{"nrhp_refnum":"83004643","name":"Empire Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"71 Broadway","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.70738033600003,"lon":-74.01255124699998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-08-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A sixteen-story Classical Revival office tower of limestone and terra cotta at 71 Broadway, at the corner of Rector Street in lower Manhattan, designed in 1895 and built for the O.B. Potter Trust.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is one of the finest Classical Revival skyscrapers erected in New York City in the late nineteenth century and one of the earliest of the period when lower Broadway was rebuilt with high-rises. Its largely unaltered exterior was a major commission that established Francis Kimball as a leading skyscraper designer. It also forms a sympathetic setting for neighboring Trinity Church.","narrative":"Rising sixteen stories above lower Broadway at Rector Street, this limestone and terra cotta office tower was designed in 1895 by Kimball & Thompson for the O.B. Potter Trust. Its rounded, chamfered corner, tripartite base-shaft-capital massing, and a main entrance shaped like a Roman triumphal arch topped by eagles on globes mark it as a leading example of Classical Revival skyscraper design. A long Ionic arcade on the Rector Street side drew praise from critic Montgomery Schuyler. Francis Kimball added a rooftop penthouse in 1899. Although the interior has been extensively modernized, the exterior remains largely unaltered. The building was among the earliest skyscrapers in the 1890s-1910 rebuilding of lower Broadway, replacing older five-story commercial structures. It was a major commission for Kimball and helped establish his reputation, and it provides a fitting architectural backdrop to Trinity Church and its cemetery next door.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Kimball & Thompson","architectural_style":"Classical Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Exterior retains original integrity; interior extensively modernized, with only the west stairway surviving from the original fabric. A later one-story attic (penthouse) was added in 1899.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:51.532322-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/83004643.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004643/b70da4884b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004643/b70da4884b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Americasroof","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Empire-building-71-broadway.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Americasroof</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Empire-building-71-broadway.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"07000063","name":"Wall Street Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/wall-street-historic-district-07000063/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319471","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_Building_(Manhattan)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1339295"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/empire-building-83004643/"}