--- title: Fantastic Beasts: True History of Its Ministry of Magic Spot description: The Magical Congress of the United States of America is set in a real New York City landscape with a fascinating story of its own canonical: https://time.com/4106601/jk-rowling-harry-potter-woolworth-building/ author: ashley Ross article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-11T15:00:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:43.522Z article:section: History og:title: The True History Behind North America’s Ministry of Magic Location og:description: The Magical Congress of the United States is secretly housed in The Woolworth Building og:url: https://time.com/4106601/jk-rowling-harry-potter-woolworth-building/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2662f5e2c48adb3/69887049cd1bba10896fe072/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-i_10d0b26f.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2048 og:image:height: 1152 og:image:alt: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The True History Behind North America’s Ministry of Magic Location twitter:description: The Magical Congress of the United States is secretly housed in The Woolworth Building twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2662f5e2c48adb3/69887049cd1bba10896fe072/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-i_10d0b26f.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The True History Behind the _Harry Potter_ Spinoff's Ministry of Magic Location > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Harry Potter Could've Attended An American Wizarding School [Watch (HLS stream): Harry Potter Could've Attended An American Wizarding School](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ivWBNS2z.m3u8) (2:05)  _Published 2015-06-10. The_ by [ashley Ross](https://time.com/author/ashley-ross/) ## ashley Ross Nov 11, 2015 3:00 PM UTC  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Warner Bros. by [ashley Ross](https://time.com/author/ashley-ross/) ## ashley Ross Nov 11, 2015 3:00 PM UTC Harry Potter fans are finally learning details about the American world of wizardry that will be the setting for J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter prequel _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them._ The latest issue of [_Entertainment Weekly_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/11/04/fantastic-beasts) has the scoop on the film, the story of Newt Scamander, a “magizoologist” and the author of a textbook about magical creatures that is referenced only one time in the entire Potter series. Though the film is being shot in Leavesden Studios in England, where the entire Potter series was filmed, we now know that the building that supposedly houses the Magical Congress of the United States of America is a real New York City landmark. In fact, the new cover of _EW_ features Eddie Redmayne as Scamander, in 1926, standing in a set dressed as the lobby of that building: New York’s Woolworth Building. The Magical Congress—MACUSA, the North American answer to the Ministry of Magic—is [“hidden from Muggle view” ](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/11/06/fantastic-beasts-secrets)inside the skyscraper. “Wizards enter through an ultra-fast-spinning revolving door into a grand lobby,” according to _EW._ The real Woolworth building was completed in 1913 by Cass Gilbert, who was named President of the National Academy of Design in 1926\. The 792-ft.-tall building was the tallest in the world when it was built. (It lost the title in 1930.) The building, known as the “Cathedral of Commerce,” was named for the F.W. Woolworth Co., led by Frank Winfield Woolworth, who owned Woolworth stores around the U.S., Canada and England. His company’s offices were housed on the 24th floor. His own office cost $35,000 and was a replica of Napoleon’s library. The Woolworth earned attention for its Tudor Gothic portal, opening to a lobby reminiscent of a Romanesque cathedral that featured gilded tracery, mural-filled arches and a marble staircase that led to the Irving National Exchange Bank. The [_New York Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/01/nyregion/off-limits-for-over-a-decade-lobby-of-woolworth-building-is-open-for-tours.html?%5Fr=1) has called it “the most sumptuous office lobby in New York.” It also features other Gothic touches, like gargoyles, including one of Gilbert and one of Woolworth himself.  A view of the Woolworth building ain New York City on Jan. 21, 2015. Bloomberg/Getty Images Critics initially objected the building’s Gothic décor, but Gilbert stood up for his choices. “New schools of design come, with intervals of centuries between, by slow evolution, and can no more be created out of whole cloth that new social orders or systems of government,” his[ obituary](http://time.com/vault/issue/1934-05-28/page/26/) quoted him as saying. “The problem of this great shaft cried aloud for some form of Gothic treatment and the soaring sense of uplift achieved more than justifies it.” Gilbert had also designed the George Washington Bridge and the U.S. Supreme Court building in Manhattan. In the twenties, the building utilized the newest technology of the day, with high-speed elevators, self-sustaining electrical power generation and an extensive architecture system to brace for the winds. (_Potter_ fans may prefer to imagine that magic did the trick.) The building was named a National Landmark in 1966 and a city landmark in 1983. Today, if you’re looking for the fictional spinning doors that will let you in to the MACUSA, you’ll have to sign up for a tour. ### See Photos of the George Washington Bridge Getting Built—And an Early Traffic Jam  Governors A. Harry Moore of New Jersey and Al Smith of New York pointing to their respective shores as they "break ground" for the new $60,000,000 dollar bridge. Sept. 22, 1927. John Tresilian/New York Daily News Archive—Getty Images  The main cable of the George Washington Bridge is being laid as construction of the suspension bridge connecting New York and New Jersey continues on Oct. 23, 1929. AP Photo  New Jersey and New York connected together by first cable of the new Hudson River Bridge at 178th Street in New York City. Photo shows a general view of the crowd on the Hudson River Day Line steamer Peter Stuyvesant watching the raising of the cable of the new Hudson River Bridge. One of the large piers of the bridge may be seen in the background to where the cable was hoisted from the river bottom. Bettman—Corbis  Main towers and cables of the George Washington Bridge under construction that linked New York to New Jersey when it opened, the longest suspension bridge in the world. 1929. Time Life Pictures/Mansell—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Full-length image of a worker pausing near the top of the George Washington Bridge during its construction, New York City. Circa 1930. Hulton Archive—Getty Images  George Washington Bridge. Dec. 21, 1930. Harry Warnecke/NY Daily News Archive—Getty Images  A view of the structure from the New York end, showing the underground approach as well as the one on the surface and the exit. That's New Jersey over in the distance. Oct. 19, 1931. Bettman—Corbis  Police officers march beneath American flags during the opening ceremonies for the George Washington Bridge in New York City on Oct. 24, 1931. Bettman—Corbis  Nattily attired gents prepare to take the first car (a Packard) across the George Washington Bridge on the day it opened, October 24, 1931. Leonard Detrick/NY Daily News Archive—Getty Images  The New George Washington Memorial Bridge, a modern miracle, connecting New York with New Jersey, was opened, Oct. 24, 1931, with elaborate ceremonies in which Governor Roosevelt of New York, Governor Larson of New Jersey and Secretary of the Navy Adams participated. Here, official cars cross the huge span for the dedication ceremonies. Bettman—Corbis  Manhattan-bound traffic clogs the George Washington Bridge at the New Jersey approach on Oct. 25, 1931. The Port Authority of New York—Getty Images  View of the George Washington Bridge from Washington Heights in Manhattan across to Fort Lee in New Jersey, 1932. 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