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Insurance Company of North America Building
99 John Street is located in Manhattan
99 John Street
Location within Manhattan
99 John Street is located in New York City
99 John Street
Location within New York City
99 John Street is located in New York
99 John Street
Location within New York
99 John Street is located in the United States
99 John Street
Location within the United States
Location99 John St., Manhattan, New York, US
Coordinates40°42′30″N 74°0′22″W / 40.70833°N 74.00611°W / 40.70833; -74.00611
Area29,668 ft2 (2,756.2 m2)
Built1932–1933
ArchitectShreve, Lamb & Harmon
Architectural styleArt Deco
NRHP reference No.99001425[1]
NYSRHP No.06101.013168
Significant dates
Added to NRHPNovember 30, 1999
Designated NYSRHPSeptember 22, 1999[2]

99 John Street, originally the Insurance Company of North America Building, is a residential building on John Street in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City, United States. It was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon in the Art Deco style. The building rises 28 stories high, with a height of 338 feet (103 m); there is a shorter four-story annex on Gold Street, which was built after the main building. The exterior contains chamfered corners, a massing with five setbacks tapering to a two-story penthouse, and granite and limestone decorations. The building was constructed as a steel frame structure and sits on 434 steel piles. Inside the first floor is a cross-shaped lobby originally surrounded by commercial spaces, while the upper stories included office (later residential) space.

In June 1931, the Insurance Company of North America paid $2.5 million for the site. The A. L. Hartridge Company began constructing the building in April 1932; the building opened on May 2, 1933, and was owned by the Insurance Company of North America for two decades. 99 John Street was then resold several times before Rockrose Development, which bought the building in 1996, converted it to residences in 1999. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Site

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The Insurance Company of North America Building is located at 99 John Street in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City, United States.[3][4] It has an L-shaped floor plan on an irregular site,[3] which adjoins John Street to the southwest, Cliff Street to the southeast, and Gold Street to the northwest.[3][5] The site has an area of 29,668 feet (9,043 m), with a frontage of 154.5 feet (47.1 m) on John Street. It is directly south of the Excelsior Power Company Building, located across Gold Street, and directly north of 116 John Street, located across John Street.[5]

Architecture

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The building was designed in the Art Deco style by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon,[3][4] which had built the Empire State Building two years before 99 John Street's construction in 1932.[4] The primary massing is 28 stories high,[3][6][7][a] with a height of 338 feet (103 m).[6] There is also a shorter four-story annex on Gold Street, dating from no later than the 1940s. The main building and its annex are designed in the same style, with minimal ornamentation.[3] The historian Anthony Robins described the building as "the last of its kind before the complete victory of the International Style"; at the time, Art Deco architecture in New York City was beginning to decline in popularity.[4]

Exterior

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View of the chamfered corner entrance at John and Cliff streets

The facade contains dark gray granite, storefront windows, and limestone panels at ground level, and there is a limestone band running horizontally above. The exterior includes a main entrance at John Street, with a granite architrave and double doors. There are also chamfered corners at John Street's intersections with Gold and Cliff streets, where entrances lead to commercial spaces at ground level. The chamfered entrance at Cliff Street has a wheelchair-accessible door with limestone pillars on either side and a grille above; the chamfered entrance on Gold Street has a glass-and-steel double door.[3]

Above ground level, the massing includes five setbacks tapering to a two-story penthouse. The upper stories have vertical limestone piers with aluminum (originally steel) sash windows between them.[3] Chrome-nickel strips (sometimes described as polished chrome steel[12]) extend the building's height. A party wall to the north was shared with a seven-story building, since demolished.[3]

Interior

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The building was constructed as a steel frame structure, and it retains many of its original major interior spaces.[3] The building's foundation was constructed with 434 concrete-filled steel piles descending 75 feet (23 m) to the underlying layer of rock.[13] Each pile measures 20 inches (510 mm) across and was hammered into the bedrock below.[13] The building uses mechanical ventilation on the lowest twelve floors.[12] As built, the structure was cited in The New York Times as having 335,000 square feet (31,100 m2) of usable floor area.[12] Other sources in the 1990s cited the building as having about 460,000 square feet (43,000 m2)[14][15] or 510,000 square feet (47,000 m2).[16]

