34. Wall and Hanover Building

AKA: The Brown Brothers Harriman & Company Building; The Crest at 63 Wall Street
Location: 63 Wall Street
Built: 1929
Architects: Delano & Aldrich and Yasuo Matsui
National Register Number: 05001288
Listed: November 16, 2005
Visited: September 28 and October 15, 2007



The pressures of the Dutch street plan and/or the 1916 Zoning Resolution occasionally force downtown real estate into curious shapes. 20 Exchange Street twists on its base like a branchless tree. 26 Broadway and the Lee Higg Building curve gently along their roads. The Delmonico's and Beaver Buildings gesture towards the Flatiron. And this one. It's an odd bird that sits on the bottom end of a sort-of triangular block, massed on the bottom like a skew Chrysler Building and blessed with a crewcut top spiked with gargoyles; from the air, the roof resembles a backwards question mark, or maybe a "p." Before you ask...yes, yes, apartments. My GOD, were you expecting an arts collective? No? Then were you expecting well-crafted apartments with lots of amenities? Well, you would, wouldn't you? But this is New York City and nothing is ever so simple, even when you've got a little jingle in your pockets.