January 19, 2009
In Bank of New York's Red Room for Access Restricted
NewYorkology contributor Moses Gates is an urban planner, part-time tour guide, and full-time Gothamphile. He reports on the the high up, the low down, and the out-of-the-way in New York City. All pictures are by Steve Duncan, an urban explorer whose extensive NYC photography can be seen at UnderCity.org.
The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council kicked off its 2009 “Access Restricted - Capital of the World” lectures last week and NewYorkology was there to take advantage of the free series “that opens rarely visited and often prohibited spaces in Lower Manhattan to the general public.
The venue was the stunning 49th floor Observation Lounge of the Bank of New York Building at 1 Wall Street.
 Appropriately, the topic was rest of the street. Columbia University professor Carol Willis, who is also the director of the Skyscraper Museum, was on hand to present a slideshow entitled “Form Follows Finance: The Architecture of Wall Street.”
Using archival photos detailing the evolution of the street from two-story banking halls in the mid-1800s to the skyscraper canyons of the 1930s, she described the difference in property values in just three short blocks along the street in 1903 (4,000 percent.) Only one building on Wall Street was built smaller than one it replaced (the JP Morgan headquarters at 23 Wall Street).
Willis’ favorite location on Wall Street?
“The Red Room. It’s a transcendent space” - and conveniently located right downstairs in the lobby from where the first Access Restricted lecture was taking place.
You can take a peek into the of the Bank of New York Building’s Red Room from the corner of Wall and Broadway, and if you’re interested in the topic you can get a copy of Willis’ book on the subject.
Getting up to the Observation Lounge on your own, however, is a lot tougher. Despite its name, (and great views) it was never open to the public as an active observation deck. Amenities include two working fireplaces and a ceiling tiled completely in seashells - Philippine kappa shells to exact.
We hadn’t heard from “Access Restricted” since 2007, but curator Adam Kleinman confirms that plans are to continue the series on an annual basis. On Kleinman’s wish list for 2010? The Cunard and Standard Oil buildings on either side of Bowling Green, as well as the old observation decks of the Bank of Manhattan building at 40 Wall Street, and the AIG Building at 70 Pine Street.
How about the Stock Exchange?
“Probably not” says Kleinman. “Too complicated.”
“Access Restricted” continues February 18 with Miriam Greenberg’s lecture “The Shifting Skyline: Branding New York in Times of Financial Crisis” at the top of 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza. Reservations open February 10.
The rest of the 2009 series can be viewed here. The series is free of charge, but RSVP quickly when the registration date hits - the events can fill up in a matter of minutes.
Earlier: Inside Wall Street’s financial temples for free
January 19, 2009 1:55 PM in Architecture, Cheap Stuff, Downtown, History, Sightsology, Tours
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