Facade of the Second Branch Bank of the United States

Architect Martin Euclid Thompson American
1822–24
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 700
Thompson was a leading exponent of Greek Revival-style architecture in New York during the first half of the nineteenth century. Here, however, in his earliest known design, the Greek influence in minimal. The two-story, seven-bay facade of the Branch Bank of the United States, its projecting center section capped by a pediment, directly followed in the mid-eighteenth-century English Palladian tradition. Only the Ionic capitals and some of the cornice moldings are of Greek inspiration. The building was located on the north side of Wall Street, between Nassau and William streets, and in the 1850s, it was converted into the United States Assay Office. It was demolished in 1915, but the facade was saved and reconstructed as the front of the Museum's American Wing in 1924.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Facade of the Second Branch Bank of the United States
  • Architect: Martin Euclid Thompson (American, 1786–1877 Glen Cove, New York)
  • Date: 1822–24
  • Geography: Made in New York, New York, United States
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Marble
  • Credit Line: Gift of Robert W. de Forest, 1924
  • Object Number: AW.BankFacade
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

Audio

Cover Image for 3801. Facade of the Branch Bank of the United States

3801. Facade of the Branch Bank of the United States

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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.

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