MORRISON HECKSCHER: This marble façade is from the Branch Bank of the United States. The bank was located on the north side of Wall Street, just east of the old Customs House, which is now Federal Hall. The façade is an excellent example of the Neoclassical style, which dominated American architecture during the first half of the nineteenth century. The two-story structure is strictly symmetrical, giving it a feeling of noble stability. The vertical rectangular windows emphasize monumental height. On the second-floor level, four columns in the Greek Ionic order support a simple triangular pediment. The façade played an important part in the plans for The Metropolitan Museum’s American Wing. In January 1913, the Secretary of the Treasury announced plans to demolish the bank. He noted that legislation was being sought for a suitable disposition of the façade. Robert W. de Forest, who became president of the Metropolitan Museum in 1913, offered—as a private citizen—to have the façade dissembled and stored. The Treasury accepted De Forest’s offer in January 1915. De Forest and his wife, Emily Johnston, the daughter of the Metropolitan’s first president, were pioneer collectors of American antiques. Their advocacy of American decorative art played a critical role in the Museum’s decision to include it in its collection. In 1919, de Forest hired the architect Grosvenor Atterbury to create the American Wing. The economic aftermath of World War I delayed the progress of the plan, and the wing did not open until 1924. The bank façade became the front entrance of what was then an almost freestanding building in the park. Over a half-century later, the American Wing was incorporated into the Charles Engelhard Court, in which you are now standing.