Jacob K. Javits Federal Building

The Jacob K. Javits Federal Office Building at 26 Federal Plaza on Foley Square in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City houses many federal government agencies. At over 41 stories, it is the tallest federal building in the United States. It was built in 1963–69 and was designed by Alfred Easton Poor and Kahn & Jacobs, with Eggers & Higgins as associate architects. A western addition, first announced on "inadvertently acquired land" in 1965,[2] was built in 1975–77 and was designed by Kahn & Jacobs, The Eggers Partnership and Poor & Swanke.[1] The building is named for Jacob K. Javits, who served as a United States Senator from New York for 24 years, from 1957 to 1981.

Jacob K. Javits Federal Building
Jacob K. Javits Federal Building
Jacob K. Javits Federal Building
General information
Location26 Federal Plaza
New York, NY, United States
Coordinates40°42′54″N 74°0′13″W
Named forJacob K. Javits
Groundbreaking1963
Opened1969
Renovated1975–77
ClientMultiple, including United States Department of Homeland Security
OwnerGeneral Services Administration
Height587 ft (179 m)
Technical details
Floor count41
Design and construction
Architecture firmAlfred Easton Poor
Kahn & Jacobs[1]

The building is assigned its own ZIP Code, 10278; it was one of 41 buildings in Manhattan that had their own ZIP Codes as of 2019.[3] The building falls under the jurisdiction of the United States Federal Protective Service for any and all law enforcement and protection issues. To the east of the main building is the James L. Watson Court of International Trade Building.

History of the site

A Gothic style Masonic hall was located at this site between Reade and Pearl Streets from 1826 to 1856, directly across from the original site of the New York Hospital.[4] This served as the home of the Grand Lodge of New York until its demolition.

Occupants

Agencies located in the building include the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Federal Executive Board. The New York City district field office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' New York field office is on the 7th Floor, the Brooklyn field office is on the 8th floor and the Queens field office is on the 9th floor.[5] The Federal Bureau of Investigation's New York field office is on the 23rd floor.[6]

Artworks

A controversy developed over the artwork by Richard Serra commissioned for the plaza in front of the building, Tilted Arc. Commissioned in 1979 and built in 1981, it was criticized both for its aesthetic values and for security reasons.[7] It was removed in 1989, which resulted in a lawsuit and a trial. The piece remains in storage, as the artwork was site-specific, and the artist does not want it displayed in any other location. The removal and trial led to the creation of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990.[7]

After the removal of Tilted Arc, landscape artist Martha Schwartz re-designed the plaza.[7] Other artworks connected with building include A Study in Five Planes/Peace (1965) by Alexander Calder and the Manhattan Sentinels (1996) by Beverly Pepper. In the James L. Watson Court of International Trade can be found Metropolis (1967) by Seymour Fogel and Eagle/Justice Above All Else (1970) by Theodore Roszak.[7]

See also

References
  1. White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot; Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-19538-386-7.
  2. "New Federal Office Building: A Capital in Microcosm". The New York Times. August 29, 1968. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
  3. Brown, Nicole (March 18, 2019). "Why do some buildings have their own ZIP codes? NYCurious". amNewYork. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  4. "Grand Lodge of New York's Gothic Hall – Chancellor Robert R Livingston Masonic Library". Retrieved December 25, 2022.
  5. "Field Office Lookup". USCIS. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  6. "New York Field Office". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved on June 9, 2015. "26 Federal Plaza, 23rd Floor New York, NY 10278-0004"
  7. "Jacob Javits Federal Building & James Watson Court of International Trade, New York, NY" on the General Services Administration website
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