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

Overview

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

5862. Charles Engelhard Court, Part 2

Highlights Tour

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Early on most of the Met’s founders felt that they should focus on acquiring European works. But in 1909, New York celebrated the three-hundredth anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage along the river that marks his name – and the Met mounted a watershed exhibition including early American decorative arts. In the words of Museum trustee Robert de Forest, the exhibition was a way “to test out the question [of] whether American domestic art was worthy of a place in an art museum.” The public embraced it, and American art became popular. De Forest himself was very enthusiastic. He later became president of the Met, and in 1922 he announced a plan to build a wing devoted to American art—this section of the Museum, recently renovated, is the result. On several floors of galleries you’ll find superb examples of furniture, silver, glass, and ceramics. Beyond the bank façade there are historic interiors and renowned works of painting and sculpture.

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Proposed Design for City Hall, New York

Martin Euclid Thompson (American, 1786–1877 Glen Cove, New York)

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