan, and the bank wanted a new site that was centrally located, in anticipation of further growth. In early 1921, the Greenwich Savings Bank purchased land at Broadway and 36th Street in midtown for about $ 1.4 million. The next year, a building committee had been organized to determine
6765-530: The bank's officers, albeit not necessarily in a banking context. Work could not begin until existing tenants' leases expired on May 1, 1922. Afterward, demolition commenced on the existing structures at the site. The architect of record, Charles M. Dutcher of York and Sawyer, filed plans with the Manhattan Bureau of Building in June 1922 with the bank estimated to cost $ 1 million. The application described
6888-490: The boundary between Greenwich Village to the west and the East Village to the east, passing Astor Place . It is a short walk from there to New York University near Washington Square Park , which is at the foot of Fifth Avenue . A bend in front of Grace Church allegedly avoids an earlier tavern; from 10th Street it begins its long diagonal course across Manhattan, headed almost due north. Because Broadway preceded
7011-526: The building as one-and-two stories tall. Shortly after, a $ 500,000 loan was taken out on the building's construction. The cornerstone of the new building was ceremonially laid on December 6, 1922. By the next year, the columns were being erected. The new bank building was projected to be the second-largest in Midtown, after the Bowery Savings Bank building at 110 East 42nd Street . At the time,
7134-470: The building's air rights for $ 26 million. The Haier Building was refinanced with a $ 23.8 million loan in early 2024; at the time, the structure was valued at $ 30.5 million, and its tenant, Gotham Hall, earned about $ 5.7 million annually. Broadway (Manhattan) Broadway ( / ˈ b r ɔː d w eɪ / ) is a road in the U.S. state of New York . Broadway runs from the south at State Street at Bowling Green for 13 mi (20.9 km) through
7257-401: The building, the facade consists of a base of rusticated pink granite walls, above which are Corinthian -style columns. The main facade of the Greenwich Savings Bank Building is on Broadway, where there is a projecting rusticated podium, a portico , and an attic. The Sixth Avenue facade, at the rear, is similar to the Broadway facade but is slightly narrower because the Sixth Avenue frontage
7380-429: The center of town just past South Presbyterian Church , headed for equally comfortable Ardsley-on-Hudson and Irvington . Villa Lewaro , the home of Madam C. J. Walker , the first African-American millionaire, is along the highway here. At the north end of the village of Irvington, a memorial to writer Washington Irving , after whom the village was renamed, marks the turnoff to his home at Sunnyside . Entering into
7503-476: The crowded glitter of Bond Street equipages, nor the gorgeous fronted palaces of Regent Street ; but it is magnificent in its extent, and ornamented by several handsome buildings, some of them surrounded by grass and trees. In 1868, Bloomingdale Road between 59th Street (at the Grand Circle, now Columbus Circle ) and 155th Streets would be paved and widened, becoming an avenue with landscaped medians. It
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#17327827654367626-463: The designation. In the 1960s and 1970s, the area surrounding both Verdi Square and Sherman Square was known by local drug users and dealers as "Needle Park", and was featured prominently in the gritty 1971 dramatic film The Panic in Needle Park , directed by Jerry Schatzberg and starring Al Pacino in his second onscreen role. The original brick and stone shelter leading to the entrance of
7749-756: The development of what is now the Garment District of Manhattan. The site to the south once contained the New York Herald Building , the Renaissance Revival-style headquarters of the New York Herald . Because the Herald Building had a loading dock from 36th Street, the bank's design does not include any entrances from 36th Street to alleviate congestion there. The Greenwich Savings Bank Building
7872-403: The doorway have square and rectangular molded panels. An electric sign is hung beneath the top of the entryway. An eared tablet with the carved words 1356 broadway is inscribed above the top of the entryway, flanked by carved griffins. There were once metal plaques with the owner's name on either side of the doorway. On either side of the entryway are three window openings. The opening closest to
7995-416: The east wall overlooks the banking hall loggia. The wainscoting only rises to the lower edge of the large arched windows that face Broadway. The remainder of the walls are clad in rusticated stone, with metal grilles in the window opening, while the ceiling has coffers. There is a room with a fireplace, wood-paneled walls, and doors to other rooms on the south side of the Broadway mezzanine. The president's room
8118-563: The east, Broadway becomes the busy main street of Tarrytown . Christ Episcopal Church , where Irving worshiped, is along the street. Many high-quality restaurants and shops are along this main road. This downtown ends at the eastern terminus of NY 448 , where Broadway slopes off to the left, downhill, and four signs indicate that Broadway turns left, passing the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow , another NHL. The road then enters Sleepy Hollow (formerly North Tarrytown), passing
8241-401: The engaged columns are unfluted pilasters. A dado runs across the second floor and contains eight windows, four on each end of the 36th Street facade. On each end, the windows are arranged as one between the pilasters and three beside the outermost fluted columns. When the Greenwich Savings Bank Building had been designed, the bank's building committee had decided it would be better to articulate
8364-417: The entire block between Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) to the east and Broadway to the west, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City . The building's land lot covers 17,600 square feet (1,640 m). The building has a frontage of about 106 feet (32 m) on Broadway, 159 feet (48 m) on 36th Street, and 99 feet (30 m) on Sixth Avenue. Because Broadway runs diagonally to
8487-412: The entrance on each side contains bronze frames. The two outer openings on each side contain iron grills over them, surrounded by brass frames. On 36th Street, there are ten windows, grouped as five each on the west and east ends of the facade. The eight inner windows contain iron grills above them. There are no doors on 36th Street. On Sixth Avenue, the base is largely similar to that on Broadway. There
8610-429: The exterior. There are paneled bronze double doors under either loggia, each of which is flanked by a pair of bronze torch lamps . The columns and antae above each set of doors are made of limestone, and the capitals of each column are fabricated of cast stone. The columns rise about 32 feet (9.8 m). Between each pair of columns are bronze balustrade panels that contain diagonal "X" patterns. Behind these loggias are
8733-472: The façade systems that are suspended or attached to the precast concrete slabs will be made from aluminum (powder coated or anodized) or stainless steel . In recent years more lavish materials such as titanium have sometimes been used, but due to their cost and susceptibility to panel edge staining these have not been popular. Whether rated or not, fire protection is always a design consideration. The melting point of aluminum, 660 °C (1,220 °F),
8856-426: The first decade of the 20th century, the area was occupied mostly by equestrian industries and was "thoroughly lifeless", but by 1907, The New York Times characterized this section of Broadway as having "almost a solid line of motor vehicle signs all the way from Times Square to Sherman Square". In the late 1900s and early 1910s, several large automobile showrooms, stores, and garages were built on Broadway, including
8979-549: The floor surface has a medallion showing a brass ship on green marble waves, surrounded by the name of the bank. The foyer has a limestone wall interspersed with sandstone to create a warm tone. While the west wall has the revolving door, the walls to the north, south, and east have heavy decorative bronze grills. The shorter walls, which correspond to the intercardinal directions (northwest, northeast, southwest, southeast), contain radiator grills, above which are capitalized inscriptions with gold fillings. The ceiling design consists of
9102-410: The floor tiles are divided into panels with sea-green lozenges and black mosaic at their centers. The tellers' counter, at the center of the room, is made of black and gold marble, surmounted by a bronze counter screen with a gold finish. The tellers' counter is supported by numerous sculptural pairs of Minerva (symbolizing wisdom) and Mercury (representing commerce), which are regularly spaced. Around
9225-608: The former Symphony Theatre, which was originally built in 1918 as a premier "music and motion-picture house". At 99th Street, Broadway passes between the controversial skyscrapers of the Ariel East and West. At 107th Street, Broadway merges with West End Avenue , with the intersection forming Straus Park with its Titanic Memorial by Augustus Lukeman . Broadway then passes the campus of Columbia University at 116th Street in Morningside Heights , in part on
9348-470: The foyers, vestibules, and banking room, the Greenwich Savings Bank Building is composed of a basement and six office stories. The basement was described as containing lockers, toilets, storage, and other rooms primarily found in a regular savings bank. The vault was reached directly from the stair hall on the north side of the Broadway vestibule, with a coin lift and a stair down to vault level. The vault door, weighing 40 short tons (36 long tons; 36 t) with
9471-632: The grid that the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 imposed on the island, Broadway crosses midtown Manhattan diagonally, intersecting with both the east–west streets and north–south avenues. Broadway's intersections with avenues, marked by " squares " (some merely triangular slivers of open space), have induced some interesting architecture, such as the Flatiron Building . At Union Square , Broadway crosses 14th Street , merges with Fourth Avenue , and continues its diagonal uptown course from
