55 Water Street

Manhattan, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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A 53-story tower dominating the Financial District's East River waterfront, 55 Water Street rose to 209 meters upon its completion in 1972 as the world's largest privately owned office building by floor area. Designed by Emery Roth & Sons in the International Style for developers the Uris brothers, this 3.5-million-square-foot structure comprises two sections: a rectangular southern tower and a 15-story northern wing with sloped walls. Its masonry and glass facade rises above a steel superstructure on reinforced concrete foundations, with upper floors offering 55,000 square feet each and lower stories nearly double that. The building occupies a superblock in Lower Manhattan between Coenties Slip and South Street, anchored by the elevated public plaza Elevated Acre on its eastern edge and Vietnam Veterans Plaza to the southwest. Topped out in June 1971 and initially occupied by major financial firms including Chemical Bank, the building has since changed hands multiple times and undergone renovations in the 1990s and 2010s.