{"nrhp_refnum":"83001735","name":"Lincoln Building","other_names":["1 Union Square West"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1 Union Sq. W.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.735668428000054,"lon":-73.99188187699997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-09-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A nine-story corner office and commercial building at 1 Union Square West in Manhattan, facing the southwest corner of Union Square at East 14th Street. It was designed by R.H. Robertson and begun in 1887, with 1887-88 given as its dates.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is an extremely fine example of a Romanesque Revival skyscraper and shows an early phase of high-rise design in New York City. It reflects architects adapting popular styles to the new tall building type. It is also an early Romanesque Revival structure clad in white limestone instead of darker, earth-toned stone, and it may be Robertson's earliest skyscraper.","narrative":"Rising nine stories at the corner of Union Square West and East 14th Street, this early skyscraper was designed by architect R.H. Robertson and begun in 1887. Its facades combine limestone, brick, granite and terra cotta in the Romanesque Revival manner, with horizontal round-arched arcades, Byzantine and Celtic carving, Norman zig-zag moldings, and grimacing human and animal heads. A griffin-shaped flagpole base marks the corner. The ground-floor shops have been heavily altered, though some cast-iron colonnettes and a security gate survive, along with the original iron stairway and part of the lobby. The building is notable for its white limestone facing, lighter than the dark stone usually used in the style, and for its horizontal massing, which predates the base, shaft and capital format that became common in the 1890s. It shows a New York architect adapting a traditional style to a new building type. Robertson may have designed it as his first skyscraper, and it sits in a district that changed from residential to commercial use after the Civil War.","period_of_significance":"1887-88","architect_builder":"R.H. Robertson","architectural_style":"Romanesque Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied and in good condition; the commercial ground floor has been substantially altered, and the office interiors have been redesigned many times.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:42.890147-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/83001735.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001735/2fe21e33ca-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001735/2fe21e33ca-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Jim.henderson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lincoln_1USQW_bldg_jeh.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim.henderson</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lincoln_1USQW_bldg_jeh.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319698","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Building_(Union_Square,_Manhattan)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q919079"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/lincoln-building-83001735/"}