Angular white columns. Dizzying mirrored tile. Lines of palm trees. The atrium at 60 Wall Street, which is also one of New York’s most distinctive subway entrances, feels to some “like stepping back in time.”
In a city where the typical subway exit unceremoniously deposits passengers on a grimy sidewalk, to ride the escalator up from the dingy train station and ascend into the luminous white hall is to be truly transported. But now there is a plan to demolish this eye-popping extravaganza, designed in the 1980s, and create a sleeker, more contemporary design.
Something about scrapping the atrium, which is flashy at best and garish at worst, inspires contemplation: In a city both crammed with history and constantly remaking itself, what is worth preserving? And are ’80s designs truly historically significant?
“It’s like people are ashamed of the ’80s,” said Rock Herzog, the 38-year-old who runs the wildly popular Twitter account Cocaine Decor, where images of the atrium pop up from time to time. “To me, it feels like an attempt to sidestep the ‘American Psycho’ period of New York City.”
Liz Waytkus of Docomomo US — the American chapter of Docomomo International, a nonprofit dedicated to conserving modern buildings — would like to see the space become protected. “I’ve had people say to me, ‘Why are you trying to landmark 60 Wall Street?’ They think it’s hideous,” said Ms. Waytkus, who serves as the organization’s executive director.
She acknowledged that sometimes it’s difficult for people to “remove the subjective, you know, your own personal taste,” and consider the work as a whole — the design, details and references.
“There are a lot of buildings from the ’80s in New York City. I don’t think that there is a crush of ’80s buildings that should be landmarked. But this is clearly very high on that list,” she said.
The dramatic space, crafted from Carrara white marble and green granite and finished in 1989, is not just a subway entrance. It’s a privately owned public space inside a 47-story skyscraper — 60 Wall Street — that served as the onetime headquarters of J. P. Morgan & Company and later became the main New York office for Deutsche Bank.
In September of last year, Deutsche Bank vacated the space, transferring its employees to a midtown address. Now 60 Wall Street sits mostly empty, in search of a new tenant. In order to attract one, the real estate investment trust Paramount Group, which owns the building, wants to give it an update.
For those who worked in the building, the atrium wasn’t just a postmodern spectacle. It was also a go-to spot for gossip and chitchat.
“It was kind of dated. But at the same time, it was a great meeting place.” said Ajay Chawdhry, a former vice president at Deutsche Bank. “It had character.”
While employed there, he used the atrium daily for quick coffee meetings. Even after he left his job to work at different banks, he continued to use the atrium as a place to meet up.
While the building is not a landmark, it was originally built under the condition that its design have what the city called a “harmonious relationship” with 55 Wall Street, the National Historic Landmark across the street. The exterior and interior columns of 60 Wall Street echo those of 55 Wall Street.
Currently, the future of the space is unclear. The proposed plans for modifying the interior and exterior of 60 Wall Street are under review by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Also under review is the request to consider the building, and the atrium, a landmark. But being “under review” does not prevent construction — or demolition.
The architect of 60 Wall Street, Kevin Roche, produced extremely detailed notes about the building. Writing by hand in 1984, he envisioned that its atrium — complete with water cascading over rocks, mounds of greenery and plenty of seating — would be “well-lit, bright and cheerful.” He…