9594-547: The headline "Found on the Great White Way" in the February 3, 1902, edition of the New York Evening Telegram . The journalistic nickname was inspired by the millions of lights on theater marquees and billboard advertisements that illuminate the area. After becoming the city's de facto red-light district in the 1960s and 1970s (as can be seen in the films Taxi Driver and Midnight Cowboy ), since
9717-467: The headquarters for its operations in the Americas. According to Haier America CEO Michael Jemal, the company wished to keep the interior publicly accessible. Gruzen Samton Architects was planning a renovation of the landmark interiors. In 2002, Haier renamed the structure the Haier Building. Haier installed its executive offices in the basement, as well as a reception area with a 122-bottle wine cellar. On
9840-490: The historic 72nd Street station and the addition of a second subway control house and passenger shelter on an adjacent center median just north of 72nd Street, across from the original building, resulted in the creation of a public plaza with stone pavers and extensive seating, connecting the newer building with Verdi Square, and making it necessary to divert northbound traffic to Amsterdam Avenue for one block. While Broadway's southbound lanes at this intersection were unaffected by
9963-663: The increased southbound traffic between Columbus Circle (Eighth Avenue) and Times Square (Seventh Avenue) caused the city to re-stripe that section of Broadway for four southbound and two northbound lanes. Broadway became one-way from Columbus Circle south to Herald Square ( 34th Street ) on March 10, 1957, in conjunction with Sixth Avenue becoming one-way from Herald Square north to 59th Street and Seventh Avenue becoming one-way from 59th Street south to Times Square (where it crosses Broadway). On June 3, 1962, Broadway became one-way south of Canal Street , with Trinity Place and Church Street carrying northbound traffic. Another change
10086-577: The intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue was repurposed into a public plaza, simplifying that intersection. As part of the 2017 project, Worth Square was expanded, converting the adjoining block of Broadway into a "shared street". In September 2019, the pedestrian space in the Herald Square area was expanded between 33rd and 32nd Streets alongside Greeley Square . Five blocks of Broadway—from 50th to 48th, 39th to 39th, and 23rd to 21st Street—were converted into shared streets in late 2021. The block between 40th and 39th Streets, known as Golda Meir Square,
10209-425: The landmark designation. Leslie Wohlman Himmel and Stephen J. Meringoff of the firm Himmel & Meringoff Properties acquired the Greenwich Savings Bank Building in 1999 for an undisclosed sum. It had taken the company ten years to acquire the building's ownership, land lease, mortgages, and interior leases. The firm planned to rent out 47,000 square feet (4,400 m) in the building for $ 1.65 million per year, with
10332-618: The late 1980s Times Square has emerged as a family tourist center, in effect being Disneyfied following the company's purchase and renovation of the New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street in 1993. The New York Times , from which the Square gets its name, was published at offices at 239 West 43rd Street; the paper stopped printing papers there on June 15, 2007. At the southwest corner of Central Park , Broadway crosses Eighth Avenue (called Central Park West north of 59th Street) at West 59th Street and Columbus Circle ; on
10455-455: The late 19th century. Some portions of Broadway in Manhattan are interrupted for continuous vehicle traffic, including Times Square , Herald Square , and Union Square , and instead used as pedestrian-only plazas. South of Columbus Circle , the road is one-way going southbound. Broadway in Manhattan is known widely as the heart of the American commercial theatrical industry , and is used as
10578-583: The main road through the island from Nieuw Amsterdam at the southern tip. The Dutch explorer and entrepreneur David Pietersz. de Vries gives the first mention of it in his journal for the year 1642 ("the Wickquasgeck Road over which the Indians passed daily"). The Dutch called it the Heeren Wegh or Heeren Straat , meaning "Gentlemen's Way" or "Gentlemen's Street" – echoing the name of
10701-473: The new construction, its northbound lanes are no longer contiguous at this intersection. Drivers can either continue along Amsterdam Avenue to head uptown or turn left on West 73rd Street to resume traveling on Broadway. Several notable apartment buildings are in close proximity to this intersection, including The Ansonia , its ornate architecture dominating the cityscape here. After the Ansonia first opened as
10824-603: The next block is the Manhattan School of Music . Broadway then runs past the Manhattanville campus of Columbia University, and the main campus of CUNY–City College near 135th Street; the Gothic buildings of the original City College campus are out of sight, a block to the east. Also to the east are the brownstones of Hamilton Heights. Hamilton Place is a surviving section of Bloomingdale Road, and originally
