Mills Building (New York City) facts for kids

Mills Building on Broad Street, New York (1882)

Broad Street in 1893. Mills Bldg is second on left

The Mills Building was a tall, 10-story building in Manhattan, New York City. It stood at 15 Broad Street and Exchange Place, with a part of it reaching to 35 Wall Street. It was built around the J. P. Morgan & Company Building. A famous architect named George B. Post designed the building.

A rich banker from San Francisco, D.O. Mills, owned the land where the building was constructed.

Building the Mills Building

The Mills Building was finished in 1882. When it was first built, workers used wooden poles driven into the ground to support it. But the building was very heavy, and the ground underneath was sandy. This caused the building to start sinking!

Engineers found a way to add more support without tearing the building down. They drove extra supports deep into the ground. This made the foundation strong, even though it wasn't built on solid rock. Later, builders learned to use special "caisson foundations" for very tall buildings, which are even stronger.

In 1908, there were plans to replace the Mills Building with an even taller skyscraper. This new building would have been about 1,000 feet (300 meters) tall, making it the tallest building in the world at that time!

The Building's New Owners

In 1920, a big banking company called J.P. Morgan & Company rented the Mills Building for 84 years. The agreement said that a new building, at least 25 stories tall, had to be built on the site by May 1, 1928. The bank even had plans for a 33-story building that would cost $8 million to build.

However, in January 1925, another company called Equitable Trust took over the lease for the Mills Building. This company then built the 43-story 15 Broad Street on the same spot. This new building was constructed between 1926 and 1928.

See also

In Spanish: Mills Building (Nueva York) para niños