Нью-Йорктегі бұрынғы St. Paul ғимараты

Former skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

The St. Paul Building was an early skyscraper at 220 Broadway, at the southeast corner with Ann Street, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Designed by George B. Post and completed in 1898, it was one of the tallest skyscrapers in New York City upon its completion, at 26 stories and 315 feet (96 m). The facade, cantilevered from the superstructure, contained several sets of double height Ionic style colonnades, as well as a group of three caryatids designed by Karl Bitter. The foundations were dug to the level of the underlying sand due to the depth of the bedrock below. The superstructure was designed to allow easy identification and replacement of the beams. The building was occupied mostly by offices, with six elevators inside. The building site was purchased by the Havemeyer family in 1895. The St. Paul Building was named after St. Paul's Chapel, directly across Broadway to the west. It remained in the possession of the Havemeyer family until 1943, when it was sold to Webb and Knapp and then to Chase Bank. The St. Paul Building was demolished in 1958 in order to make way for the Western Electric Building. A part of the facade, including Bitter's sculptures, remains extant at Holliday Park in Indianapolis.

The St. Paul Building had 26 stories and was 315 feet (96 m) tall. It also contained two basement levels. George B. Post was the architect, Robinson and Wallace was the general contractor J. B. & J. M. Cornell was the steel contractor. Karl Bitter designed the sculptures above the building's entrance. The lot had dimensions of 28 feet (9 m) on Broadway, 39 feet (12 m) on Park Row, 83 feet (25 m) on Ann Street, 54 feet (16 m) on the east, and 104 feet (32 m) on the south. It was at the southeast corner of the five pointed intersection of Broadway, Park Row, and Ann Street, and was immediately east of St. Paul's Chapel, located across Broadway. The building's address was cited as 220 Broadway. The first four stories comprised the "base" of the building, and had rusticated blocks, with cornices above the 1st, 2nd, and 4th floors. On the Broadway side, above the 1st floor, were three sculptures by Karl Bitter, titled "Racial Unity.” The figures depicted three stone atlantes holding up parts of the building, namely a Black person, a white person, and a Chinese person. Between the 5th and 20th stories, the facade was split into eight double story sections, with Ionic style piers between the windows supporting cornices above every even numbered story. The ground above the bedrock was overlaid with extremely fine, compact, clean sand, and a well on the site demonstrated that pumping out the groundwater caused minimal disruption to the sand. Test loads of up to were placed on the sand and left to sink , after which the ground was deemed stable. There were also plans to construct a "joint foundation" on the southern property line, to be shared with the property to the south. When the southern property owner decided against developing their site, the southern wall was instead reinforced via cantilevers, thus keeping the St. Paul Building's foundations independent of those of other buildings. The jacks had already been ordered, so they were installed anyway. Two elevators served all the floors from the lobby to the 8th story; another two ran express from the lobby to the 8th story, then served all floors through the 16th; and the final two ran express from the lobby to the 16th story, then served all floors to the 26th.

Prior to the St. Paul Building's construction, the site was occupied by Barnum's American Museum, which burned down in 1865. The site was then developed as the old headquarters of the New York Herald, which was placed for sale in 1894. The Herald building was purchased by the Havemeyer family for $950,000 in January 1895. That May, demolition commenced on the Herald building. Post was hired by a member of the Havemeyer family to design the St. Paul Building. The St. Paul Building was completed in 1898 at a cost of $1,089,826.10 (equivalent to $ million in ). During the early 20th century, notable tenants at the St. Paul Building included The Outlook magazine, where Theodore Roosevelt was an associate editor after he served as U. S. president. As early as 1919, the Havemeyers were considering selling the St. Paul Building, valued at the time at $1.49 million. However, the St. Paul Building remained in the possession of the Havemeyer family until April 1943, when it was acquired by Webb and Knapp. In August 1943, the Chase National Bank bought the St. Paul Building for cash. At the time it was assessed at $1.154 million, with an annual rent income of $150,000.

AT&T's Western Electric division outgrew the AT&T headquarters at 195 Broadway, immediately to the southwest, in the 1950s, having made significant profits during the Cold War. In 1957, Western Electric started planning its own structure diagonally across Broadway and Fulton Street, at the site of the St. Paul Building. By the time demolition was underway by 1959, it was the tallest voluntarily demolished building in the world. The 31 story building at 222 Broadway, which replaced the St. Paul Building, was completed in 1962. Western Electric put 222 Broadway for sale in October 1983, and it was purchased by Swiss Bank Corporation in 1987.

The Committee to Preserve American Art was formed in August 1958 to save works of art in buildings that were planned to be destroyed, particularly the St. Paul Building. The building's sculptures were valued at $150,000, Because of the great demand for the sculptures, Western Electric agreed to save them. Ultimately, Indianapolis won the sculptures in November 1958. Elmer Taflinger, described as the "grand old man of Indiana art", had presented a plan to move the sculptures and part of the St. Paul Building's lower facade to Holliday Park. Before Indianapolis won the sculptures, Taflinger had proposed moving them to Indiana University Medical Center or to a bridge over the White River. The statues were removed in early 1959. After sitting in boxes for two years, the sculptures were installed in Holliday Park in 1960, atop columns made specifically to house them, as part of a grouping called The Ruins. However, the sculptures and facade then became dilapidated, and by 1970, Western Electric had expressed regret at the decision to give the sculptures and facade to Indianapolis. The Real Estate Record and Guide stated in 1897 that "in execution it has the look of arbitrariness and caprice which is always unfortunate in a work of architecture, and which is, perhaps, especially injurious in a tall building". Another critic for the Real Estate Record and Guide, writing in 1898, characterized the St. Paul and Park Row Buildings as "two domineering structures [that] swear at each other". The unnamed critic characterized the top stories of the St. Paul Building as well designed, compared to the Park Row Building's cupolas. However, the critic also lambasted the "impossible 'realism'" of Bitter's figures on the St. Paul Building's facade, as contrasted with J. Massey Rhind's sculptures on the Park Row Building's facade. Critic Jean Schopfer called the St. Paul Building "mediocre", as compared with other skyscrapers like the "detestable" Park Row Building or the "interesting" American Surety Building. Post himself was opposed to skyscrapers of over 300 feet (91 m), even including the St. Paul Building, due to his concerns that wind and fire could overcome such tall structures. The Real Estate Record commented that the St. Paul Building had offered Post "the occasion to say 'I told you so' at his own expense".