60 Wall Street Deserves Landmark Status

Positions + Testimony
Preservation

Letter to Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Sarah Carroll

March 6, 2023

The Honorable Sarah Carroll, Chair
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission One Centre Street, 9th Floor North
New York, NY 10007

Re: 60 Wall Street

Dear Chair Carroll:

We, the undersigned, urge the Landmarks Commission to strongly consider designating 60 Wall Street in Manhattan as an individual and interior landmark.

Completed in 1989, 60 Wall Street is highly regarded by the architectural community and the public as a vibrant representation of the Postmodern style. It was designed by the Pritzker Prize winning architect Kevin Roche of KRJDA whose firm designed two other highly notable landmarks in New York City: the Ford Foundation Building and the UN Plaza Hotel and Ambassador Grill. The iconic design of 60 Wall Street retains a high degree of integrity on the exterior and appropriately complements the architectural fabric and rhythm of its neighbor at 55 Wall Street. The recently approved facade restoration proposal, to preserve the colonnade and the essential nature of the building, speaks to its merit.

Palm trees in the lobby at 60 Wall Street. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, MainlyTwelve. Modifications: photo cropped.

The interior, which continues to operate as a significant and accessible public amenity, currently retains a high degree of integrity and has been described recently by The New York Times as “one of New York’s most distinctive subway entrances.” The approved facade proposal to open up and bring more light and transparency to the public space will only strengthen the visual relationship of the interior to the exterior design and insist the interior be protected in a similar fashion to the exterior.

60 Wall Street is already recognized as an unofficial landmark and we ask the Landmarks Preservation Commission to now consider making that official. As your research department stated more than five months ago, the LPC staff has determined 60 Wall Street and the interior privately owned public space merit further study within the context of Postmodern commercial architecture and interiors.

We note that Manhattan Community Board 1 passed a near unanimous resolution in favor of this designation at its full board meeting on February 28, 2022; we ask you to give due consideration to the strong community support that the Board’s resolution reflects.

As the current owner considers plans to significantly alter the interior, this is a pressing matter, and we ask you not to delay. We urge the LPC to move forward now on the designation process before this outstanding example of architecture and history is lost.

Sincerely,
Advocates for the designation of 60 Wall Street (list in formation):

Docomomo US
Historic Districts Council
Human Scale NYC
Manhattan Community Board 1
Municipal Art Society
New York Landmarks Conservancy
Preservation League of New York State
Tribeca Trust
New York City Council Member Christopher Marte (District 1)
New York State Assemblymember Grace Lee (District 65)
New York State Senator Brian Kavanagh (District 27)
Deborah Berke
Alice Blank
Adam Nathaniel Furman
Paul Goldberger
Rock Herzog (Cocaine Decor) Alexandra Lange
Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen
Robert A.M. Stern

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