{{Short description|Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York}} {{Use American English|date=September 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox building | name = 200 Vesey Street | status = Complete | image = 3 World Financial Center.jpg | image_size = 180px | location = 200 Vesey Street<br>New York, NY 10285<br>U.S. | mapframe-wikidata = yes | coordinates = {{coord|40|42|49|N|74|00|53|W|region:US-NY|display=inline,title}} | construction_start_date = 1983 | completion_date = 1985 | opened_date = 1986 | architect = Haines Lundberg Waehler, Cesar Pelli & Associates | architectural_style = Postmodern | owner = American Express (lower half)<br>Brookfield Properties (upper half) | cost = $800 million (USD) | floor_area = {{convert|2,491,000|sqft|abbr=on}} | floor_count = 51 | references = <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.emporis.com/buildings/115595 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422175833/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/115595 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=April 22, 2016 |title=Emporis building ID 115595 |work=Emporis}}</ref> | building_type = Office | antenna_spire = {{convert|739|ft|m|abbr=on}} | structural_engineer = Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers }}

'''200 Vesey Street''', formerly known as '''Three World Financial Center''' and also known as the '''American Express Tower''', is one of four towers that comprise the Brookfield Place complex in the Battery Park City, directly adjacent to the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Rising 51 floors and {{convert|739|ft|m}}, it is situated between the Hudson River and the World Trade Center. The building opened in 1986 as part of the World Financial Center and was designed by Haines Lundberg Waehler and Cesar Pelli & Associates.

== Description== The building is an example of postmodern architecture, as designed by Cesar Pelli & Associates, and contains over 2.1 million square feet (195,000&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup>) of rentable office area. It connects to the rest of the World Financial Center complex through a courtyard leading to the Winter Garden, a dramatic glass-and-steel public space with a 120&nbsp;ft (37&nbsp;m) vaulted ceiling under which there is an assortment of trees and plants, including sixteen 40&nbsp;ft (12&nbsp;m) palm trees from the Mojave Desert. Pelli used the building's basic aesthetic again for the One Canada Square tower in London's Canary Wharf development. Canary Wharf was, like the World Financial Center, a project by Canadian developers Olympia & York, and One Canada Square was designed by the same principal architect. One Canada Square differs from 200 Vesey Street in that it is clad with a stainless steel curtain wall instead of stone.

Due to its status as the tallest tower in the complex, the building was subject to scathing criticism at the time of its construction. In 1985, the New York Times published an article lambasting the tower. ‟Not too long ago, it was possible to gaze all the way from mid-Manhattan to the skies over the harbor. Now, that vista has been pierced by the American Express tower being built in the World Financial Center at Battery Park City. At the moment, the skyscraper resembles a gigantic, upended, rectilinear fish skeleton. As construction proceeds, however, and the floors fill in, there will be a solid wall where there was once a generous slice of sky."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/07/nyregion/new-york-day-by-day-another-vista-becomes-history.html|title=NEW YORK DAY BY DAY; Another Vista Becomes History|first1=Susan Heller|last1=Anderson|first2=David W.|last2=Dunlap|date=January 7, 1985|website=The New York Times}}</ref>

thumb|left|200 Vesey Street, October 2015. thumb|left|Two rescue workers entering the American Express Tower after the attacks on the World Trade Center. Three World Financial Center was severely damaged by the falling debris when the World Trade Center towers collapsed on September 11, 2001. The building's southeast corner took heavy structural damage, though the effects were not enough to create a threat of collapse. The building had to be closed for repairs from September 11, 2001 until May 2002 as a result of damage sustained in the terrorist attacks. A memorial was constructed to honor the 11 employees of American Express who were victims of the September 11 attacks, it is named the Eleven Tears Memorial.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eleven Tears Memorial |url=https://www.nyc-arts.org/organizations/1870/eleven-tears-memorial |access-date=September 15, 2022 |website=NYC-ARTS}}</ref>

3 World Financial Center is today the world headquarters of American Express, and was once World Headquarters of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. It was renamed 200 Vesey Street when the rest of the complex became Brookfield Place in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://brookfieldplaceny.com/renovation-updates |title=Renovation Updates |website=Brookfield Place New York |publisher=Brookfield Place |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140709061233/http://brookfieldplaceny.com/renovation-updates |archive-date=2014-07-09 |access-date=2014-07-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== See also == *World Trade Center *Brookfield Place (New York City) *List of tallest buildings in New York City *List of tallest buildings in the United States

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20150123191147/http://www.brookfieldofficeproperties.com/content/lower_manhattan/brookfield_place_200_vesey_st-10222.html Official website] *{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070318130622/http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=3worldfinancialcenter-newyorkcity-ny-usa Emporis - Three World Financial Center]}} *[http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=248/ Skyscraperpage - Three World Financial Center] *{{url|http://wirednewyork.com/skyscrapers/3-world-financial-center/|Wired New York - 3 World Financial Center}} ({{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308075918/http://wirednewyork.com/skyscrapers/3-world-financial-center/|date=March 8, 2021}})

{{World Trade Center}} {{American Express}}

Category:1986 establishments in New York City Category:Office buildings completed in 1986 Category:Skyscraper office buildings in Manhattan Category:American Express Category:Lehman Brothers Category:Brookfield Place (New York City) Category:Brookfield Properties buildings Category:Battery Park City Category:West Side Highway