Uploads from Emilio Guerra, tagged landmark

Flatiron Building

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:41:15 -0700

Madison Square, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

The triangular site on which this turn of the century French Renaissance skyscraper was built gave to it a special character and a poetic quality. As seen from the north, it has been compared, by many writers, to a great ship sailing up the Avenue.

Whether seen at night, reflected in the glistening pavement during a thundershower, or fighting for its life in a blizzard, it has a quality of directional motion with its prow like mass towering above the beholder.

To the New York of 1902 this building represented the very essence of modernity. It is a building whose walls are covered with ornament, not one square inch remaining flush and plain. Nevertheless, because of its prow like quality, it still enjoys a feeling of daring slenderness and height, unequaled by many later structures. It derived its name from its shape which was so similar to that of the laundress' flat-iron.

It is interesting to note that this steel-framed skyscraper, which dominates the south side of Madison Square, was designed by a Chicago architect. Perhaps the daring of this high, narrow triangular shaped structure may be attributed to the great backlog of experience which was so notably attained by the Chicago School of architects.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission recognizes that commercial requirements may from time to time necessitate alterations to the store fronts on the street level of the Flatiron Building.

By this designation it is not intended to freeze the Flatiron Building in its present state for all time and thus prevent future appropriate alterations at street level. The Commission believes it has the obligation, and indeed, it has the desire, to cooperate with owners of Landmarks who may wish to make changes in their properties to meet their current and future needs.

This attitude reflects the Commission's endorsement of the view that Landmarks are often successfully preserved through active and beneficial use.

The Landmarks Preservation Law contains many provisions relating to changes in Landmarks. The Commission is already working with owners who wish to make changes in their properties. In this connection, the Commission wishes to state at this time that it recognizes that the owner of the Flatiron Building may want to modify its store fronts to suit its tenants' needs.

The Commission looks forward to working with representatives of the owner if and when such exterior alterations are planned.

- From the 1966 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

903 Broadway

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:40:11 -0700

Emilio Guerra posted a photo:

Madison Square, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

Converted Shop & Dwelling

neo-Grec/Modern

ARCHITECT

Unknown/Mok & Sonber

ORIGINAL OWNER John M. Dodd

DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1844/1873/1975

DESCRIPTION

This four-story L-shaped commercial building has frontages on Broadway and 19th street which reflect the changing nature of the development of the district. The twenty-eight-foot wide Broadway facade dates from a remodeling of 1975 and consists of a glass and metal storefront surmounted by an anodized aluminum screen displaying signage for the Dumont Camera Corporation. At 13 East 19th Street the building has a twenty-four-foot wide cast-iron front of the 1870s which remains largely intact save for ground story alterations and the addition of a fire escape. This restrained neo-Grec design employs paneled pilasters to frame the facade, smaller unfluted pilasters surmounted by impost blocks to separate the bays, and simple entablatures decorated with bosses and string courses to set off the individual stories. On the ground story the bays are divided by fluted columns rather than pilasters and the western bay is slightly wider than the others suggesting that it was designed as a freight or carriage entrance. Both the eastern and western bays have been sealed with cinder blocks and modern metal doors have been installed in the center and western bays. A metal security gate extends across the western and center bays. On the upper floors the six-over-six kalamein sash windows date from an alteration of 1915.

Home to the fashionable dry goods firm Edward A. Morrison & Son from 1875-1907, this building is typical of the older commercial buildings in the district which were upgraded when Ladies Mile became a fashionable shopping district in the 1870s. Purchased in 1843 by builder John M. Dodd, this site was first developed with a three-and-a-half-story, fifty-feet-deep, gabled building which fronted on Broadway. From 1844-51 this building was leased to the sculptor Ottaviano Gori who lived and worked there, producing statuary, monuments, fountains, and architectural ornaments including the carvings for one of the most influential buildings of the period, the A.T. Stewart Store of 1845-46. Around 1857 a two-story shop was erected on the 19th Street portion of the lot. Over the next twenty years two additional stories were added to the 19th Street building while the attic story of the Broadway building was taken down and the building was extended twenty-three feet at the rear.

Although it is not known what businesses occupied the buildings during this period, it seems likely that they were of a nature similar to the saloon and kitchen listed at 893 Broadway in the alteration docket of 1870 . In 1873, however, Dodd must have decided to respond to the changing nature of Broadway by adapting his property for a retail tenant. In 1873-74 the two buildings were joined and given matching cast-iron fronts in the then fashionable neo-Grec style.

