Historical Ramblings: The American Tract Society Building

On a recent sightseeing trip into Manhattan, I had a pleasant surprise when getting off the subway at City Hall. The American Tract Society Building is now free of its construction netting! I had visited a year ago to take photos of the building, but it was mostly obscured by netting at the time. I took this opportunity to get some better photos.

Northeast (Spruce Street) facade of the building.

Top of the northeast facade of the building.

Main entrance on Nassau Street.

Why is this building of interest? Because my ancestors helped build it.

In 1891, Henry C. Williams (a direct ancestor) formed the Atlas Iron Construction Company with Frank Harrison (his first wife's cousin), Philip Raqué, and Frederick Youngs. They were successful for a time, growing to become the second largest structural iron business in the city. They had an office in the New York Times Building and a factory in New Jersey. They worked on early skyscrapers, bridges and on the roof of a drill hall in one of the city's armories (I'm not sure which one).

In fact, the only structure that I know for sure that they worked on is the American Tract Society Building. According to the Times, they employed the largest derrick yet seen in New York for this work. Construction used the day's leading engineering techniques. When completed in 1895, the building was one of the tallest in the city and it boasted more office space than the only two taller skyscrapers (the Manhattan Life Insurance Building and the New York World Building). It remains significant as one of the earliest steel skeletal-frame skyscrapers in the city.