The 72 story 927-foot-tall combination Art Deco and neo-Gothic skyscraper was the tallest building in the world when built in 1930–for about a month until the Chrysler Building was finished. Originally named the Manhattan Company Building, it was purchased by The Trump Organization in 1995 and became the Trump Building, a combination office and residential building.
In 1946, like the Empire State Building the previous year, due to fog, it was hit by a military plane. The last building in NYC accidentally hit by a plane until 2006.
Next door at 48 Wall Street is this corner stone of Alexander Hamilton’s Bank of New York laid in 1797.
The 40 Wall Street Building was previously the site of the headquarters of the Manhattan Company, established 1799, (eventually merged with Chase Manhattan Bank) which provided clean water and also engaged in some banking activities (talk about multi-tasking), thus competing with Hamilton’s monopolistic Bank of New York (the oldest bank in the US, founded 1784 & moved to this location in 1797).
The founder of the Manhattan Company was none other than …that’s right–Aaron Burr. This banking rivalry of course contributed to the Hamilton-Burr “Great Feud”.
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