In 1875 the newly renovated building was leased to Edward A. Morrison & Son, an established drygoods concern which dealt in imported millenery, laces, dress-goods, and trimmings. When Morrison's moved uptown in 1907/08, Lord & Taylor took over 893 Broadway, altering the ground floor storefront on Broadway to match its adjoining building at 895-901 Broadway. In 1915, following Lord & Taylor's move uptown, the building was converted to manufacturing. At that time a fourth story was added to the Broadway wing of the building. The building continued to be used for manufacturing until 1975 when it was taken over by the Dumont Camera Company.

Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:41:55 -0700

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Madison Square, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

Madison Square area, Manhattan

Justly celebrated for its fine proportions, this imposing brownstone structure is an excellent example of the large metropolitan church done in the English Gothic Revival style. It is a pleasing edifice, rugged in character, of substantial construction, and reinforced with large buttresses which give it both durability and permanence.

The lofty nave is expressed in the steep pitched slate roof and the sharp, angular gable of the south elevation facing Twenty-fifth Street. Centered in this gable wall is a large wheel window of impressive size. Directly below and flanked by buttresses, a bold and striking pointed-arch portal, accented with slender columns and graceful arches within its deep reveal, serves as the main entrance to the Cathedral. Three side entrances provide additional access to the nave. The sidewalls of the long nave are pierced by slender pointed-arch windows, nine on each side, and end in a spacious apse of seven bays, topped by an octagonal-shaped slate covered roof.

Adjacent to and contiguous with the chancel, the Clergy House completes the short leg of the L shaped plan of the ensemble. It is picturesque and charming in character with a steep pitched pyramidal roof containing a superb triangular dormer window. A pair of leaded glass, pointed-arch windows pierce the center of the sturdy buttress-supported wall. Completing the ensemble is a fine entrance door topped by an arched molding and a pointed gable.

The Parish House to the east, separated from the church by about forty feet, is a beautiful example of the English Gothic style. Completed about five years later than the Cathedral, it is more flamboyant in character and style. The high pointed-arch leaded glass windows are truly distinctive and contain fine stone tracery. One distinctive feature is the open-arched belfry rising above the gable of the south elevation. Taken together, these buildings make a remarkably homogeneous group.

Consecrated in 1855 as Trinity Chapel to serve the uptown communicants of Trinity Parish, this church, noted for the great length of its nave, was designed by Richard M. Upjohn, the most prominent church architect of his day. It was purchased by the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1945 and renamed the Cathedral of St. Sava.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission recognizes that the Landmarks on the property in question are wholly used for religious and directly related charitable purposes by the Cathedral of St. Sava and that the needs of the Cathedral for such uses may change in the years ahead, entailing alterations in the existing structures.

By this designation of the Landmarks above described and the Landmark Site on which they are located, it is not intended to freeze the structures in their present state or to prevent future appropriate alterations needed to meet changed requirements of use by the Cathedral of St. Sava. The Commission believes it has the obligation and, indeed, it has the desire to cooperate with owners of Landmarks who may wish to make changes in their properties.

The Commission recognizes that the Cathedral of St. Sava may wish to make exterior alterations to its existing buildings. The Commission looks forward to working with the representatives of the Cathedral when the Cathedral desires to make exterior alterations on its existing buildings.

The Commission also recognizes that the Cathedral of St. Sava is currently attempting to rehabilitate the interior of its Parish House, that the Cathedral has complete architectural plans for these interior alterations and that it has raised more than one half of the money needed for the rehabilitation. The Commission appreciates that the officials of the Cathedral are, nevertheless, very concerned that they may not be able to undertake and complete the rehabilitation of the Parish House. The Commission recognizes that if these rehabilitation plans arc not implemented, the Cathedral will be applying to the Commission to make some other use of that part of the Landmark Site. The Commission promises that at all times it will be mindful of the future needs of the Cathedral of St. Sava.

- From the 1968 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

903 Broadway

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:40:45 -0700

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Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:41:42 -0700

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Gramercy Park

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:35:34 -0700

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Gramercy, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

Gramercy Park has always represented a distinct and notable neighborhood in the City of Now York. The Park is a private square, the second and last created in the City; the first, Hudson Square or St. John's Park/ which Trinity Parish laid out, has long since gone. Today the Park, beautifully planted and carefully maintained, is generally restricted to owners; the original deed provides that each of the lot holders has a key.

