20 Exchange Place

20 Exchange Place is a 57-story Art Deco building in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Formerly known as the City Bank–Farmers Trust Building, it was built between 1930 and 1931, for the newly merged National City Bank of New York and the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company, predecessor firms of Citigroup. It remained the company's headquarters until 1956 and was ultimately sold in 1979.

20 Exchange Place
General information
LocationNew York, New York, United States
Coordinates40°42′20″N 74°0′35″W
Construction started1930
Completed1931
OpeningFebruary 24, 1931[1]
Height
Antenna spire741 ft (226 m)
Technical details
Floor count57
Floor area730,234 sq ft (67,841.0 m2)
Design and construction
ArchitectCross and Cross
Main contractorGeorge A. Fuller Company
References
[2][3]

Description
Closeup
Approved architectural drawing by Lev Vladimir Goriansky of 20 Exchange Place (City Bank Farmers Trust Building). Circa 1929, Goriansky Family Collection.

The building was designed by the architectural firm of Cross and Cross. Although the firm described the building as having no particular architectural style, it was described at the time as being in the style then known as "modern classic", with minimal Art Deco ornamentation. Originally designed in 1929 to be the world's tallest building at 846.4 feet (258.0 m), with a pyramidal top and a budget of $9.5 million,[4][5] Depression-era realities resulted in a scaled-back, 741-foot (226 m)-tall building, the city's fourth-tallest building at the time. It remained among the top ten tallest buildings in New York until 1970.

In 1996, the building was designated a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.[6]

Use

The 16th through 57th floors of the building have been converted from commercial to residential space by Manhattan developers and real estate managers Metro Loft Management.[7][8][9] As a part of this conversion, the building's exterior was restored, including cleaning the building's bricks, which had turned black over the years, to their original white color.

Today, 20 Exchange Place is held by Luxembourg-based Eastbridge Group (through DTH Capital) and AG Real Estate. Notable residents include Anna Chapman.[10]

In 2006, the building served as a fictional branch location of the "Manhattan Trust Bank" in the movie Inside Man. In 2009, it served as several different bank locations in the Fringe episode "Safe". The building also makes an appearance in the films Wall Street, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and The Post.[11]

See also

References
  1. Michelle Young. (September 20, 2016) "Inside the Off-Limits Banking Halls at Art Deco Skyscraper 20 Exchange in NYC" Untapped Cities
  2. 20 Exchange Place at Emporis
  3. "20 Exchange Place". SkyscraperPage.
  4. "New Bank Skyscraper Is to Cost $9,500,000". New York Times. October 3, 1929. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
  5. "TWENTY EXCHANGE PLACE". NYC URBANISM. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  6. Archived 2012-07-16 at the Wayback Machine, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission Order
  7. The Real Deal - New Residential Developments Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  8. MBA Commercial/Multifamily NewsLink - A Publication of the Mortgage Bankers Association Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Metro Loft Management
  10. Olivier O’Mahony (July 9, 2010). "Anna: le visage d'ange du nouveau KGB" [Anna: the angel face of the new KGB]. Paris Match (in French). Archived from the original on August 12, 2010. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
  11. "'Amazing Spider-Man 2' to Film Downtown in April". DNAInfo.com. March 13, 2013. Archived from the original on March 14, 2013.
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