The Cooper Union Foundation Building is a roughly 138ft (42m) tall building in New York City designed by Fred A. Petersen. Built in 1859 for industrialist Peter Cooper, the Foundation Building was the start of Cooper Union, a school for architecture, engineering, and fine arts. The Italianate brownstone building sits adjacent to Astor Place at the end of a wedge where the Bowery meets 8th St, in what is now Manhattan's East Village. One of the oldest buildings in the neighborhood, the building holds a special place in American history. Its Great Hall has hosted famous speakers ranging from US Presidents (famously including Abraham Lincoln) to writer Mark Twain to Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky.