53. Chamber of Commerce Building

A.K.A.: International Commercial Bank of China Building; Mega International Commercial Bank Building
Location: 65 Liberty Street
Built: 1900-1901
Architect: James B. Baker
National Register Number: 73001214
Listed: February 6, 1973
Visited: December 1 and 29, 2007; February 15, 2008
Additional Documentation: NRHP Nomination Form; NYCLPC Form; Christopher Gray NYT article



I used to bank at 140 Broadway, just across the street from this building. Visible from the second floor, it was something to ponder as the teller processed my tiny paycheck every Friday. From what I remember, I found it an impressive artifact. (More than I can say for the Liberty Tower--I have no memory of it dating from this time in my life.) A white-marble candy box with four all-seeing oculi monitoring the street, it was a little like a few other buildings in the neighborhood, and like very few other buildings in Manhattan: built to impress rather than maximize real estate value. Or be functional--it was (and is) impossible to think any serious white collar work went on inside. It had no visible sign of industriousness on the outside. Few people went in and out. Only dim lights, if that. It was easier to imagine something clubby going on within, men in oversized leather chairs reading newspapers, smoking cigars. Maybe. (Not that I knew what a Chamber of Commerce actually did or anything.) Whatever it was, I didn't have the proper credentials to enter. It was imposing in its perfectness, it was capital and cred I didn't have, could never have, made tangible in the form of a building. Today, with more knowledge under my belt, I see the Chamber of Commerce Building as slightly imperfect, both by design (asymmetric façade) and subsequent alteration (removed statuary between the columns, weird boxy dormer that may hide HVAC). And today, actual work goes in inside, as it serves as offices for one of Taiwan's state-run banks. So it is a bit more prosaic to me now. But I still can't get in.