Status:
Unaffected or inspected but not affected.*139
Fulton Street
Bennet Building
Status:
Unaffected or inspected but not affected.*
Landmarks Preservation Commission
November 21, 1995; Designation List 269
LP-1937
Bennett Building, 139 Fulton Street (aka 135-139 Fulton Street, 93-99 Nassau Street, 28-34 Ann Street), Manhattan. Built 1872-73, Arthur D. Gilman, architect; addition 1890-92 and 1894, James M. Farnsworth, architect.
The Bennett Building, constructed in 1872-73 and enlarged in 1890-92 and 1894, is a major monument to the art of cast-iron architecture. Ten stories high with three fully designed facades fronting Fulton, Nassau, and Ann Streets, it has been described as the tallest habitable building with cast-iron facades ever built. Commissioned as a real estate investment by James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the publish of the New York Herald newspaper, the Bennett Building was originally a six-story French Second Empire structure. Designed by the prominent architect Arthur D. Gilman, whose Boston City Hall was instrumental in popularizing the Second Empire style in America, the Bennett Building appears to be the architect's only extant work in the style in New York. Gilman was also an important pioneer in the development of the office building, and the Bennett Building is the sole survivor among the major office buildings he designed. Second Empire office buildings flourished in Lower Manhattan after the Civil War; this is one of two such buildings with cast-iron fronts still standing south of Canal Street. In 1889, the Bennett building was acquired by John Pettit, a leading real estate investor who commissioned architect James M Farnsworth to enlarge the building to its present size.
Source: Landmarks Preservation Commission Report
Emergency
Management Online Locator System - Transportation and Public Access
*Status of this building was obtained by matching Building Structural Status map and Transportation and Public Access map from OEM. Status may not be accurate, if you know the status of this building, please e-mail webmaster@preserve.org and let us know.