The main John Street entrance leads to a vestibule with terrazzo floors, and grilles on the walls.[3] There is a cruciform lobby beyond that, which has polished marble wall panels with chrome-nickel details; linear white and black terrazzo flooring; and stainless steel fixtures.[17] The lobby originally had several Edward Trumbull murals,[12][15] which were removed by previous tenants in the 1970s.[18] The rest of the first floor had commercial spaces, which have since been modified extensively. The cellar contains an elongated hexagonal room and maritime-themed Art Deco plaster moldings and grilles.[18]

On each floor, the building originally contained separate elevator banks for local and express elevators to the west and east, respectively. These were connected by lobbies with mail chutes. The lobbies had terrazzo floors, marble wainscoting, and coved ceilings made of plaster. While the local lobbies and some of the mail chute lobbies on the lower floors were removed in the 1990s, the express elevator lobbies have been preserved. The open plan office spaces on these floors have been modified extensively.[18] Since 1999, the building has contained about 442 apartments.[14][15][19] The residences range from studio apartments to four-bedroom units; the largest apartment spans 2,100 square feet (200 m2) across three floors.[19] Several apartments have outdoor terraces,[7] and the building also has amenity spaces such as a roof terrace, lounge, and gym.[20]

History

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Development and opening

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In June 1931, the Insurance Company of North America paid $2.5 million (equivalent to $41 million in 2024) for a site on John Street in Lower Manhattan.[21][22] The purchase was an all-cash deal, a transaction that did not involve mortgages.[23] The company planned to build a 26-story building there, costing about $2.5 million,[21][22] but the site's existing leases expired in May 1932, preventing its redevelopment until then.[21] Plans for a 25-story building with a penthouse were filed in January 1932, with Shreve, Lamb & Harmon as architects.[24][25] Work began that April, with the A. L. Hartridge Company as the construction contractor.[12] It took 22 workdays to build the steel frame,[12][13] plus another 28 days to pour the floor slabs.[13]

The building was constructed at a time when material costs were low. The Insurance Company of North America did not take out any loans to fund its construction, nor did it need to sell any part of the building to other stakeholders.[26] 99 John Street opened on May 2, 1933,[27][28] when over a thousand people gathered on the eleventh floor for an opening ceremony.[26] The Noyes Company was hired to lease out the space.[29][30] Originally, the Insurance Company of North America occupied two-thirds of the ground floor[27] and many of the upper levels.[12] Other parts of the building were occupied by other insurance companies and syndicates, including the American branch of Swiss Re, the London Assurance Company,[12][13] and the Provident Mutual Insurance Company.[31]

Usage

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Commercial use

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The annex

In 1939, the Insurance Company of North America acquired additional land at 30–36 Gold Street, measuring 99.4 by 98 feet (30.3 by 29.9 m) across, from the New York Telephone Company and the 11 West Fordham Road Corporation.[32][33] Shreve, Lamb & Harmon were hired the next year to design an annex on that site.[34] The General Accident, Fire, and Life Assurance Corporation[35] and the War Shipping Administration's cargo insurance division were among the new tenants in the 1940s,[36] while another early tenant, Fidelity and Deposit Company, moved its regional headquarters out of 99 John Street.[37] In 1948, the Insurance Company of North America filed plans for an annex at 15–21 Cliff Street. The annex plans were deferred, and the site was instead leased out as a parking facility in 1949.[38][39]

The Insurance Company of North America agreed in 1955 to sell the building (with a two-year delay), as many of its offices no longer needed a physical presence in Lower Manhattan.[10] The buyer, the Great American Insurance Company, planned to take over more than half the building.[9] The Insurance Company of North America subsequently moved to 110 William Street.[40][41] In 1956, Turner Construction was hired to renovate the building and add air conditioning to some parts of the tower.[42] By the 1960s, the building hosted one of Great American's regional offices, employing over 100 people,[43] and a Bankers Trust bank branch had opened at ground level.[44]

