United Bank Building, Wall Street and Broadway

Perspective view of the United Bank Building at 2 Wall Street and 90-94 Broadway. Illustration copyright 1880 by James R. Osgood & Co., published in the American Architect and Building News, issue April 23, 1881. Printed by the Heliotype Printing Company of Boston.

The United Bank Building, nicknamed "Fort Sherman", was an early skyscraper erected in 1880-1881. It was the headquarters of the First National Bank and the National Bank of the Republic.

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The National Bank of the Republic of New York, established as a state bank in 1851, bought the lot at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway that same year for its former headquarters.

Intention to build the United Bank Building was registered on March 19, 1880. The old building on the site, occupied by the National Bank of the Republic, was scheduled to be demolished from May 1st. Two additional lots were used for the new building.

The United Bank Building was designed by George A. Fuller (1851-1900) of the firm Peabody & Stearns. Later, Fuller left the firm and established the George A. Fuller Company, which constructed the Flatiron Building and other iconic buildings in New York.

The United Bank Building was built in rough brown stone, with wide blue-stone stairs, gothic dormers and gargoyles on the corners. It was completed in the early 1881.

In 1881, the 9-story building housed the First National Bank, organized in 1863, and the National Bank of the Republic. The safes of the two banks, weighing in the aggregate more than 60 thousand pounds, were delivered in May, 1881. These safes were of Herring & Co., nearly four inches thick of steel and iron welded.

A fire partially damaged the upper floors in December 1882. The Standard Coal and Iron Company had its office in the building in 1883. A mansard roof was added later (between 1910 and 1920).

On October 10, 1931, officials of the First National Bank, owner of the United Bank Building, were notified by the superintendent of buildings of Manhattan, that the ten-story building was no longer safe and would have to be torn down immediately. City engineers had been making inspections of the building for more than two months and reported that the building had sunk about six inched in the last few months, partly because of its age and partly because of excavations adjoining for the renovation (1931-1933) of the Bankers Trust Company Building (14 Wall Street), completed in 1912.

The First National Bank moved temporarily to the 30-story building of the National City Company building at 52 Wall Street. The old United Bank Building was demolished in the late 1931. The First National Bank constructed the Two Wall Street (90 Broadway), 22 stories, on the site, completed in 1933. The bank returned to the site in the new building in April.