CODEX Entry 3610: 28 Liberty Street
Formerly known as Chase Manhattan Plaza. A 60-storey building across the street from the Federal Reserve. John McCloy had been President of the World Bank and then US High Commissioner for West Germany, before moving back to the US as Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations. He later served on the infamous Warren Committee for JFK’s assasination. He entered the business community as Chairman of the recently merged Chase Manhattan Bank, now the second largest bank in America, and controlled by the Rockefeller family. John McCloy decided the bank should consolidate many of its offices in a single large building. He made the decision to put the Chairman’s nephew David Rockefeller in charge of the project. The building was presented as a new “Rockefeller Center” for Lower Manhattan and was completed in 1960. There are 5 basement levels with a large vault on the bottom floor at the same level as the vault across the street at the Federal Reserve. The two vaults were connected and the Chase Vault is referred to as the Annex in Federal Reserve records. On basement level 4 there is a large auditorium.
One Manhattan Plaza contains the largest privately owned gold vault in New York and the vault is attached to the Federal Reserve Vault across the road at Basement level 5 where it is called the Annex. A truck elevator gives direct access to the assay room where stored bars are weighed for authenticity. The vault door is 15 feet thick and works on a rotating mechanism. JP Morgan Chase sold One Manhattan Plaza to the Chinese conglomerate Fosun in 2013 for US$725 million. Built in 1961 by David Rockefeller it has an 800 seat auditorium on basement level 4.