10947-470: The northern border of Sleepy Hollow, New York . Canyon of Heroes is occasionally used to refer to the section of lower Broadway in the Financial District that is the location of the city's ticker-tape parades . The traditional route of the parade is northward from Bowling Green to City Hall Park . Most of the route is lined with tall office buildings along both sides, affording a view of
11070-492: The other triangle is a lush tree-filled garden bordering Amsterdam Avenue from just above West 72nd Street to West 73rd Street. Named Verdi Square in 1921 for its monument to Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi , which was erected in 1909, this triangular sliver of public space was designated a Scenic Landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1974, one of nine city parks that have received
11193-430: The outer ends of that facade. The panels are aligned with the pilasters in the building's intermediate story. Three windows were installed on the attic sometime between 1967 and 1971 to allow computers to be installed in the attic. One window is installed between each set of pilasters, while the third window is installed above the leftmost column of the colonnade. On the west side of the ground floor, leading from Broadway,
11316-665: The owners installed bird-trap cages on the facade, which prompted investigations from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals . The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 16, 2005. Haier moved its North American headquarters to Wayne, New Jersey , in 2014, relocating about 200 workers. The Haier Building was put up for sale in June 2015 for an unknown sum. The same year, Isaac Chetrit and Ray Yadidi bought
11439-456: The parade for thousands of office workers who create the snowstorm-like jettison of shredded paper products that characterize the parade. While typical sports championship parades have been showered with some 50 tons of confetti and shredded paper, the V-J Day parade on August 14–15, 1945 – marking the end of World War II – was covered with 5,438 tons of paper, based on estimates provided by
11562-600: The percentage of window area in exterior walls. When the exterior wall is not rated, the perimeter slab edge becomes a junction where rated slabs are abutting an unrated wall. For rated walls, one may also choose rated windows and fire doors , to maintain that wall's rating. On a film set and within most themed attractions, many of the buildings are only façade, which are far cheaper than actual buildings, and not subject to building codes (within film sets). In film sets, they are simply held up with supports from behind, and sometimes have boxes for actors to step in and out of from
11685-413: The perimeter of the room are four desks and four counters atop bronze brackets, with beveled-glass tabletops. There are also eleven benches with decorative bronze legs. A podium made of rusticated limestone and sandstone runs around the banking room. Eight sconces are mounted on the podium, four each on the north and south walls. The west and east walls have a Corinthian loggia atop the podium, similar to
11808-455: The portions of Broadway through Duffy Square , Times Square , and Herald Square have been closed entirely to automobile traffic, except for cross traffic on the Streets and Avenues, as part of a traffic and pedestrianization experiment, with the pavement reserved exclusively for walkers, cyclists, and those lounging in temporary seating placed by the city. The city decided that the experiment
11931-409: The projecting podium is a single window at ground level. Because of the narrower width, there is no corresponding window on the northern end of the Sixth Avenue facade, which instead has an employee entrance and bronze gate. All three sides contain fluted Corinthian columns that measure about 40 feet (12 m) high and about 5 feet (1.5 m) in diameter. On Broadway, above the first-floor podium,
12054-436: The road gently undulates along the ridgetop. In Yonkers, Broadway passes the historic Philipse Manor house, which dates back to colonial times. It remains Broadway as it leaves Yonkers for Hastings-on-Hudson , where it splits into separate north and south routes for 0.6 miles (1.0 km). The trees become taller and the houses, many separated from the road by stone fences, become larger. Another National Historic Landmark,
12177-472: The second most valuable movement of bank holdings in New York City history, behind only the relocation of the Bowery Savings Bank. Two days later, the Greenwich Savings Bank opened to the public. With the opening of the new headquarters, the previous headquarters became one of the bank's branches. At the Greenwich Savings Bank's hundredth anniversary, nine years after the new building's opening,
12300-413: The second story, one each on Broadway and Sixth Avenue. The bank officers' workspaces were placed on the Broadway mezzanine, since the officers did not require immediate access to the banking facility. The north wall of the Broadway mezzanine connects to the barrel-vaulted staircase that leads from the Broadway vestibule. The space has three walls with wooden wainscoting on the north, south, and west, while
