Secret Lives Tour 2012: One Wall Street
The Historic Districts Council
Presents Secret Lives Tour: One Wall Street
The Bank of New York Mellon – Financial District Manhattan
September 19th, 2012 5pm
SOLD OUT!!!!
A series of tours highlighting some of the most original and rarely-seen spaces in New York. The Hidden Gems Tours take attendees inside some of the most unique and spectacular landmarked spaces in the city, both big and small, to learn about their history and preservation.
The Historic Districts Council invites you to tour three spectacular spaces in the Art Deco tower at One Wall Street. Built across from Trinity Church as the Irving Trust Building, the limestone skyscraper is a private wonder occupied today by The Bank of New York Mellon.
Visitors will view to the bank’s museum, 49th floor reception room, and The Red Room, with its spectacular red and gold mosaics. The museum’s artifacts illustrate the architectural and institutional history of BNY Mellon in Lower Manhattan. On the top floor, gilded shells from the Philippines decorate the angular ceiling of the three-story reception room. The adjacent observation decks provide splendid views in four directions.
The Red Room next to the New York Stock Exchange greets the bank’s clients. Named for an intricate mosaic design glittering along the walls and ceiling, the room was designed by artist Hildreth Meière (1892-1961) with architect Ralph Walker of Vorhees, Gmelin and Walker. She is regarded as the foremost muralist of the Art Deco style in the 1930s. Her daughter Louise Meière Dunn and granddaughter Hildreth Meière Dunn will join us as special guests and speak about the International Hildreth Meiere Association, the group they lead to preserve her artistic legacy.
Louise Meière Dunn is the only child of a remarkable woman – Hildreth Meière an artist who forged a successful career in architectural art, a field then dominated by men. Louise is President of the International Hildreth Meière Association, founded to conduct activities to promote and perpetuate the legacy of Hildreth Meière. She has been speaking on the work of her mother since 2003 at venues in New York and internationally.
Hildreth Meière Dunn, granddaughter of the artist, is the official photographer for the International Hildreth Meière Association. She was the principal photographer and photography editor for both the exhibition and catalogue Walls Speak: The Narrative Art of Hildreth Meière. She is strongly committed to the permanence of the artistic legacy of Hildreth Meière, in the preservation and re-location of decommissioned works and in maintaining the quality and accessibility of the visual record of the artist’s entire body of work through the dissemination of photographs to numerous publications.
Christine McKay, historian of BNY Mellon, will guide visitors through the historic building.