In 1970, Great American sold 99 John Street and an adjacent parking lot for $20 million to a group known as the 99 John Corporation,[45] a Swiss-owned group.[46] At the time, Great American still occupied 12 floors.[45][46] The new owners commissioned a 45-foot-wide (14 m) mural by the Italian artist Giancarlo Impiglia, depicting Lower Manhattan in the 1930s.[47] Also during the 1970s, the Continental Insurance Company took eight floors,[48] and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York also moved into the building,[49] while the American Bureau of Shipping moved out.[50] American International Group, which occupied the building in the 1980s, moved some of its offices away in 1988.[51] David Werner and his partner Tamir Sapir bought 99 John Street for $11 million in 1995.[52] It was one of several properties Werner acquired during that decade, along with 275 Madison Avenue and 400 Madison Avenue.[53]

Residential use

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View in 2009

In November 1996,[16] Rockrose Development purchased 99 John Street for $17 million.[54][52] At the time, the building was fully occupied,[16] but the tenants were about to vacate all the space.[55] Rockrose sought to convert the building into a residential structure after the remaining AIG offices moved out.[54] Rockrose's president K. Thomas Elghanayan said that, had 99 John Street remained an office structure, it would have been classified as Class B office space.[56] The conversion project was one of several office-to-residential conversions in the neighborhood,[57][58] encouraged by municipal tax incentives.[19] The development received a $67.5 million loan (equivalent to $483 million in 2024) from PNC Bank.[14] The conversion also included a garage and retail space,[14] and Rockrose added a supermarket to entice area residents.[59] Known as the Jubilee Market and spanning 11,526 square feet (1,070.8 m2),[60] the supermarket was originally operated by the Youn family and sold Korean-American goods.[61]

The renovation was completed in 1999, being Rockrose's third office-to-residential conversion in the Financial District.[19] That year, the building was added to the New York State Register of Historic Places and National Register of Historic Places.[2] The supermarket opened in 2000.[62][63] With the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, Rockrose began selling off apartments in groups of fifteen, and it also offered apartments under a rent-to-own model, in which renters could buy their apartments if they elected to.[11] The next year, the Elghanayan brothers (who operated Rockrose Development) split their business into two firms, namely Rockrose and TF Cornerstone;[64] they continued to jointly own 99 John Street.[65]

See also

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References

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Notes

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  1. ↑ Sometimes cited as 25,[8][9] 26,[10] or 27 stories[11]

