287 Broadway ARCHITECT: John B. Snook DATE: 1871-72 STYLE: Second Empire The 287 Broadway Building is notable for its combination of the Italianate and French Second Empire styles as executed in cast iron, and one of the few surviving examples in New York city. It is executed in richly detailed cast iron and is crowned by a prominent slate mansard roof with iron cresting. The prestige of the building was indicated both by the mansard roof and the installation of an early Otis passenger elevator. The building graphically illustrates the transformation of lower Broadway in the 19th century from a residential boulevard into the city’s commercial center.

Broadway Chambers Building ARCHITECT: Cass Gilbert DATE: 1899-1900 STYLE: Beaux-Arts The Broadway-Chambers Building was important within Cass Gilbert’s career because it was his first design built in New York City. It is designed in the Beaux-Arts style and, as is characteristic of the style, the building is richly ornamented with monumental sculpted figures, a dramatically arcuated crown, and a wealth of garlands, wreaths, and festoons. The Broadway Chambers Building is notable for its polychromy and early use of glazed terra-cotta. At the time it was built, the building was considered one of the best examples of the tripartite design scheme which is analogous to the classical column.

Broadway Chambers ca. 1905 Architect Cass Gilbert worked in New York as a draftsman for the renowned firm of McKim, Mead & White for a year before establishing a successful practice in Minnesota. The opportunity to design the Broadway Chambers building however, lured him back to New York. The success of this project (completed in 1899) established Gilbert in the City, where his distinguished career continued with his winning design for the U.S. Custom House and later, the commission for the iconic Woolworth Building. Still used as office space, the Broadway Chambers Building was designated a landmark in 1992.

277 Broadway - Broadway Chambers Building Architect: Cass Gilbert Completed: 1900 Cass Gilbert's first building in New York was this boldly designed tower. Gilbert's design juxtaposes the grandly ornamented pink granite clad base with the plain red and blue brick clad shaft. The tower culminates in a highly ornamented colonnade, attic story and projecting cornice. At the time, this design was hailed by architectural critic Montgomery Schuyler as "the last word" in the period’s dominant skyscraper style, which looked to the classical three-part column for inspiration. The building also features the first large scale use of polychrome terra-cotta architectural ornament in New York, a material that Gilbert would use extensively in later buildings. Even before construction began, building owner Edward Andrews, a Boston banker, aggressively pursued tenants that could pay some of the highest rents in the city, including the main tenant, the United States Life Insurance Company. By 1901, with the building fully rented, Andrews was able to collect $100,000 per year in rent, a considerable sum at the time.