12423-431: The second time in five years, owing to poor connections between pedestrian plazas and decreased vehicular traffic. With the new redesign, the bike lane is now on the right side of the street; it was formerly on the left side adjacent to the pedestrian plazas, causing conflicts between pedestrian and bicycle traffic. In spring 2017, as part of a capital reconstruction of Worth Square, Broadway between 24th and 25th Streets
12546-491: The section of Broadway between 32nd and 21st Streets would be redesigned as part of a project called Broadway Vision. The section between 32nd and 25th Streets would receive a bidirectional bike lane and would be converted to a shared street. Cars would be banned permanently from 27th to 25th Street. That work was finished the same July. In March 2024, the DOT announced plans to convert the section between 17th and 21st Streets into
12669-483: The site of the former New York Coliseum convention center is the new shopping center at the foot of the Time Warner Center , headquarters of Time Warner . From Columbus Circle northward, Broadway becomes a wide boulevard to 169th Street; it retains landscaped center islands that separate northbound from southbound traffic. The medians are a vestige of the central mall of "The Boulevard" that had become
12792-454: The sixth floor, above the banking room, which served two officers' dining rooms facing Broadway and an employees' dining room facing Sixth Avenue. There was also a rest area for the clerks. The dining rooms and rest area opened onto the rooftop where there was an open space for employee leisure. There was also a dormitory area for workers. By the 2000s, the third and fifth stories were used only for storage. The fourth story had one small office and
12915-494: The sixth story had several offices, but these were completely redesigned from their original detail. The Greenwich Savings Bank was founded in 1833 and was originally headquartered at 10–12 Carmine Street near Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village , Manhattan. The original headquarters was relocated in 1839 to 11 Sixth Avenue. The bank further relocated in 1846 to 41 Sixth Avenue and in 1854 to 71-75 Sixth Avenue. In 1892
13038-594: The southern portion of Tarrytown, Broadway passes by historic Lyndhurst mansion , a massive mansion built along the Hudson River built in the early 1800s. North of here, at the Kraft Foods technical center, the Tappan Zee Bridge becomes visible. After crossing under the Thruway and I-87 again, here concurrent with I-287 , and then intersecting with the four-lane NY 119 , where 119 splits off to
13161-825: The spine of the Upper West Side , and many of these contain public seating. Broadway intersects with Columbus Avenue (known as Ninth Avenue south of West 59th Street ) at West 65th and 66th Streets where the Juilliard School and Lincoln Center , both well-known performing arts landmarks, as well as the Manhattan New York Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are located. Between West 70th and 73rd Streets, Broadway intersects with Amsterdam Avenue (known as 10th Avenue south of West 59th Street). The wide intersection of
13284-415: The time of the building's opening served as Grace Church 's rector. A similar modification has been made on the Sixth Avenue facade, which also had letters with the bank's name on them. There is also a covered inscription on the Sixth Avenue facade, a sentence about the building's founding and previous locations. Above the attic is a denticulated cornice. On 36th Street, the attic contains raised panels on
13407-488: The top floor, Haier displayed products to potential customers. For a short time after its offices opened, Haier had used the banking area as a showroom for its products, including refrigerators and air conditioners; this use was seen as wasteful and, in August 2002, the company marketed the banking area as an event venue called Gotham Hall. An event management company was contracted to operate Gotham Hall and leased several of
13530-650: The tract that housed the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum from 1808 until it moved to Westchester County in 1894. Still in Morningside Heights, Broadway passes the park-like campus of Barnard College . Next, the Gothic quadrangle of Union Theological Seminary , and the brick buildings of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America with their landscaped interior courtyards, face one another across Broadway. On
13653-453: The two thoroughfares has historically been the site of numerous traffic accidents and pedestrian casualties, partly due to the long crosswalks. Two small triangular plots of land were created at points where Broadway slices through Amsterdam Avenue. One is a tiny fenced-in patch of shrubbery and plants at West 70th Street called Sherman Square (although it and the surrounding intersection have also been known collectively as Sherman Square), and
13776-616: The visitors' center for Kykuit , the National Historic Landmark that was (and partially still is) the Rockefeller family 's estate . Broadway then passes the historic Sleepy Hollow Cemetery , which includes the resting place of Washington Irving and the setting for " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ". Broadway expands to four lanes at the trumpet intersection with NY 117 , where it finally ends and U.S. 9 becomes Albany Post Road (and Highland Avenue) at
