Photo © Eduard Hueber
Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company at 510 Fifth Avenue created a new model for the American bank building when it was completed in 1954. One of the first examples of a glass curtain wall, the SOM-designed building stunned the public and architects alike with its transparency. Behind its transparent façade, vast luminous ceilings contributed to the effect of merging the interior and exterior, and the vault, typically hidden in a basement, was placed on full display ten feet behind the Fifth Avenue façade.