: For Guidance Corporation, the company's recent move into 30 Wall
Street unites two notable lower Manhattan histories - that of
Brown Brothers Harriman Bank, formerly of 63 Wall Street, and
Seaman's Bank of 30 Wall Street. Now, select pieces from the
Brown Brothers Harriman collection of furniture, ranging from
early American and Federal to Hepplewhite, find a home among the
important architectural details of the old Seaman's Bank
Headquarters.
In addition, six years ago the company was lucky to discover and
purchase out of an old warehouse in Jersey City some of the
earliest black walnut sample tables that originated from Brooks
Brothers' first store, dating from the early Nineteenth Century.
Now these pieces serve as the executive's desks and boardroom
table at Guidance. A collection of Herter Brothers furniture,
purchased separately, also graces the CEO's office.
Since 1988 Guidance Corporation has provided executive search,
permanent and temporary staffing services to all areas in the
finance sector. In 1992, in the midst of the last recession,
Guidance realized the importance of diversification and the
company branched into other specialties, becoming one of the
largest medical, fashion and luxury goods personnel providers.
The company's headquarters have always been in Manhattan's
financial district, and the company remains strongly committed to
the Wall Street area. That commitment, combined with the
antiquarian interests of the three senior executives, Robert
Guida, CEO; Roger Ross, CMO; and Brita Edman, COO, results in an
office space that provides a warm and welcome change from many
corporate interiors.
Ross recognized the alternative options available for the
company's move, especially with newly renovated spaces in the
Wall Street area. "There's a place for modernism but not when you
have a building like this available," he explains.
Guidance's first offices were at 43 Broad Street, but its next
two moves to 80 Wall Street and then to 63 Wall Street would
bring the company closer to where it is today, adjacent to the
New York Stock Exchange and next door to Federal Hall, where
President George Washington took his oath of office. The offices
of Brown Brothers Harriman, which were at 63 Wall Street and
recently moved to 140 Broadway, still contained the firm's
collection of Federal furniture, and it was there that Ross came
to know about the notable collection. Guidance was delighted to
purchase the remaining pieces when Brown Brothers Harriman
decided to sell. Included were two mahogany bookcases containing
a few hundred books, many autographed, belonging to W. Averell
Harriman.
"We've always been committed to Wall Street, have always stayed
here," according to Ross. The decision to move to the old
Seaman's Bank building resulted in the connection made by
Guidance's real estate agents, Tom Reilly of Reilly Realty and
Bernard Weinstabel of Insignia ESG who put the company CEO Guida
in touch with Percy Pyne, owner of 30 Wall Street. Pyne's two
grandfathers were integrally involved with both the Seamen's Bank
and Citibank, and the family has been in property ownership in
lower Manhattan for more than 150 years.
In a period of seven weeks, Ross and Guida designed what would be
the new layout of the office space, using the building's historic
voice throughout, with walnut, oak and pine paneling, elaborate
seashell crown molding and stone floors. When the company
officially moved in on February 1, the collection of furniture
completed the space.
Roger Ross, who has been with Guidance since 1992, recalls that
his first taste for the antique was inspired by his parents, who
took him on frequent trips to his mother's homeland -- Paris.
Ross's uncle was also a major influence, as he was the proprietor
of Once Upon a Stove, a Manhattan restaurant that was known for
incorporating antique architectural elements into its décor. Ross
explains, "I grew up in Liberty, N.Y., in the heart of the
Catskills when the huge hotel industry there was experiencing a
severe decline. It was here that I would buy through attending
auctions at 8/9 years of age with my parents pieces that were
from my area."
When his uncle encouraged Ross to search the Catskills for an
authentic Nineteenth Century pharmacy, he stepped up to the
challenge, negotiated the deal and presented his uncle with his
find from a small town in the Catskills. While Ross's first
collecting passion was bitters bottles, today the executive
enjoys collecting in several different categories of paintings
and furniture.
Today, the corporate headquarters of Guidance are furnished in
not one period, but in a range of styles, from Eighteenth Century
American tea tables to Twentieth Century seating furniture by Le
Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. Clients and employees are just
as likely to encounter a late Seventeenth Century American
tall-case clock as they are an 1815 Hepplewhite sideboard and a
late Nineteenth Century Herter Brothers table. The lobby will add
an eclectic touch to Guidance's headquarters, with Mies Barcelona
chairs set among the restored fireplace, pilasters and dramatic
crown molding.
"It was important to us to create a 'home away from home' for all
who enter the office as well as work here," says Ross. Ross found
much of the furniture locally, though frequent trips to France
have resulted in plans to add a Modernist flavor to the lobby. A
lead statue of the Greek goddess Ceres marks the entrance of
Ross's office. It is thought that the statue, one of a set of
four seasons, first came to New York in 1810 as ballast on a
clipper ship, and has remained on Long Island in the same family
until just recently.
"It was love at first sight," Ross said of the old Seaman's Bank.
"We knew we had to have this place. It had great bones, and we
were happy to work with them."
