{"nrhp_refnum":"03001153","name":"Bank of the Metropolis","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"31 Union Square West","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.736778497000046,"lon":-73.99108348099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-11-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A sixteen-story, limestone-faced, steel-framed bank and office building at 31 Union Square West, at the corner of West 16th Street in Manhattan, built in 1902-03 and designed by architect Bruce Price.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is architecturally significant under Criterion C as an intact early 20th-century skyscraper by the noted architect Bruce Price. It is a columnar, tripartite tower that uses classical bank vocabulary and adapts to a narrow corner site. It was built to serve businesses around Union Square.","narrative":"Rising sixteen stories at the northwest corner of Union Square West and West 16th Street in Manhattan, this limestone-faced, steel-framed tower was built in 1902-03 as a bank and office building. Architect Bruce Price designed it as a classical column, with a rusticated base, a plain nine-story shaft and an ornate top capped by a dentilled copper cornice. A bowed two-story portico with polished granite Ionic columns turns a narrow street front into a grand entrance. Lions' heads, consoles and foliated spandrels decorate the facade. The design draws on classical elements long associated with American bank architecture while meeting the demands of a tall, modern building type and a tight corner lot. The bank served businesses around Union Square and had local business figures on its board. Today the former banking hall houses a restaurant, and the upper floors have been apartments since the 1970s. Its integrity as an early skyscraper by Price supports its architectural importance.","period_of_significance":"1902-03","architect_builder":"Price, Bruce","architectural_style":"Late 19th & 20th Century Revivals: Beaux Arts (described in the text as neo-Renaissance and neo-classical)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"The ground floor banking hall is now a restaurant and the upper floors were converted to apartments in the 1970s; the original copper cornice survives, though the cresting was removed in 1951.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.431135-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/03001153.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03001153/60551d7bb9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03001153/60551d7bb9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"DieNormativität / DieNormativität at German Wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bank_of_the_Metropolis.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">DieNormativität / DieNormativität at German Wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bank_of_the_Metropolis.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319283","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_the_Metropolis","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q806695"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/bank-of-the-metropolis-03001153/"}