Brown Brothers Harriman

After 168 years in the same location, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. decided to move its offices to a new location.

But how does a banking company incorporate the tradition and history of an almost 200-year-old company into a "glass box" built in 1967?

That was quite a job for the project team charged with completing interior renovations to 140 Broadway, where the company leased 430,000 sq. ft.

About 850 employees were moved to the new location where the company occupied floors 1 through 20. Prior to the move, its operations were located at 59/63 Wall St., a 35-story building constructed in 1929 that was known for years as the Brown Brothers Harriman building.

"This was a major project, very complex," a jury member said. "The high-quality finishes and craftsmanship are the crowning touch."

In addition to striking the right balance between the traditional and modern, the project team had to maintain the climate of privacy and discretion that Brown Brothers Harriman, the last privately owned bank in the United States, had come to expect.

A crucial component of the project involved creating an entry procession similar to the one at its old location through the banking hall to the partner's room. To address these issues, the project team decided to connect the lower floors - where the client lobby, banking hall, partner's room and private dining and conferencing are located - with a grand spiral staircase that created a modern evocation of the former headquarters' rotunda stair.

With the need for private banking and partner rooms on the same floor, the requirement to create private dining rooms and meeting rooms on the second floor seemed impossible. But the architect took advantage of 17-ft. ceilings on the second floor and designed a mezzanine.

The double-stacked rooms are set off from the perimeter glass and enabled the designers to effectively double the number of rooms.

There was one problem, however. The mezzanine could not be supported in a conventional manner by columns because it is located above the main building lobby.

The designers were prevented from penetrating the floor in that area for two reasons: The lobby could not be disturbed because there are other tenants in the building, and the lobby ceiling had asbestos. To address the problem, the project team, with the help of the structural engineer, suspended the mezzanine from the floor above. Steel rods were utilized and hidden within the thickness of the mezzanine walls.

To provide a variety of rooms that would appeal to diverse clients, the project team decorated each room differently to create a distinct individual character. Some were decorated with antique furnishings from 59 Wall St. while others have contemporary furniture.

Another challenge involved the company's desire to have the economy and flexibility of a typical, universal floor layout, which seemed incompatible with the divergent needs of each of the departments.

So, working with typical column bays, the architects created six different modular components that, when combined, achieved the proper mix of workstations, partner's stations and conference rooms on each floor. This modular approach satisfied both the standards and the multifaceted needs of the bank - and allows flexibility for future changes.

The team also needed to provide adequate HVAC to the mezzanine without compromising the ceiling height. To address this, the mechanical engineer designed an air-distribution system embedded within the solid walls of the mezzanine.

Yet another challenge involved relocating and reconstructing the historic "map room" from 59 Wall St. to 140 Broadway. Art experts were retained to remove and restore the canvas-backed maps and reinstall them in the new room that designers had created specifically around their proportions.