13899-417: The west and the Sixth Avenue vestibule on the east. Its location was intended to allude to a central working space. This room measures about 160 feet (49 m) long on its west–east axis and 88 feet (27 m) wide on its north–south axis. The floors are paved in marble with numerous contrasting colors, in a pattern intended to resemble antique pavement. The borders are made of black and buff mosaic tiles, and
14022-483: The west. The Greenwich Savings Bank Building was designed in the Classical Revival style by York and Sawyer . The exterior, wrapping around the three sides of the building, consists of a base of rusticated stone blocks, atop which are Corinthian -style colonnades . Structurally, the building consists of a steel frame. Inside is an elliptical banking room with limestone Corinthian columns, granite walls,
14145-527: Was called "Western Boulevard" or "The Boulevard". An 1897 official map of the city shows a segment of what is now Broadway as "Kingsbridge Road" in the vicinity of Washington Heights . On February 14, 1899, the name "Broadway" was extended to the entire Broadway / Bloomingdale / Boulevard / Kingsbridge complex. In the 20th century, a 30-block stretch of Broadway, extending mainly between Times Square at 42nd Street and Sherman Square at 72nd Street , formed part of Manhattan 's "Automobile Row". Before
14268-644: Was closed to vehicular traffic at that time. During 2020, the section from 31st to 25th Street was converted to a temporary pedestrian-only street called NoMad Piazza as part of the New York City Department of Transportation 's Open Streets program. Following the success of the pedestrian-only street, the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership BID closed the section between 25th and 27th Streets to vehicular traffic again during 2021 and 2022. City officials announced in March 2023 that
14391-403: Was converted to a shared street , where through vehicles are banned and delivery vehicles are restricted to 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h). Delivery vehicles go northbound from Fifth Avenue to 25th Street for that one block, reversing the direction of traffic and preventing vehicles from going south on Broadway south of 25th Street. The capital project expands on a 2008 initiative where part of
14514-477: Was designed by bank architects York and Sawyer in a Classical Revival style, with a limestone and sandstone exterior. It was built by Marc Eidlitz & Son . The building consists of six stories above a basement, with a steel-framed internal superstructure . When the building was erected in the 1920s, freestanding bank buildings in New York City were becoming more prevalent, and many such structures were being constructed with classical design details. According to
14637-401: Was in the southwest corner of that mezzanine, while the committee room adjoined it. The Sixth Avenue mezzanine is similar but simpler in design to the Broadway mezzanine. The windows lack grills, the ceiling lacks coffers, and the north and south walls lead to other rooms, elevators, and fire stairs. The other floors contained various spaces. There was a kitchen and pantry on the north side of
14760-472: Was made on November 10, 1963, when Broadway became one-way southbound from Herald Square to Madison Square ( 23rd Street ) and Union Square ( 14th Street ) to Canal Street, and two routes – Sixth Avenue south of Herald Square and Centre Street , Lafayette Street , and Fourth Avenue south of Union Square – became one-way northbound. Finally, at the same time as Madison Avenue became one-way northbound and Fifth Avenue became one-way southbound, Broadway
14883-419: Was made one-way southbound between Madison Square (where Fifth Avenue crosses) and Union Square on January 14, 1966, completing its conversion south of Columbus Circle. In 2001, a one-block section of Broadway between 72nd Street and 73rd Street at Verdi Square was reconfigured. Its easternmost lanes, which formerly hosted northbound traffic, were turned into a public park when a new subway entrance for
15006-399: Was renamed for Haier. The banking space was turned into an event space called Gotham Hall, while Haier occupied the basement through 2014. The building's facade and lobby were made New York City designated landmarks in 1992, and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. The Greenwich Savings Bank Building is on the northern sidewalk of 36th Street, running
15129-527: Was successful, and decided to make the change permanent in February 2010. Though the anticipated benefits to traffic flow were not as large as hoped, pedestrian injuries dropped dramatically and foot traffic increased in the designated areas; the project was popular with both residents and businesses. The current portions converted into pedestrian plazas are between West 47th and 42nd Streets within Times and Duffy Squares, and between West 35th and 33rd Streets in
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