{"nrhp_refnum":"83001734","name":"Liberty Tower","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"55 Liberty St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.708704072000046,"lon":-74.00933539999994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-09-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Liberty Tower is a thirty-three story steel-frame skyscraper at 55 Liberty Street in lower Manhattan, New York City, built in 1909-10 and designed by Henry Ives Cobb.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is an exceptional example of the early twentieth century romantically inspired skyscrapers that changed New York's skyline. Cobb combined modern steel-cage construction on water-proof caissons with traditional Gothic decoration in full terra-cotta cladding, one of the first such uses in New York. Its prominent site and picturesque roofline make it one of lower Manhattan's most distinctive skyscrapers.","narrative":"Liberty Tower is a thirty-three story steel-frame skyscraper at 55 Liberty Street in lower Manhattan, completed in 1909-10 to designs by Henry Ives Cobb. It fills its small lot and is visible from three sides. White terra cotta covers the main elevations, shaped into Gothic pointed arches, pinnacles, bracketed cornices and grotesque figures, and a copper-clad roof rises 64 feet above the thirtieth floor. The building sits on water-proof caissons on a site once occupied by William Cullen Bryant's New York Evening Post building. It was built as a speculative office building for the financial district. Cobb, trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition and experienced with the Chicago School, paired modern construction with historic styling, and his full terra-cotta cladding was among the earliest in New York. The building served as offices until 1979, when it became co-operative apartments, and its ground level is being restored to its original storefront arrangement.","period_of_significance":"1909-10","architect_builder":"Henry Ives Cobb","architectural_style":"Gothic style decoration on a steel-frame skyscraper with a traditional three-part (base-shaft-capital) composition","criteria":[],"status_note":"Used as commercial offices until 1979, then converted to co-operative apartments; the ground level is being restored to its original configuration, with a public restaurant on the second level.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:41.438734-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/83001734.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001734/27ae4f3090-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001734/27ae4f3090-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Liberty_Tower_from_west.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond My Ken</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Liberty_Tower_from_west.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319692","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Tower_(Manhattan)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q538076"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/liberty-tower-83001734/"}