United Bank Building, Wall Street and Broadway

Photo shows the United Bank Building (2 Wall Street / 94 Broadway) also known as the First National Bank Building. Street view, angled, with Broadway façade at left. Photograph by Irving Underhill, copyright 1921. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Intention to build the United Bank Building was made public 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 also used for the new building. In 1881, the 9-story building, a skyscraper of the time, housed the First National Bank, organized in 1863, and the National Bank of the Republic of New York, established as a state bank in 1851. That year the bank purchased the lot at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway for its former headquarters (photo on the right).

The United Bank Building, nicknamed "Fort Sherman", was built in rough brown stone, with gothic dormers and gargoyles on the corners. Peabody & Stearns were the architects. A fire partially damaged the upper floors in December 1882. A mansard roof was added later (between 1910 and 1920). The building was demolished in the late 1931, due to structural problems. The 22-story skyscraper Two Wall Street was completed on the site in 1933.

The Schermerhorn Building, formerly owned by John Jacob Astor, is next to the United Bank Building on the left. The American Surety Building is partially seen to the left. The "Chimney Building" in on the southeast corner of Wall Street, on the right.