The staff at OHNY got a lucky treat yesterday afternoon. They were given special access to 5 Beekman Street near City Hall. Rushed through the space, they only had about 10 minutes to explore the space inside. But, what they found was amazing!
Abandoned for years, this building was built originally to house law offices.
The view when you first step in is of a wide open public space leading to the elevators. A huge amount of natural light fills the space and when you walk in further and look up you see why.
The building has a 9-story atrium with delicate iron work along each of the floor balconies.
Through the glass ceiling, you get great view of of the surrounding buildings.
Here is a gorgeous view of the Woolworth Building and on the other side, you can get a peak of Frank Gehry’s new residential tower.
It is impressive how well the atrium and building details have be preserved over the years since parts of it were shuttered back in the 1940s.
From the eighth floor down, you find more ornate details with iron work and ceiling panels that line the walkways around the atrium balconies.
The tile in the building is all original and in some parts it so well preserved that it has been covered in order to protect it for later use.
OHNY originally learned about this building from the blog Scouting New York. You can see the original blog post from November 2010 here.
OHNY is proud to have 5 Beekman Street as part of this year’s OHNY Weekend that takes place this October 15 & 16. It will be a reservation only site and a lucky group of people will also be given access to this amazing abandoned treasure. Stay tuned for more details. Hopefully, this tour will last a little longer than 10 minutes!
5 Beekman Street
OHNY: open house new york 