Architectural style
Columns, pediments, and symmetrical facades appear on Neo-Classical banks, monuments, and institutions.
Compare the New York Stock Exchange with the former Greenwich Savings Bank and Grant's Tomb. Look at how each uses classical forms at a different scale.
55 building histories
Residential · 1909-10
11 E 70th Street, New York, NY
The handsome house at 11 East 70th Street was built in 1909-10 and designed in the French Classical manner, one of the prominent styles during this period. The architect, John H. Duncan is best known for his design of...
Read the storyResidential · 1902-03
11 E 90th Street, New York, NY
This elegant residence, built in 1902-03 for M. Louise McAlpin, was designed by the New York City architectural firm of Barney & Chapman. In keeping with their training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the...
Read the storyResidential · 1909-10
15 E 70th Street, New York, NY
The handsome house at 15 East 70th Street was built in 1909-10 and was designed in the French Classical manner, although it displays elements of Italian Renaissance design at the first and fifth floors. The architect of...
Read the storyResidential · 1909-11
17 E 70th Street, New York, NY
The handsome house at 17 East 70th Street was built in 1909-11 and designed in the French Classical manner, one of the prominent styles during this period. The architect, Arthur C. Jackson was with the prominent New...
Read the storyResidential · 1918-19
21 E 70th Street, New York, NY
The simple but elegant house at 21 East 70th Street was built in 1918-19 and was designed by William J. Rogers in a sophisticated manner based on modified classical traditions.
Read the storyArmory · 1904-06
68 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
The Sixty-Ninth Regiment Armory occupies much of the block bounded by 25th and 26th Streets and Lexington and Park Avenues. Like all of the armories built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the...
Read the storyCommercial · 1907-08
98 Lafayette Street, New York, NY
Located at the southwest corner of Lafayette and Walker streets, the building at 94-100 Lafayette Street, now called the Avildsen Building, is an impressive early twentieth-century commercial style building designed by...
Read the storyCommercial · 1907-08
70 Broad Street, New York, NY
The American Bank Note Company Office Building is a distinctive, neo-Classical structure which was built in 1907-08 as the corporate, administrative, and sales headquarters for this important, yet little-known company....
Read the storyCommercial · 1916-17
65 Broadway, New York, NY
The 21-story (plus basement), neo-classical American Express Co. Building was constructed in 1916-17 to the design of James L. Aspinwall, of the firm of Renwick, Aspinwall & Tucker, the successor to the architectural...
Read the storyClubhouse · 1907-08
507 West Street, New York, NY
The American Seamen's Friend Society Sailors' Home and Institute was constructed in 1907-08 to the handsome neo-Classical style design of architect William A. Boring. He was formerly a partner in Boring & [Edward L.]...
Read the storyCommercial · 1912-16
195 Broadway, New York, NY
The American Telephone & Telegraph Company Building, designed by noted architect William Welles Bosworth and constructed in three phases from 1912 to 1922, is an important example of Greek-inspired neo-Classical design....
Read the storyTheater · 1913-14
253 West 125th Street, New York, NY
The Apollo Theater, built in 1913-14 as Hurtig & Seamon's New (Burlesque) Theater, spanned the two eras of Harlem's entertainment history. The design by architect George Keister displays elements of the neo-classical...
Read the storyCommercial · 1880-81
26 East 14th Street, New York, NY
The Baumann Brothers Furniture and Carpets Store was built in 1880-81 for James McCreery , a well-known textiles merchant of Scottish descent. It was designed by the architectural firm of D. & J. Jardine, whose...
Read the storyCommercial · 1860
465 West Street, New York, NY
The Bell Telephone Laboratories Complex of buildings, occupying an entire city block in Manhattan’s Far West Village, is highly significant as the site of one of the world’s most prestigious telecommunications research...
Read the storyBank · 1894
130 Bowery, New York, NY
The World's Columbian Exposition, at Chicago in 1893, brought to this country a new classicism. This Bank of 1894 was one of the first to herald the new style making the most of a difficult L-shaped site. The narrow...
Read the storyTheater · 1917-18
243 West 44th Street, New York, NY
The Broadhurst Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbol ize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built shortly after the end of World War I, the Broadhurst was one of a pair with...
Read the storyLibrary · 1903
31 E Broadway, New York, NY
Opened on November 2, 1903, the Chatham Square Branch of The New York Public Library is the third Carnegie branch library built in New York City. It is one of twenty in Manhattan and one of sixty-seven in New York City,...
Read the storyReligious · 1895-1900
980 Park Avenue, New York, NY
Monumental in scale and impressive in appearance, the Park Avenue facade of this dignified Twentieth Century Church reflects the classical style of Seventeenth Century Rome. The symmetrical masonry exterior of...
