Jacob K. Javits Federal Building

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Jacob K. Javits Federal Building
Jacob K. Javits Federal Building (48129111092).jpg
Jacob K. Javits Federal Building
Jacob K. Javits Federal Building
Interactive map of Jacob K. Javits Federal Building
General information
Location26 Federal Plaza
New York, NY, United States
Coordinates 40°42′54″N74°0′13″W / 40.71500°N 74.00361°W / 40.71500; -74.00361
Named for Jacob K. Javits
Groundbreaking1963
Opened1969
Renovated1975–77
ClientMultiple, including United States Department of Homeland Security
Owner General Services Administration
Height587 ft (179 m)
Technical details
Floor count41
Design and construction
Architecture firm Alfred Easton Poor
Kahn & Jacobs [1]

The Jacob K. Javits Federal Office Building is a U.S. governmental office building at 26 Federal Plaza (sometimes referred to simply as 26 Federal Plaza [2] ) on Foley Square in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. At 41 stories, it is the tallest federal building in the United States. It was built in 1963–69 and was designed by Alfred Easton Poor and Kahn & Jacobs, with Eggers & Higgins as associate architects. A western addition, first announced on "inadvertently acquired land" in 1965, [3] was built in 1975–77 and was designed by Kahn & Jacobs, The Eggers Partnership and Poor & Swanke. [1] The building is named for Jacob K. Javits, who served as a United States Senator from New York for 24 years, from 1957 to 1981.

Contents

The building is assigned its own ZIP Code, 10278; it was one of 41 buildings in Manhattan that had their own ZIP Codes as of 2019. [4] The building falls under the jurisdiction of the United States Federal Protective Service for any and all law enforcement and protection issues. To the east of the main building is the James L. Watson Court of International Trade Building.

History of the site

A Gothic style Masonic hall was located at this site between Reade and Pearl Streets from 1826 to 1856, directly across from the original site of the New York Hospital. [5] This served as the home of the Grand Lodge of New York until its demolition.

Occupants

Agencies located in the building include the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Federal Executive Board. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' New York field office is on the 7th floor, the Brooklyn field office is on the 8th floor and the Queens field office is on the 9th floor. [6] The Federal Bureau of Investigation's New York field office is on the 23rd floor. [7] The 12th floor is the site of an immigration court with hallways open to the public. [8]

Former President Richard Nixon rented a federal office in the building from 1980 to 1988. [9]

Artworks

A controversy developed over the artwork by Richard Serra commissioned for the plaza in front of the building, Tilted Arc . Commissioned in 1979 and built in 1981, it was criticized both for its aesthetic values and for security reasons. [10] It was removed in 1989, which resulted in a lawsuit and a trial. The piece remains in storage, as the artwork was site-specific, and the artist does not want it displayed in any other location. The removal and trial led to the creation of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990. [10]

After the removal of Tilted Arc, landscape artist Martha Schwartz re-designed the plaza. [10] Other artworks connected with building include A Study in Five Planes/Peace (1965) by Alexander Calder and the Manhattan Sentinels (1996) by Beverly Pepper. In the James L. Watson Court of International Trade can be found Metropolis (1967) by Seymour Fogel and Eagle/Justice Above All Else (1970) by Theodore Roszak. [10]

Controversy

In relation to the second administration of Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign, the 10th floor is used as a detention center, where people are held in crowded and unsanitary conditions. [11] [12] [13] In September 2025, access to the building was barred to elected officials, who were arrested when they attempted to inspect the 10th-floor holding cells. [14]

Protesters have repeatedly assembled in Foley Square to protest the building's use for immigration enforcement in NYC during the second Trump administration. [15]

These paragraphs are an excerpt from Timeline of government attacks on journalists in the United States § September 2025: ICE agents assault journalists outside immigration court.[ edit ]

On 30 September 2025, journalists were in a hallway outside the immigration court and immigrant holding facility 26 Federal Plaza, where ICE agents grabbed and shoved journalists. [16]

One journalist, Dean Moses of amNewYork , was pushed off a public elevator while trying to take a photograph of a woman from Peru [17] being arrested who had just left the immigration court. [16] One agent wearing a mask and bulletproof vest labeled "police" grabbed Moses and told him "get the fuck off the elevator." [17] Moses later claimed "I walked into the elevator behind them, and they started screaming at me... Then they pushed me, grabbed me by my arms, and started pulling me out of the elevator. I tried to hold on, but I got shoved out." [16] Moses also alleged it seemed like the agents "didn't want to be seen taking this person." [18]

