J. P. Morgan & Co. Building

History and architecture

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 unusual design, it is virtually without precedent.

It is a fine marble building in perfect scale with its neighbors at the north end of Broad Street which widens at this point to create the illusion of a small square. Due to the great impression of solid dignity and massive strength crated by this building on its comer site, the Morgan Building forms a conspicuous part of the city scene at this important location. The illusion of openness is further enhanced here by the manner in which the corner of the building is cut off diagonally. This permits Wall Street to join Broad Street in a most attractive manner. The main entrance of the building, with its handsome bronze grilles, adds to the dignity of this impressive comer.

The building, traditionally the headquarters of J.P. Morgan & Co., has over the years served as a vital center in the growth of New York and the entire Nation. It is now the building of the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York. This address and building are known throughout the entire World.

At the public hearing, the representative of the Municipal Art Society said that the Morgan Building "with its neoclassic imposing facades represents the great banker, whose name it bears, and the way all the great financiers of the turn of the Century identified themselves with the merchant princes of the Italian Renaissance.