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10 East 40th Street

Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

Field	Value
name	10 East 40th Street
alternate_names	Mercantile Building
status	Completed
image	10 E 40th St New York City 2024.jpg
caption	Aerial view, July 2024
architectural_style	Renaissance Revival
location_town	Manhattan, New York
location_country	United States
mapframe-wikidata	yes
coordinates
completion_date	1929
renovation_date	2002
height	632 ft
floor_count	48
floor_area	350000 sqft
architecture_firm	Ludlow and Peabody
references

| mapframe-wikidata = yes 10 East 40th Street or the Mercantile Building is a skyscraper on 40th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is located in the middle of the block between Fifth and Madison avenues, extending south to 39th Street. Designed by Ludlow and Peabody and built by Jesse H. Jones, it was finished in 1929 and is an example of Renaissance Revival architecture.

It is 632 ft high, with 48 floors, and contains 350000 sqft of office or mixed-use space.

History

10 East 40th Street from the [[New York Public Library Main Branch

It was previously known as the Chase Tower, after its first tenant, Chase Brass & Copper. Its owner until his death in 1938 was Frederick William Vanderbilt.

During the 1970s, the building housed part of the Mid-Manhattan Library. In September 2002, the building's lobby was renovated, restoring the 15 ft ceilings. Current tenants include the Moroccan consulate.

Last building on the direct current grid

On November 14, 2007, the building became the final site to be removed from Thomas Edison's original direct current grid in New York City.

The building was completed in 1929 when 90 percent of the electricity in lower Manhattan was direct current. In that year New York Edison announced plans that it was going to convert the entire system to alternating current. The last 2 rotary converter substations generating direct current (at West 26th and West 39th Street) were retired in 1977 and the DC conversions were handled by solid-state rectifier units. The 2007 event shifted the responsibility for providing the conversion from Con Edison to the building via a local converter. Many of the buildings built in 1929 and before still use direct current with the local converter – most notably for elevators. The New York City Subway's third rail electric system is still direct current (with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority providing the local converters from AC to DC.

References

{{ctbuh. 1892
"World's tallest buildings in 1930".
"Mercantile Building". Emporis.com.
Tomasson, Robert E.. (1975-03-07). "Library to Move Central Office". The New York Times.
Lee, Jennifer 8.. (2007-11-14). "Off Goes the Power Current Started by Thomas Edison". The New York Times.
Cunningham, Joseph J.. (May–June 2013). "History". IEEE Power & Energy Magazine.
Blalock, Thomas J.. (November–December 2013). "History". IEEE Power & Energy Magazine.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1920s-architecture-in-the-united-states 1929-establishments-in-new-york-city bryant-park-buildings office-buildings-completed-in-1929 renaissance-revival-architecture-in-new-york-city skyscraper-office-buildings-in-manhattan

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