According to The New York Times, what's known as the Clock Tower Building in Lower Manhattan will be transformed into 108 Leonard, a 16-story condo building. The building, which occupies an entire city block was originally completed in 1898 as the New York Life Insurance Company headquarters. It was designed by the well known architectural firm, McKim, Mead & White. The white marble facade features lion heads, balustrades and other flourishes drawn from Italian Renaissance palazzos.
McKim, Mead & White also designed the entire building’s interior, including the double-height banking hall with its elaborate coffered ceiling, Corinthian columns and tall, arched windows.
An image from the book, ”McKim, Meade & White: Selected Works, 1879-1915,” Princeton Architectural Press, 2018.ImageAn image from the book, ”McKim, Meade & White: Selected Works, 1879-1915,” Princeton Architectural Press, 2018.
“The building is a significant, massive work of art,” said John H. Beyer, a founding partner of the architectural firm Beyer Blinder Belle, which has worked on restoring several McKim, Mead & White structures. His practice has been involved in the restoration and renovation of 108 Leonard, which will yield more than 160 condos and a raft of amenities, from an underground motor court to a rooftop Zen garden. After New York Life moved to Madison Square in the late 1920s, the City of New York acquired the building, also known as 346 Broadway, to house courts and government agencies.
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