The Cooper Union : Foundation Building

The Foundation Building of the Cooper Union is a brownstone palazzo defined by its heavily enframed, round-arched windows and two prominent round-arched porches at the north and south ends. Completed in eighteen fifty-nine, this massive structure was the tallest in New York City at the time of its opening. Industrialist Peter Cooper designed the building with a structural system of rolled wrought-iron beams, which he produced in his own foundry to ensure the frame was fireproof. He even included a circular elevator shaft years before a functional passenger elevator system existed.