Landmarks Preservation Commission September 19, 2006, Designation List 380 LP-2191 MORSE BUILDING (later NASSAU-BEEKMAN BUILDING), 138-142 Nassau Street (aka 10-14 Beekman Street), Manhattan. Built 1878-80, [Benjamin, Jr.] Silliman & [James M.] Farnsworth, architects; Addition 1901-02, [William P.] Bannister & [Richard M.] Schell, architects. Landmark Site: Borough of Manhattan Tax Map Block 100, Lot 26. On March 14, 2006, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed designation as a Landmark of the Morse Building and the proposed designation of the related Landmark Site (Item No. 2). The hearing had been duly advertised in accordance with the provisions of law. Two speakers, one of them a representative of the Historic Districts Council, spoke in favor of designation. In addition, the Commission has received a resolution from Manhattan Community Board 1 and communications from the owner, 140 Nassau Residence Corp., and Councilmember Alan J. Gerson in support of designation. Summary The current form of the Morse Building results from three periods of construction: the original (1878-80), as well as alterations in 1901-02 and c. 1965. Today, the structure’s 6-story midsection, with two articulated facades featuring round- and segmental-arched fenestration, is, in part, the earliest surviving (as well as one of the very few surviving) tall “fireproof” New York office building of the period prior to the full development of the skyscraper. The original 8-story (plus raised basement and attic) Morse Building was a speculative commission by Sidney E. Morse and G. Livingston Morse, cousins who were sons of the founders of the religious newspaper The New-York Observer, and nephews of Samuel F.B. Morse, the artist and inventor of the electric telegraph. The first major New York design of architects [Benjamin, Jr.] Silliman & [James M.] Farnsworth, employing a generally-praised stylistic combination of Victorian Gothic, neo- Grec, and Rundbogenstil, the building was located in the center of the city’s newspaper publishing and printing industries, as Park Row and Nassau Street were redeveloped with significant tall office buildings. It is an early example of the use of brick and terra cotta for the exterior cladding of office buildings in that period. The intricate polychrome brickwork, among the finest of its time surviving in New York City, was supplied by the Peerless Brick Co. of Philadelphia. It features hues of deep red contrasted with Photo: 1999 glazed black, the latter employed ornamentally, largely to emphasize the outlines of the fenestration. Terra cotta manufactured by the Boston Terra Cotta Co., one of the first East Coast firms, was used for details such as sillcourses and rondels. Just 20 years after its completion, the Morse Building was considered small and old-fashioned compared to very tall 1890s steel-framed skyscrapers. The Nassau-Beekman Building, as it was re-named, was altered in 1901-02 to the “Edwardian” neo-Classical style design of architects [William P.] Bannister & [Richard M.] Schell. This entailed remodeling the base; reconstructing the upper two stories, capped by a projecting balcony/cornice supported by enormous scroll brackets; and adding four steel-framed stories clad in cream- colored brick, bringing it to 14 stories. The shift in color and style of this alteration apparently reflected the influence of the recently-built Broadway Chambers Building (1899-1900, Cass Gilbert). From 1919 to 1942, the former Morse Building was headquarters of the United Cities Realty Corp. The base of the structure was altered again c. 1965, and the 10th-story balcony/cornice was removed. The building was converted from office to residential use in 1980.

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS The Morse Family and the Morse Building 1 The Morse Building was commissioned by Sidney Edwards Morse (1835-1908) and Gilbert Livingston Morse (1842-1891), cousins who were nephews of Samuel Finley Breese Morse (17

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