Read the storyReligious · 1895-97
540 West End Avenue, New York, NY
As the St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church and parish house at West End Avenue and West 86th Street neared completion, the New York Times of March 6, 1897 commented that the buildings comprised "one of the handsomest...
Read the storyReligious · 1896-97
99 Central Park West, New York, NY
The synagogue of the Congregation Shearith Israel was built in 1896-97 from plans by the architectural firm of Brunner & Tryon. This masonry building, referred to as the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, is the fourth...
Read the storyCommercial · 1910-29
4 Irving Place, New York, NY
The Consolidated Edison Building, constructed in stages between 1910 and 1929 for the Consolidated Gas Company, predecessor to Consolidated Edison, and designed by the leading architectural firms of Henry Hardenbergh...
Read the storyCommercial · 1931-34
319 Grand Street, New York, NY
In the second half of 19th century, Edward Ridley & Sons was the largest department store on the Lower East Side. Founded by Edward Ridley in c. 1848, over the next three decades the business grew by converting...
Read the storyCommercial · 1925-27
691 5th Avenue, New York, NY
The Aeolian Building was constructed in 1925-27 to the design of architects Warren & Wetmore for the Gould Realty Co., controlled by Commodore Charles A. Gould, a wealthy iron and steel manufacturer and property owner...
Read the storyCommercial · 1897-98
71 Broadway, New York, NY
The richly decorative, neo-classical Empire Building was commissioned in 1895 by the Estate of Orlando B. Potter and constructed in 1897-98 to the design of Kimball & Thompson.
Read the storyCommercial · 1913-15
120 Broadway, New York, NY
The Equitable Building, designed by the firm of E.R. Graham, successor to D.H. Burnham & Co., has long been considered a key element in the development and passage of New York’s zoning law, the first in the country....
Read the storyReligious · 1908
242 East 7th Street, New York, NY
This small, classical revival style synagogue building is a fine and rare surviving example of the numerous small synagogues that were constructed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries on the Lower...
Read the storyBank · 1926-27
743 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY
The East River Savings Bank, prominently located on the northeast corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 96th Street, was built in 1926-27, and was enlarged in 1931-32. Both phases of the building were designed by the...
Read the storyBank · 1922-24
1362 Broadway, New York, NY
Haier America acquired the building in 2002.
Read the storyEducational · 1908-09
160 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
The Pratt New York Phoenix School of Design, a five-story brick and stone neo-Classical institutional building, is located on the northwest corner of Lexington Avenue and 30th Street. Built in 1908-09, it was designed...
Read the storyRecreational · 1906-11
348 East 54th Street, New York, NY
The East 54th Street Bath, the 12th of 13 Free Public Baths of the City of New York opened in Manhattan, is culturally significant for its part in the history of the progressive reform movement in America. An 1895 state...
Read the storyGraveyard · 1891-97
W 122nd Street & Riverside Drive, New York, NY
he General Grant National Memorial, the work of architect John K. Duncan, is one of the most impressive monuments in the City. Located on a spectacular site overlooking the Hudson River and Riverside Park, at houses the...
Read the storyCommercial · 1926
1554 Broadway, New York, NY
The I. Miller Building, with its four statues of leading actresses of the 1920s by the noted sculptor Alexander Stirling Calder, is an evocative reminder of the history of the Broadway theater district. Designed by...
Read the storyCommercial · 1882-87
1 Broadway, New York, NY
The International Mercantile Marine Company Building occupies a prominent and historic location at the south end of Broadway, facing both Bowling Green and Battery Park, on a lot that extends along the entire blockfront...
Read the storyCommercial · 1913
23 Wall Street, New York, NY
This large, low building consists of three stories and a blind attic. The Morgan Building is a building which displays many handsome classical details, yet because of its broad smooth wall surfaces, great windows and...
Read the storyResidential · 1869
46 West 55th Street, New York, NY
The Joseph B. and Josephine H. Bissell House was originally constructed as one of five Italianate style brownstone row houses designed by architect Thomas Thomas and built in 1869 by owner and builder John W. Stevens....
Read the storyClubhouse · 1927-28
130 East 80th Street, New York, NY
Reflecting the Neo-Classic Style of Robert Adam, one of the foremost English architects of the Eighteenth Century, this formal residence of austere elegance is five stories high with basement and sub-basement. It is one...
Read the storyReligious · 1926-27
280 Broome Street, New York, NY
The Kehila Kadosha Janina Synagogue was constructed in 1926-27 for a small group of Romaniote Jews who had emigrated from the town of Ioannina in northwestern Greece. They had begun moving to the United States in 1905...
