The Bonwit Teller Project
and Trump’s Employment and Exploitation of
Illegal Aliens
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| The Bonwit Teller Project Prior to his demolishing of this building, Donald Trump promised to donate the 1929 art deco sculptures from the building to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead they simply disappeared during demolition |
The story of the Bonwit Teller Department Store and its demolishment and the rebuilding of Trump Towers on the site is a complex story. In 1978, Trump secured an option to buy on the decaying Bonwit Teller Department Store. [1] He then needed to obtain control of the ground below the property which was owned by an insurance company and the air rights above, controlled by Tiffany Jewelers, located next door. However, now that he was a successful real estate magnate who had built the Grand Hyatt, it was easy enough to acquire a loan from the Chase Manhattan Bank that would enable him to purchase those.
One of the next parts of the project was to demolish the old building so that it could be replaced. Demolishing a 12 story, downtown, decaying department store in Manhattan is no easy feat. Additionally, there was concern over what would happen to parts of the old building, specifically the large, bronze grillwork featuring art deco sculptures of 15 foot tall goddesses dating from 1930 that emblazoned the entrance to the store and building.[2]
Many in the city, particularly in art circles, expressed concern for the fate of these sculptures and the grill work. If the building were demolished, what would happen to these pieces of architectural art? Complaints and concerns were voiced publicly. Trump responded by promising to save the pieces during the demolition and donate them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, if removing them was not prohibitively expensive.
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| The 8th Floor Sculpture from the Bonwit Teller Building. Now long gone despite Trump's promises. |
As time went on, the project became notorious among Trump critics because of his use of illegal alien workers (what? Another instance of illegal immigrants in Trump’s life? How many are there?) For part of the work, instead of hiring experienced demolition contractors, Trump contracted with a window washing company owned by a Polish émigré. The company provided over 200 workers, all or most of them undocumented workers from Poland. They often worked without hard hats or other safety gear. Some lived at the construction site and slept on the cold, concrete floor. Their payment was irregular, and they were often cheated.
When workers complained, and allegedly threatened to throw Thomas Macari, Trump’s associate who closely watched over the project, with being dangled over the edge of the building, things changed but stayed messy. To this day shady accusations of several kinds follow the project, many documented. These include use of mob-connected union labor, using Trump and Roy Cohn’s personal connections to avoid inspection by the city and state agencies, threatening phone calls against workers and contractors from “John Barron,” Trump’s frequent alter-ego, and ultimately a lawsuit filed against Trump by the workers, a lawsuit that Trump and his lawyers delayed at every opportunity but nevertheless lost. Ultimately, years later, a judge awarded the workers $325,000.
Additionally, Trump failed to donate the sculptures and art deco front to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They disappeared or were destroyed during the demolition.
The Bonwit Teller site later became the site for Trump Towers.[3]
Ivanka helped. According to one source, Donald would occasionally encourage or allow her to go out and supervise the plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and steelworkers even though she knew nothing about these trades. [4]
Finally, my books . . .
Yeah, I've written books. Please check them out and see if they interest you.[1] An “option to buy” gives the purchaser the right to buy a piece of real estate at a fixed, specified price for a fixed specified period of time.
“What is an Option to Buy Contract and How it Protects You,” from Real Estate Sales Blog.
https://www.realestatesalesllc.com/real-estate/option-buy-contract-protects/
[2] “The Historic Building Donald Trump Demolished to Build Trump Tower,” by Sam Dangremond, August 18, 2017. https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a12030857/donald-trump-bonwit-teller/
[3] Pages 69-76, Johnston, David Cay. “The Making of Donald Trump.” ( 2016. 2017. Melville House. Brooklyn.)
Pages 85-91, Kranish, Michael and Fisher, Marc “Trump revealed -The Definitive Biography of the 45th President.” ( 2016, Scribner, New York)
The amount of the settlement came from Johnston, page 74.
If you get a chance to watch the August 17, 2017 SNL Weekend Live segment where Tina Fey responds to Trump’s alleged desire to preserve historical monuments, particularly Confederate monuments, by shouting “Google Bonwit Teller!” you can now understand the reference better, if you didn’t catch it the first time.
[4] van Meter, Johnathan (May 1989). "That's Why the Lady is a Trump". Spy. Sussex Publishers, LLC. ISSN 0890-1759 – via Google Books at
