page_title: 150 Nassau Street
section_title: American Tract Society use
hierarchical_section_title: 150 Nassau Street / History / American Tract Society use
caption_attribution_description: "City Hall stands in front of Newspaper Row - the former publishing headquarters of The World (left), The Tribune (center) and The Times (right) in downtown Manhattan, circa 1906. Behind the New York Times building is the American Tract Society."
context_page_description: 150 Nassau Street, also known as the Park Place Tower and the American Tract Society Building, is a 23-story, 291-foot building in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is located at the southeast corner of Spruce Street and Nassau Street, next to 8 Spruce Street, the former New York Times Building, and New York City Hall.
  150 Nassau Street was built in 1894–1895 as the headquarters of the American Tract Society, a nonprofit, nonsectarian but evangelical organization that distributed religious tracts. Designed by the architect R. H. Robertson, it is one of the first skyscrapers built from a steel skeleton and was among New York City's tallest buildings when it was completed.
  150 Nassau Street was located near Park Row, which contained several newspaper headquarters. The building failed to make a profit during ATS's occupancy, and the New York Life Insurance Company foreclosed on the building in 1914. After ATS moved out, the New York Sun occupied the building from 1914 to 1919. The building's 10th through 23rd floors were converted into condominiums between 1999 and 2002.
context_section_description: The construction of the new headquarters caused ATS to go into debt. From its opening, 150 Nassau Street was beset with "painful disappointments", in part because of its inability to attract tenants. Several major elevator accidents also occurred at the building. In one such accident, a cab dropped from a lower floor to the cellar, and in another, a cab dropped from the eighth to the fifth floor without slowing down; however, no serious injuries were incurred in either incident. The third such incident occurred in November 1896, when a cab dropped from the 10th floor to the basement, injuring three people. ATS replaced the Otis elevators with Crane elevators in early 1897. Despite this, in September 1897, another elevator dropped 19 floors, killing the two occupants. The elevator accidents, which were covered intensively by the media, were among the reasons why tenants were reluctant to rent space in the building.
  By 1900, 150 Nassau Street had over 3,000 employees. In subsequent years, 150 Nassau Street was occupied by ATS's publishing and administrative offices, as well as several "tenants of questionable character", which in turn led to accusations of mismanagement. ATS defaulted on the mortgage in 1913, and after unsuccessfully attempting to raise funds, gave the structure to the New York Life Company the following year.
caption: Looking east from New York City Hall in 1906; 150 Nassau Street is in the background at right, behind 41 Park Row. The former New York World Building (left) and New York Tribune Building (center) are also visible
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