Read the storyBank · 1907
79 8th Avenue, New York, NY
In the wake of the World's Colmnbian Exposition of 1893 which spawned the Academic Classical Movement throughout America, the neo-classical style virtually became a formula solution for bank design. Constructed in 1907,...
Read the storyLibrary · 1906
209 W 23rd Street, New York, NY
Opened on February 19, 1906, the neoClassical Muhlenberg Branch was the eleventh Carnegie branch built in Manhattan and the twenty-eighth of sixty-seven branch libraries built in New York City, with Andrew Carnegie's...
Read the storyCommercial · 1914
Chambers Street & Centre Street, New York, NY
The Municipal Building is an impressive Classical skyscraper, rising to a height of 25 stories with a tower above. It represents an effort made by the City, through the use of noted architects and sculptors, to achieve...
Read the storyLibrary · 1898-99
174 East 110th Street, New York, NY
The Aguilar Branch of the New York Public Library initially was built for the Aguilar Free Library Society, which was founded in 1886 as an independent library to provide circulating books for immigrant Jews. The...
Read the storyCommercial · 1901-03
18 Broad Street, New York, NY
George B. Post designed the New York Stock Exchange's Broad Street building, which opened in 1903. Its monumental columns frame a large wall of glass built to admit daylight to the trading floor. The classical front...
Read the storyEducational · 1909-12
1 East 78th Street, New York, NY
The impressive splendor of the Duke mansion is achieve through the simple grandeur of the French Classical style of Louis XV. It was designed in 1909 by the well-known architect, Horace Trumbauer of Philadelphia. He...
Read the storyTheater · 1917-18
234 West 45th Street, New York, NY
The Plymouth Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built in 1917-18, the Plymouth was one of a pair with the Broadhurst and among the...
Read the storyRecreational · 1904-06
383 Asser Levy Place, New York, NY
The Public Baths were built between 1904 and 1906 by the City of New York. The building was designed by Arnold W. Brunner and william Martin Aiken, asso-ciated architects for this project. Public baths were a necessity...
Read the storyResidential · 1929-30
146 Central Park West, New York, NY
Soaring over Central Park, the profile of the San Remo is among the most important components of the magnificent skyline of Central Park West. The first of the twin-towered buildings which give Central Park West its...
Read the storyLibrary · 1904-05
103 West 135th Street, New York, NY
Built as the West 135th Street Branch Library, the former Schomburg Collection building at 103 West 135th Street was designed in 1904 by the eminent firm of McKim, Mead & White. Small and dignified, the structure is one...
Read the storyCommercial · 1924-25
113 West 57th Street, New York, NY
The sixteen-story Steinway Hall was constructed in 1924-25 to the design of architects Warren & Wetmore for Steinway & Sons, a piano manufacturing firm that has been a dominant force in its industry since the 1860s....
Read the storyCommercial · 1914
404 5th Avenue, New York, NY
The Stewart & Company Building, designed by Warren and Wetmore, is one of the firm’s most unusual designs. The 1914 building reflects the unusual combination of diverse influences such as the 18th century British...
Read the storyBridge · 1912-15
Manhattan Bridge Plaza & Canal Street, New York, NY
New York's first bridges were engineering marvels, but little thought was given to entrances and exits, instead focusing primarily on the river crossing. That changed with the evolution of the City Beautiful movement,...
Read the storyTheater · 1912-13
146 West 48th Street, New York, NY
The Cort Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built in 1912-13, the Cort is among the oldest surviving theaters in New York. It was...
Read the storyLibrary · 1904
331 East 10th Street, New York, NY
Opened on December 1, 1904, the Tompkins Square Branch of The New York Public Library is one of the earliest Carnegie branch libraries in New York City. It is one of twenty in Manhattan and one of sixty-seven in New...
Read the storyClubhouse · 1929-31
38 East 37th Street, New York, NY
Built in 1929-31, the Union League is a fine example of a neo-Classical style clubhouse, combining elements that recall the architecture of 18th century England and the American colonies. This style was especially...
Read the storyCivic · 1933-36
Foley Square, New York, NY
This imposing neo-classical skyscraper, begun in 1933, was the last building designed by the noted American architect Cass Gilbert, who died in 1934 while the courthouse was under construction. It was completed by his...
Read the storyCivic · 1910-13
8th Avenue & 31st Street, New York, NY
An inscription occupying the entire height and length of the frieze of the entablature crowning one of the most monumental Classic colonnades in New York quotes Herodotus, "Neither Snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of...
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