Cocoa Exchange, 1 Wall Street Court: Review and Ratings

Review of 1 Wall Street Court by Carter Horsley

The 15-story building at 1 Wall Street Court was converted to 126 residential condominiums in 2006.

An official individual city landmark, it was designed in neo-Renaissance-style by Clinton & Russell and built in 1904 by the Century Realty Company as a speculative office building.

The plan of the building is flatiron and it is tucked away in one of Lower Manhattan s nicer crannies just a few feet south of Wall Street.

According to the Landmarks Preservation Commission's February 13, 1996 designation report on the building "The design has the tripartite arrangement of base-shaft-capital common to many of New York's early skyscrapers, with a stone base, a midsection faced in brick laid in bands of tan and buff shades, and a top section richly ornamented with glazed terra cotta in shades of green, cream, and russet, incorporating both classically derived and abstract geometric motifs."

"The Beaver Building," the commission's report continued, "is a notable example of the design solution for turn-of-the-century New York skyscrapers in which each section of the tripartite scheme is differentiated by color and materials. It is also a very early example of the use of boldly polychromatic glazed terra cotta, as well as a significant survivor of this period of terra cotta development. Carved ornament depicting beavers, representing the name of the building, is found over the Beaver Street entrance and below the primary cornice of the base. The building was the headquarters from 1904 until 1921 of the Munson Steamship Company, a prominent shipping line active in the Cuban and South American sugar and lumber trade; the company owned the building from 1919 to 1937. From 1931 to 1972, one of the building's primary tenants was the New York Cocoa Exchange, the world's first and foremost cocoa futures market."

Clinton & Russell was the architectural firm for numerous important buildings in the city including the Astor Apartments at 2141 Broadway, the Apthorp Apartments at 2201 Broadway, the Langham Apartments at 135 Central Park West and the demolished Astor Hotel in Times Square.

The building's rounded corner, which is closest to Wall Street, has a 10-step-up entrance.

The Cocoa Exchange moved from the Beaver Building to 127 John Street in 1972 and subsequently merged with the New York Coffee & Sugar Exchange to form the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange in 1979.

After the Bowery Saving Bank disposed of the property in 1942, it changed hands numerous times. Harry B. Helmsley was an owner from 1951 to 1981 and in 1985 London & Leeds Realty Corporation renovated the building and gave it a new address; 1 Wall Street Court.

In 1994, Cocoa Partners LP, based in Cohasset, Massachusetts, acquired the building and Cocoa Condominium Sales LLC was the sponsor of the condominium conversion.

Colum McCartan was the designer for the renovation, which is highlighted by its landscaped rooftop terrace and a lobby of rosewood, Venetian plaster, chiseled Botticino marble slab walls, and an aluminum leaf ceiling.

Some studio apartments are as small as 340 square feet and some three-bedroom apartments have 1,374 square feet.

The building has a 24-hour concierge and apartment ceilings range in height from 9 to 11 feet.