A freelance journalist who had previously done work for the Associated Press, Olga Fedorova, was shoved to the floor during the struggle between police and Moses. Fedorova claimed no limits were announced on where journalists could go and that there was no warning issued to press not to go on the elevator. [16]

A third journalist, L. Vural Elibol of Turkish news agency Anadolu, sustained injuries after hitting his head against the floor due to being pushed by an ICE agent. Paramedics put him in a neck brace and escorted him out of the building on a stretcher. [16]

A later statement by Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed officers were "swarmed by agitators and members of the press," [18] whom she claimed they warned to move back and get off the elevator [16] citing "concerns with our officers' safety." [17] Democrat politicians denounced the incident, including Kathy Hochul [16] and Hakeem Jeffries. [17] New York Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani said "we cannot accept or normalize what has now become routine violence at 26 Federal Plaza." [16] Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition also criticized the conflict as indicative of violence becoming the norm in places where due process is upheld. [18]

The incident was later condemned by the Society of Professional Journalists. [19]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot; Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 79. ISBN   978-0-19538-386-7.
  2. ↑ Sisak, Michael R. (September 30, 2025). "Federal agents grab and shove journalists outside NYC immigration court, sending one to hospital". The Hill. Associated Press. Retrieved October 3, 2025.
  3. ↑ "New Federal Office Building: A Capital in Microcosm". The New York Times. August 29, 1968. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved December 26, 2020.
  4. ↑ Brown, Nicole (March 18, 2019). "Why do some buildings have their own ZIP codes? NYCurious". amNewYork. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Grand Lodge of New York's Gothic Hall – Chancellor Robert R Livingston Masonic Library". March 3, 2022. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
  6. ↑ "Field Office Lookup". USCIS. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  7. ↑ "New York Field Office". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved on June 9, 2015. "26 Federal Plaza, 23rd Floor New York, NY 10278-0004".
  8. ↑ Sisan, Michael R. (September 30, 2025). "Federal agents grab and shove journalists outside NYC immigration court, sending one to hospital". AP News.
  9. ↑ Parker, Jeffrey K. (September 20, 1988). "Former President Richard Nixon is moving from his federal..." UPI Archives.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Jacob Javits Federal Building & James Watson Court of International Trade, New York, NY" Archived August 18, 2017, at the Wayback Machine on the General Services Administration website
  11. ↑ Motal, Julius Constantine (July 25, 2025). "One day inside the deportation machine at a federal immigration court in New York". The Guardian. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  12. ↑ Hogan, Gwynne; Haidee, Chu (July 22, 2025). "'Like Dogs in Here' — Videos Expose ICE Lockup Inside 26 Federal Plaza". THE CITY - NYC News. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  13. ↑ "New Video Shows Inhumane Conditions Inside ICE Detention Center at 26 Federal Plaza, ICE Breaking Oversight Law - NYC, Long Island, New York State". New York Immigration Coalition - Revision. July 22, 2025. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  14. ↑ "11 Elected Officials Arrested While Trying to Access Cells at N.Y.C. ICE Facility". September 18, 2025. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  15. ↑ Khawaja, Noorulain (January 8, 2026). "NYC immigrant rights advocates continue protests over shooting in Minnesota". Spectrum News NY1. Retrieved January 10, 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Sisak, Michael R. (September 30, 2025). "Federal agents grab and shove journalists outside NYC immigration court, sending one to hospital". The Hill. Associated Press. Retrieved October 3, 2025.
  17. 1 2 3 4 Allen, Mina (October 1, 2025). "Journalists injured in clash with masked ICE agents at NYC immigration court". KFOX14. Sinclair Broadcast Group. The National Desk. Retrieved October 3, 2025.
  18. 1 2 3 Von Quednow, Cindy; Lybrand, Holmes; Pazmino, Gloria; Tebor, Celina (October 1, 2025). "Journalists grabbed, shoved by ICE agents in New York immigration court, video shows". CNN. Retrieved October 3, 2025.
  19. ↑ "SPJ condemns attacks on journalists covering ICE activity" (Press release). Society of Professional Journalists. October 2, 2025. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
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