Morse Building

History and architecture

The current form of the Morse Building results from three periods of construction: the original (1878-80), as well as alterations in 1901-02 and c. 1965. Today, the structure’s 6-story midsection, with two articulated facades featuring round- and segmental-arched fenestration, is, in part, the earliest surviving (as well as one of the very few surviving) tall “fireproof” New York office building of the period prior to the full development of the skyscraper. The original 8-story (plus raised basement and attic) Morse Building was a speculative commission by Sidney E. Morse and G. Livingston Morse, cousins who were sons of the founders of the religious newspaper The New-York Observer, and nephews of Samuel F.B. Morse, the artist and inventor of the electric telegraph.

The first major New York design of architects [Benjamin, Jr.] Silliman & [James M.] Farnsworth, employing a generally-praised stylistic combination of Victorian Gothic, neo- Grec, and Rundbogenstil, the building was located in the center of the city’s newspaper publishing and printing industries, as Park Row and Nassau Street were redeveloped with significant tall office buildings. It is an early example of the use of brick and terra cotta for the exterior cladding of office buildings in that period.

Just 20 years after its completion, the Morse Building was considered small and old-fashioned compared to very tall 1890s steel-framed skyscrapers. The Nassau-Beekman Building, as it was re-named, was altered in 1901-02 to the “Edwardian” neo-Classical style design of architects [William P.] Bannister & [Richard M.] Schell. This entailed remodeling the base; reconstructing the upper two stories, capped by a projecting balcony/cornice supported by enormous scroll brackets; and adding four steel-framed stories clad in creamcolored brick, bringing it to 14 stories.

The shift in color and style of this alteration apparently reflected the influence of the recently-built Broadway Chambers Building (1899-1900, Cass Gilbert). From 1919 to 1942, the former Morse Building was headquarters of the United Cities Realty Corp. The base of the structure was altered again c. 1965, and the 10th-story balcony/cornice was removed. The building was converted from office to residential use in 1980.