Манхэттендегі Селигман ғимаратының тарихы

Office building in Manhattan, New York

The 11 story structure, clad in limestone with a steel frame, is located at the southern corner of the five pointed intersection of William, South William, and Beaver Streets. It occupies a quadrilateral lot, with an acute angle between South William Street to the west and William Street to the east. In 1996, the building was designated as a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. In 2007, the building was designated as a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places district.

The Bavarian born brothers Joseph and James Seligman, in conjunction with several other brothers, founded dry goods businesses across the United States in the 1840s. They opened a New York City clothing store at 5 William Street by 1848. With profits from the creation of other branches worldwide, the family received contracts to create Union Army soldiers' uniforms during the American Civil War. After the war ended, the family founded an investment bank called J. & W. Seligman & Co., with headquarters at 59 Exchange Place. The company also developed branches around the world, each headed by one of the brothers, though these branches later became independent. The five lots purchased by Isaac included the Seligmans' old store, and were two blocks away from Wall Street, where many of New York City's major financial companies and commodities exchanges were located. The next year, architectural plans for the building were filed with the New York City Department of Buildings. The New York Herald said, "It is to be of the Italian Renaissance type with facades of at the first story and limestone above, with decorative tower." The building was completed by July 1907 at a cost of $1 million, at which point J. & W. Seligman & Co. moved into the space. Originally, the front entrance was on South William Street. and the Seligmans moved nearby, to 54 Wall Street. The same year, a renovation had split the two story high banking room into two regular sized floors. The investment bank Lehman Brothers bought 1 William Street in 1928. At the time, they were located diagonally across the intersection of Beaver, William, and South William Streets. The firm had to move to make way for construction of 20 Exchange Place, and chose 1 William Street because it would provide more space. Lehman Brothers originally took half the floor area in 1 William Street, but then occupied additional space vacated by tenants with expiring leases,

By the 1970s, Lehman Brothers was seeing financial losses, and under chairman Peter G. Petersen, the company merged with Kuhn, Loeb & Co. in 1977. The combined company moved out of the building at the end of 1980, putting the structure on sale for $10 million and consolidating its operations at another facility on 55 Water Street. The following year, the building was purchased by Banca Commerciale Italiana, which erected an 11 story addition to the south between 1982 and 1986. The building is now owned by Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy's largest bank.

The building is designed in the Renaissance Revival style, with elements similar to the Baroque Revival style in Britain, such as a curving exterior, sculptural ornament, and towers at the corners.

The side facades consist of a water table made of granite. The windows on the ground floor contain elaborate entablatures on their frames, while those on the second floor are rectangular with ornate metal railings. To smooth out the acute angle created by the intersection of William and South William Streets, where the building's main entrance is located, the designers included a curved facade at the lower floors, as well as a concave building corner element above the eighth floor. This element is capped by a corner tower, which is round and resembles a "tempietto". At the time, chief Pierre Colin prepared 75 meals a day for lunch. Colin said that the dinners were "much more elegant than eating at a midtown restaurant".