140 Broadway Building (Former Marine Midland Bank)

History and architecture

A critically-acclaimed example of mid-20th-century modernism, the former Marine Midland Bank Building at 140 Broadway was completed in early 1968. Architect Gordon Bunshaft, of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, was the partner in charge of the minimalist design – a matte black aluminum and bronze-tinted glass skyscraper that The New York Times architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable later described as “not only one of [the] buildings I admire most in New York, but that I admire most anywhere.”

Erwin S. Wolfson assembled the trapezoidal site by 1961, covering an entire block between Nassau Street and Broadway, and following his death, a revised 51-story scheme was commissioned by developers Harry Helmsley and Lawrence A. Wien, covering about 40% of the block. This approach conformed to a new zoning ordinance, effective December 1961, resulting in a dramatic free-standing trapezoidal tower adjoined by spacious plazas and wide sidewalks. Construction began in late 1964 and the principal tenants, such as the Marine Midland Grace Trust Company, started to occupy the structure three years later. Many of the initial tenants were involved in financial, banking and accounting services.

During the post-World War II era, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill became one of the leading architectural firms in the nation and the smooth mullion-less skin was singled out for its remarkable simplicity and color. In the spacious plaza that adjoins Broadway, “Cube,” a 28- foot-tall abstract sculpture by the celebrated Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi was installed near Liberty Street, in early 1968. Precariously balanced on one corner, the contrasting reddish cubic form animates the space and helps underscore the dark elegance of the elevations. Though renovations in 2000 brought significant changes to the plaza and public entrances along Cedar Street, 140 Broadway retains much of its original character, as well as a commanding presence in lower Manhattan, visible from Broadway, Zuccotti Park, and the reemerging World Trade Center.