Three World Financial Center

200 Vesey Street
The building in 2006
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General information
Status	Complete
Type	Office
Location	200 Vesey Street, New York, NY 10281, United States
Coordinates	40°42′49″N 74°00′53″W / 40.71361°N 74.01472°W / 40.71361; -74.01472Coordinates: 40°42′49″N 74°00′53″W / 40.71361°N 74.01472°W / 40.71361; -74.01472
Construction started	1983
Completed	1985
Opened	1986
Cost	$800 million (USD)
Owner	American Express (lower half) Brookfield Office Properties (upper half)
Height
Antenna spire	739 ft (225 m)
Technical details
Floor count	51
Floor area	2,491,000 sq ft (231,400 m2)
Design and construction
Architect	Haines Lundberg Waehler, Cesar Pelli & Associates
Structural engineer	Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers
References

200 Vesey Street, formerly known as Three World Financial Center and also known as American Express Tower, is a skyscraper in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Located on West Street between Liberty Street and Vesey Street, the 739-foot (225 m) building is the tallest in the Brookfield Place complex (formerly known as the World Financial Center). It is similar in design to 225 Liberty Street (formerly Two World Financial Center), except that it is capped by a solid pyramid whereas 225 Liberty is capped by a dome.

The building is an example of postmodern architecture, as designed by Cesar Pelli & Associates, and contains over 2.1 million square feet (195,000 m²) 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 ft (37 m) vaulted ceiling under which there is an assortment of trees and plants, including sixteen 40 ft (12 m) palm trees from the Mojave Desert. It is notably similar in design to One Canada Square 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.

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.”