Liberty Tower (Manhattan)

Liberty Tower
(2013)
Former names	Sinclair Oil Building
General information
Type	Residential
Architectural style	Gothic
Address	55 Liberty Street, Manhattan, New York
Coordinates	40°42′32″N 74°00′34″W / 40.70889°N 74.00944°W / 40.70889; -74.00944
Groundbreaking	1909
Opened	1910
Renovated	1979
Owner	55 Liberty Owners Corp
Height	385 feet (117 m)
Technical details
Structural system	Steel frame
Material	Limestone, architectural terracotta
Floor count	33
Lifts/elevators	5
Grounds	5,198 square feet (482.9 m2)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Henry Ives Cobb
Developer	Liberty-Nassau Building Company
Main contractor	Gray Construction Company
Renovating team
Architect(s)	Joseph Pell Lombardi
Liberty Tower
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
New York City Landmark No. 1243
Location	55 Liberty St. Manhattan, New York
Coordinates	40°42′32″N 74°00′34″W / 40.70889°N 74.00944°W / 40.70889; -74.00944
Built	1909–10
Architect	Henry Ives Cobb
Architectural style	Gothic
Part of	Wall Street Historic District (ID07000063)
NRHP reference No.	83001734[1]
NYCL No.	1243
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 15, 1983
Designated NYCL	August 24, 1982

The Liberty Tower, formerly the Sinclair Oil Building, is a 33-story residential building in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. It is at 55 Liberty Street at the northwest corner with Nassau Street. It was built in 1909–10 as a commercial office building and was designed by Henry Ives Cobb in a Gothic Revival style.

The site is adjacent to the New York Chamber of Commerce Building, while the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building is to the east, across Nassau Street. Upon its completion, Liberty Tower was said to be the world's tallest building with such a small footprint, having a floor area ratio of 30 to 1. The building's articulation consists of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, shaft, and capital. The limestone building is covered in white architectural terracotta with elaborate ornament.

The law office of future U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one of its first commercial tenants after the building opened in 1910. Shortly after World War I, the entire building was bought by Sinclair Oil. In 1979, architect Joseph Pell Lombardi converted the building from commercial use into residential apartments and renamed it the "Liberty Tower", in one of the first such conversions in Manhattan south of Canal Street. The building was designated a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1982 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1983. It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, an NRHP district created in 2007.