Citations

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  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. November 7, 2014. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 National Park Service 1999, p. 3.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Robins, Anthony W. (April 24, 2017). New York Art Deco: A Guide to Gotham's Jazz Age Architecture. SUNY Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-4384-6396-4. Retrieved July 7, 2026.
  5. 1 2 "99 John Street, 10038". ZoLa. Retrieved July 7, 2026.
  6. 1 2 "99 John Street – The Skyscraper Center". The Skyscraper Center. Archived from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved July 7, 2026.
  7. 1 2 Cheema, Sushil (May 28, 2010). "Financial District Rallies as Residential Area". Wall Street Journal. p. A.18. ISSN 0099-9660. ProQuest 347287555. Archived from the original on October 20, 2022. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Four-Story Cliff Street Building Will Have Pent House on Its Roof". The New York Times. November 22, 1936. p. RE1. ISSN 0362-4331. ProQuest 101665695.
  9. 1 2 "Insurance Area May Face Lack of Expansion Room". New York Herald Tribune. June 5, 1955. p. 3C. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1323126980.
  10. 1 2 "Insurance Company Sells Building on John Street". The New York Times. May 20, 1955. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  11. 1 2 Barbanel, Josh (April 9, 2009). "As Some U.S. Markets Level Off, Housing Slump Hits Manhattan". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 25, 2024. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Two Skyscrapers Will Open This Week; RCA and John Street Buildings Ready". The New York Times. April 30, 1933. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2026.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 "434 Steel Legs Hold 25-Story Office Building: John Street Structure of 5,000,000 Cubic Feet Will Be Ready This Week Newest on City's Skyline". New York Herald Tribune. April 30, 1933. p. C2. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1237333855.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "PNC funds NYC conversion". Commercial Mortgage Alert. March 8, 1999. p. 8. ProQuest 208347887.
  15. 1 2 3 "Development briefs". Multi-Housing News. Vol. 34, no. 6. June 1999. p. 10. ProQuest 236941743.
  16. 1 2 3 Oser, Alan S. (November 10, 1996). "Whittling Away at the Vacancy Rate Downtown". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 13, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  17. ↑ National Park Service 1999, pp. 3–4.
  18. 1 2 3 National Park Service 1999, p. 4.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Garbarine, Rachelle (May 7, 1999). "Residential Real Estate; Another Building in Wall St. Area Becomes Housing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on September 12, 2017. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  20. ↑ Cohen, Joyce (October 20, 2011). "For a Bachelor Father, a Pad With a Pool". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 15, 2024. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  21. 1 2 3 "$2,500,000 Purchase by Insurance Firm; Business Confidence Reflected by Acquisition of John Street Site for 26-Story Building". The New York Times. June 2, 1931. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 15, 2026.
  22. 1 2 "Real Estate Transactions and Projects in City and Suburban Fields: $5,000,000 Deal Involves John St. Block North American Company Will Erect 25-Story Building on $2,500,000 Site". New York Herald Tribune. June 2, 1931. p. 41. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1114104454.
  23. ↑ "United Press Adds to Space In Midtown Zone: Real Estate Activities Associations Now Occupy 20,000 Sq. Ft. in East 42d Street Building". New York Herald Tribune. June 27, 1931. p. 30. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1114273181.
  24. ↑ "Insurance Firm Plans $1,500,000 Building". New York Herald Tribune. January 30, 1932. p. 28. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1221640268.
  25. ↑ "Plans 25-story Building". The New York Times. January 30, 1932. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 15, 2026.
  26. 1 2 "New Skyscraper Built Without Outside Funds: North American's John St. Home Is 25 Stories and Represents $5,000,00". New York Herald Tribune. May 3, 1933. p. 34. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1222115466.
  27. 1 2 "New Insurance Headquarters". The Wall Street Journal. May 1, 1933. p. 3. ISSN 0099-9660. ProQuest 131077935.
  28. ↑ "Open New Building; Insurance Men Inspect 25-Story Structure at 99 John Street". The New York Times. May 3, 1933. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 15, 2026.
  29. ↑ "Noyes Gets Management Of 100 More Buildings". New York Herald Tribune. March 12, 1933. p. C6. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1114627270.
  30. ↑ "Agency Appointments.: Many Large Buildings in Management of Noyes Company". The New York Times. March 19, 1933. p. RE1. ISSN 0362-4331. ProQuest 100745477.
  31. ↑ "Space Demand Widens In Commercial Sections: Brokers' Reports Indicate Call for Stores and Lofts". New York Herald Tribune. July 17, 1933. p. 25. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1221960727.
  32. ↑ "Buys Gold St. Plot in Expansion Move: Insurance Co. Of North America Acquires Adjoining Land to Enlarge Its Quarters". The New York Times. July 25, 1939. p. 39. ISSN 0362-4331. ProQuest 103083268.
  33. ↑ "Insurance Firm Adds to Realty In Gold Street: North American Organization Plans to Expand Quarters; Other Sales". New York Herald Tribune. July 25, 1939. p. 29. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1321994099.
