In 1901 Harry S. Black, who had just taken over the George A. Fuller Company from his late father-in-law, established the United States Realty and Construction Company, a powerhouse development organization with some of the biggest names in New York real estate, including Robert Dowling, Henry Morgenthau, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Charles F. Hoffman.
It then acquired a large percentage of the George A. Fuller Company (general contractor for these commissions), and the well-established New York Realty Corporation, among other holdings.
The corporation was formed to combine three functions: to purchase real estate for investment and sale, to erect buildings through the George A. Fuller Company, and to raise capital to do both.

For its first large project, it bought the old Trinity Building.
The Trinity and U.S. Realty Buildings were originally conceived as freestanding office buildings to be erected simultaneously.
But acquisition delays held that project up, and U. S. Realty went ahead with a 21-story building on the site of the Trinity Building itself, 40 feet wide and 290 feet high.
The north wall of the Trinity Building was left in utilitarian brick, so the building could be expanded  They were actually built two years apart and not as identical structures.
To attain maximum exposure to light for both skyscrapers with a minimum of interior offices, it was planned that the buildings would be erected on equal, full-block sites.
To secure equal sites, however, municipal consent was needed to move the existing Thames Street approximately twenty-eight feet to the north, and to permanently close the south half of two-block-long Temple Street, which originally ran between Thames and Liberty Streets, bisecting the site of the U.S. Realty Building.
The city granted these changes, with the condition that Thames Street be widened from twenty-five to thirty feet.
In 1901 Harry S. Black, who had just taken over the George A. Fuller Company from his late father-in-law, established the United States Realty and Construction Company, a powerhouse development organization with some of the biggest names in New York real estate, including Robert Dowling, Henry Morgenthau, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Charles F. Hoffman. It then acquired a large percentage of the George A. Fuller Company (general contractor for these commissions), and the well-established New York Realty Corporation, among other holdings. The corporation was formed to combine three functions: to purchase real estate for investment and sale, to erect buildings through the George A. Fuller Company, and to raise capital to do both.
For its first large project, it bought the old Trinity Building. The Trinity and U.S. Realty Buildings were originally conceived as freestanding office buildings to be erected simultaneously. But acquisition delays held that project up, and U. S. Realty went ahead with a 21-story building on the site of the Trinity Building itself, 40 feet wide and 290 feet high. The north wall of the Trinity Building was left in utilitarian brick, so the building could be expanded  They were actually built two years apart and not as identical structures. To attain maximum exposure to light for both skyscrapers with a minimum of interior offices, it was planned that the buildings would be erected on equal, full-block sites. To secure equal sites, however, municipal consent was needed to move the existing Thames Street approximately twenty-eight feet to the north, and to permanently close the south half of two-block-long Temple Street, which originally ran between Thames and Liberty Streets, bisecting the site of the U.S. Realty Building. The city granted these changes, with the condition that Thames Street be widened from twenty-five to thirty feet.
Trinity and United States Realty Buildings