14 Wall Street, originally named the Bankers Trust Company Building, is a skyscraper on Wall Street in New York City, United States. It occupies the block along Nassau Street from Wall Street to Pine Street and is across from the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall. The building was the headquarters of Bankers Trust.
The concept behind the building's design was to place the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus on top of St Mark's Campanile in Venice. Many early skyscrapers took the Venetian bell-tower as a logical model for a modern office tower, but 14 Wall Street was the first to top it off with a temple in the sky, a seven-story stepped pyramid modeled on one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Bankers Trust, for whom the building was constructed, then adopted the pyramid as its trademark, and took as its slogan "A Tower of Strength".
The first stage of construction, 1910–1912, was marked by the demolition of a 20-storey Gillender Building, claimed to be the first skyscraper demolished to make way for a taller skyscraper.[1] It was completed in 1912 by Trowbridge & Livingston and is 539 ft (164 m) tall and contains 37 floors. In its day the world's tallest bank building, the 539-foot-high skyscraper originally housed the headquarters of Bankers Trust, one of the country's wealthiest financial institutions. The bank occupied only the three lower floors; its main operations were housed elsewhere in less expensive offices.[2]
The 31st floor was once an apartment belonging to J. P. Morgan. The space was converted into an upscale French restaurant called "The 14 Wall Street."[3] However, the restaurant closed in April 2006,[4] following plans in 2004 to convert the entire building from offices into luxury condos.[5] On January 21, 2007, the building's owners, having stalled in their residential conversion plan, agreed to sell the property to Cushman & Wakefield. [6][7]
International IT services provider, FDM Group, celebrated the launch of their new residence on the 31st floor of the original Bankers Trust Building in April 2011. FDM has kept many of the original features in J.P. Morgan's former apartment, including the bar, fireplace and decadent wooden flooring.
Instantly a standard-bearer in the downtown skyline, 14 Wall Street went on to become a widely recognised symbol of Wall Street and American capitalism.
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