Constructed in 1958, 100 Church is an early downtown example of the new modern architecture which rose on Park Avenue and other Midtown blocks. One of the first Mid-Century Modern designs by Emery Roth & Sons, successor to the celebrated apartment designer, the building was the first postwar project downtown to fill a block with new construction. In its cubistic treatment, abstract massing and silver-blue façade scheme of alternating aluminum spandrels and navy panels, it illustrates the trend for clean lines based on the newest forms of engineering and technology.
100 Church Street is a block away from City Hall Park, one of New York’s oldest and most charming public spaces. Extensively restored and featuring a fountain dating from 1842, the park was where crowds gathered to hear George Washington read the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and where, in 1827, two days of celebrations marked the abolition of slavery in New York State.