In the summer of 1960, nearly three thousand construction workers—fitters, engineers, electricians, and laborers—lined shoulder to shoulder in the open window openings of the new Chase Manhattan Bank Tower (today 28 Liberty Street).
This photo became emblematic of an era: a time when New York City was trying to bring life back to where it had once thrived—the heart of Lower Manhattan.
How Lower Manhattan Lost Its Significance
After World War II, New York’s business center shifted upward, toward Midtown. It was there that new buildings were appearing—with fresh infrastructure, elevators, air conditioning, and open floor plans.
Workers began moving en masse to the suburbs—Queens, the Bronx, New Jersey—and commuted to Midtown via Grand Central Terminal. Lower Manhattan gradually emptied, offices closed, and the area lost its significance.
Chase Manhattan Bank Tower
In the late 1950s, David Rockefeller, then vice chairman of The Chase Manhattan Bank, decided to change this course. He dreamed of bringing energy and business back to Downtown and initiated the construction of a new skyscraper, the Chase Manhattan Bank Tower.
The tower was designed in the then-new and ultra-fashionable International Style: clean lines, glass and metal, no decoration. The building faced a vast open plaza, and inside was a marble lobby with dizzyingly high ceilings.
It was the first truly modern building in the Financial District since the 1930s.
The construction of the Chase Manhattan Bank Tower marked the beginning of Downtown’s revitalization. Rockefeller’s vision to revitalize the southern part of the city would later result in a project that changed the skyline of New York City—the World Trade Center. In fact, this tower served as a precursor to the construction of the WTC twin towers.
The Chase Manhattan Bank Tower was completed in 1961. The architects were Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the same firm that would design the modern One World Trade Center decades later. The developer was Turner Construction, the company responsible for many iconic New York skyscrapers, including The Spiral.
📍 28 Liberty Street (formerly Chase Manhattan Bank Tower)