  34. ↑ "Plans for Dwellings Filed in 3 Boroughs; Details of Big Alteration in 28–36 Gold St. Submitted". The New York Times. June 25, 1940. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  35. ↑ "Takes Large Space in 99 John Street: Insurance Company Rents Bulk of Eleventh Floor and Ground Floor Section". The New York Times. April 9, 1941. p. 47. ISSN 0362-4331. ProQuest 106098837.
  36. ↑ "WSA Open N. Y. Unit To Underwrite Cargo War Risk Insurance: To Handle Metropolitan Area Matters on "Over-Counter" Basis". Daily News Record. No. 186. August 10, 1943. p. 3. ProQuest 3274875647.
  37. ↑ "Insurance Firm to Open Building: Fidelity and Deposit to Move New York Business Into Colonial Edifi". The Baltimore Sun. December 11, 1942. p. 18. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  38. ↑ "Plans Cliff St. Parking Lot". The New York Times. February 3, 1949. p. 41. ISSN 0362-4331. ProQuest 105784582.
  39. ↑ "Insurance Firm Defers Plan to Build Addition". New York Herald Tribune. February 3, 1949. p. 26. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1336516419.
  40. ↑ "Insurance Cos. Rent in William St". New York Herald Tribune. October 31, 1957. p. A8. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1325286486.
  41. ↑ "Insurance Group Leases Big Space; North American Companies Get 31,000 Square Feet at 110 William St. Other Business Leases". The New York Times. October 31, 1957. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 16, 2022. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  42. ↑ "Contract Awarded on 99 John Street". The New York Times. April 8, 1956. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  43. ↑ Devaney, James J. (June 29, 1967). "Security Insurance Ends Merger Talks". The Hartford Courant. p. 1. ISSN 1047-4153. ProQuest 549487385.
  44. ↑ "Building Concern Gets New Offices; Thatcher Company Taking Floor at 360 Lexington". The New York Times. May 24, 1963. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 17, 2018. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  45. 1 2 "News of the Realty Trade: Owners Seeking $51.6-Million in East Side Co-op Plan". The New York Times. March 15, 1970. p. 359. ISSN 0362-4331. ProQuest 119019097.
  46. 1 2 "Preparedness Chief Asks Oil Import Tariff". The Daily Item. March 10, 1970. p. 25. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  47. ↑ "Mural in Financial District Building Lobby Re‐creates New York's Past". The New York Times. December 5, 1975. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 25, 2026. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  48. ↑ Oser, Alan S. (December 6, 1978). "Real Estate: Assessing Property: New Basis Enlarging a Building When Insurers Expand". The New York Times. p. D20. ISSN 0362-4331. ProQuest 123588931.
  49. ↑ "Reserve Bank Expands in 99 John St". The New York Times. April 23, 1972. p. R8. ISSN 0362-4331. ProQuest 119426807.
  50. ↑ "Realty News: Federal Reserve Leases Office Space Downtown Scarcity of Lots". The New York Times. September 18, 1977. p. R7. ISSN 0362-4331. ProQuest 123068729.
  51. ↑ Lebow, Joan (June 27, 1988). "Big Insurer Will Move 2,000 Jobs to Brooklyn". Crain's New York Business. Vol. 4, no. 26. p. 1. ProQuest 219124924.
  52. 1 2 Grant, Peter (January 20, 1997). "Developers taking some giant-size steps throughout the city". Daily News. p. 463. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  53. ↑ Oser, Alan S. (September 15, 1996). "New Hands Take Reins at Big Manhattan Properties". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 29, 2025. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  54. 1 2 Oser, Alan S. (April 6, 1997). "A Glass Tower Rides Downtown's Residential Wave". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  55. ↑ Holusha, John (November 28, 1999). "Commercial Property; High-Tech Growth Filling Financial District Offices". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on September 14, 2017. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  56. ↑ Croghan, Lore (January 5, 1998). "Rush for downtown space alters conversion plans". Crain's New York Business. Vol. 14, no. 1. p. 13. ProQuest 219169591.
  57. ↑ "Condo investor diversifies into multifamily". Real Estate Finance and Investment. Vol. 4, no. 17. April 27, 1998. p. 6. ProQuest 197772379.
  58. ↑ Donovan, Aaron (September 9, 2001). "If You're Thinking of Living In/The Financial District; In Wall Street's Canyons, Cliff Dwellers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on October 7, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  59. ↑ Rozhon, Tracie (December 10, 1998). "TURF; Wall St. Living: Still Quiet After the Bulls Go Home". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 4, 2025. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  60. ↑ Garbarine, Rachelle (August 4, 2000). "Residential Real Estate; On Greenwich St., Converting 1929 Office Tower to Apartments". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 27, 2015. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  61. ↑ Croghan, Lore (December 6, 1999). "Grocery feeds Wall Street's residential development". Crain's New York Business. Vol. 15, no. 49. p. 4. ProQuest 219192098.
  62. ↑ Lubell, Sam (July 23, 2000). "NEW YORKERS & CO.; A Food Market For Wall Streeters". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 14, 2017. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  63. ↑ Kramer, Louise (March 6, 2000). "Vine goes out on a limb in financial district". Crain's New York Business. Vol. 16, no. 10. p. 22. ProQuest 219182906.
  64. ↑ Jones, David (July 1, 2009). "What's next for Rockrose?". The Real Deal. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  65. ↑ "Three Brothers, Developers All, Go Separate Ways". The New York Times. September 29, 2009. ISSN 0362-4331. ProQuest 2219813006.

Sources

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