{"nrhp_refnum":"66000540","name":"Cooper Union","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Cooper Square, 7th St., and 4th Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.729367739000054,"lon":-73.99047316016552,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1961-07-04","areas_of_significance":["Education"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Cooper Union is a six-story brownstone and brick Italianate educational building at Cooper Square, Seventh Street and Fourth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by F.A. Peterson and completed in 1858 for Peter Cooper.","why_significant":"It realized Peter Cooper's plan for a free school to improve the working classes of New York, and is described as a pioneer landmark in private support of public education. Its Great Hall hosted major public figures, including Abraham Lincoln's February 1860 speech that helped win him the presidency. The building also contained innovations such as rolled iron I-beams, a circular elevator shaft and mechanical ventilation.","narrative":"Cooper Union is a five-story brownstone and brick Italianate building, later expanded to six main floors, at Cooper Square in Manhattan. Completed in 1858 to designs by F.A. Peterson, it was created by the industrialist Peter Cooper as a free school for working people of New York. Its construction used rolled iron I-beams from Cooper's Trenton ironworks, supporting brick arches, along with cast iron columns, a circular elevator shaft and a fan-forced ventilation system. Night courses, a design school for women, and a large public library drew thousands of people weekly. The basement Great Hall became a leading public forum, where Abraham Lincoln spoke in February 1860 in an address he later credited with winning him the presidency. Susan B. Anthony, Horace Greeley, Mark Twain and Ulysses S. Grant also spoke there. A renovation beginning in 1972, led by John Hejduk, rebuilt the south end while keeping the elevator shaft. The building remains on its original site and continues as a school.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899, 1900-","architect_builder":"F.A. Peterson","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still used for its original educational purpose at its original site; the interior was renovated from 1972, with classes resuming in September 1974, and part of the school is no longer housed in the building.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.865721-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/66000540_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000540/20eafcac6f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000540/20eafcac6f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"David Shankbone","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cooper_Union_by_David_Shankbone.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">David Shankbone</a>, <a href=\"http://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:Cooper_Union_by_David_Shankbone.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"13000027","name":"The Bowery Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/the-bowery-historic-district-13000027/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315924","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_Union","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q130981"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/cooper-union-66000540/"}