63 Nassau Street facts for kids
63 Nassau Street is a special old building in New York City. It is located on Nassau Street in the Financial District of Manhattan. This area is a busy part of the city.
The building was first built around 1844 in a style called Italianate. This style was popular for its fancy, classic look. Later, between 1857 and 1859, a special front (called a facade) made of cast iron was added. This made it one of the very first buildings in New York City to use cast iron for its front.
People believe that a famous designer named James Bogardus created the iron front. He was a leader in using cast iron for buildings. We think he designed it because of special round decorations, called medallions, that show Benjamin Franklin. These same medallions were on four other buildings Bogardus designed, but those buildings are gone now. There were also medallions of George Washington on the building at one time.
63 Nassau Street is very rare because it's one of only five buildings by James Bogardus that are still standing in the whole United States. Because it's so important, it was officially named a New York City landmark on May 15, 2007.
What the Building Looks Like
The building has five floors and its front is made of cast iron in the Italianate style. It used to have two main sections of arches, one above the other. The bottom section had two floors of arches, and the top section had three floors.
These arches were supported by tall, fluted (grooved) columns. Most of the fancy leaf designs on top of these columns are now missing. The arches also had special rope-like designs and decorative panels.
Between the second and third floors, there used to be iron portraits of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin inside wreaths. These were also made of cast iron, just like the rest of the building's front. As of 2008, the two portraits of Washington are no longer there. Similar portraits were once on two other buildings designed by Bogardus: the Baltimore Sun building in Maryland and a building for Harper & Brothers in New York. However, both of those buildings have been torn down.
The very top of the building's front has a wide, decorative ledge supported by brackets. The windows have changed over time. They were originally wooden, but later some were replaced with different types of windows. The ground floor has a deeply set entrance with a glass door and display windows. There's also a mosaic tile floor.
See also
In Spanish: 63 Nassau Street para niños