The Park, originally planned as an attractive inducement for real-estate development early in the nineteenth century, has established the character of more than the square. From the first, it was a residential neighborhood of large houses for prominent people and the glamour of the Park reached out into the nearby streets.

Because it is unique now for its private ark and because of its exceptionally rich heritage of over a century's residential architecture, we propose today the designation of . the Gramercy'. Park Historic District: consisting largely of the Park,, and those streets to the south which have, to an unusual degree, maintained their purely residential use.

Early-History

The history of Gramercy Park dates back to 1831 when Mr. Samuel B. Ruggles, a lawyer and real estate operator, purchased the marshy Crommesshie area from the estate of James Duane, a Revolutionary patriot and first Mayor of New York City after the Revolution.

Ruggles' project involved the creation of 66 lots for a park, which was approximately 520 x 184 feet in extent. It was to be deeded to the owners of the lots that were to surround the enclosed green area. The enclosure consisted of an iron fence with a gate of iron which was built in 1832. The first planting in the park was begun in 1844.

Ruggles was not directly involved in the -construction of the dwellings surrounding the Park. He planned that the area be developed only as a residential neighborhood and that the owners of the. original 66 lota surrounding the Park be responsible for its care and maintenance. Soon after the transfer of the Park to the trustees in the 1840's, some lot owners began to build their handsome houses around the Park. To aid access to the .area, streets to the north and south were cut through, one named Lexington Avenue, in memory of the first battleground for American Independence and Irving Place after Washington Irving. Leading New Yorkers began to move there.

Stuyvesant Fish, a leader of New York society, came there in 1887; Samuel Tilden, a Presidential candidate and a Governor of New York State, lived there from 187L to 1876. James Harper, a Mayor of New York, lived there; and Edwin Booth, the noted actor started the Players Club there in 1888 -where he kept a room for himself for many years.

Architectural Importance

Gramercy Park Historic District is set in the midst of the activity and complexity that is New York. It is a graceful, quiet square surrounded by many nineteenth century structures of true architectural distinction. While many of the original houses have been remodeled, the changes have been made with a certain grandeur; the Players Club was remodeled by Stanford White and the National Arts Club was remodeled from two houses by Calvert Vaux; - . . .

These buildings still have the appearance of fine private houses of over a century ago and blend with the quiet atmosphere of the Park. The square represents an attempt to preserve a bit of nature within the mass of stone which fills the blocks of the City. While skyscrapers in adjacent streets and tall apartment houses were later erected on the north and east sides of the park and have taken the place of many of the original houses, a majority of the square's Anglo-Italianate, Greek Revival and Gothic Revival houses of the nineteenth century remain.

They display much fine ornament with handsome lintels, molded cornices and stately entranceways. The small gardens and planting in front of many of these houses, with their shady trees, unite these structures with the Park. Proper proportion and a sense of human scale allow the individual to feel at homo with these low lying structures and to sense their harmony and elegance.

A district, such as the Gramercy Park Historic District, represents a remarkable cross-section of American architecture covering the wide range of styles which have manifested themselves from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present, over a century of architectural growth and expansion. It tells the story of urban residential development through examples which were among the best produced anywhere in the City for each period.

Buildings in the District

Facing directly on the Park at its western end, are five town houses dating from 1844 to 1850. These structures represent a variety of architectural styles, ranging from Greek Revival, at numbers 3, 4 and 5, with their simple mouldings and decorative cornices to the more ornate Italianate houses at Numbers 1 and 2, with their windows framed in a series of segmental arches. Despite the differences through the remodeling of their architecture, they nevertheless appear as a harmonious group.

This unity results primarily from the uniform height of the buildings, the continuous horizontal accent of their windows, the uniformity of their cornices, extending the entire length of the group, and the sense of age which dominates them all. This element of unity is further enhanced by the use of brick and the fact that they all have three windows in their width.

Recent History

The Gramercy Park Historic District is a unique area in the midst of an immense City. This district is today serene and coherent because it reflects the quietness of a park — and also of another century. It is an area in which the original beauty was so groat that it has boon able to resist, to a remarkable degree, changes which could have destroyed it. Unlike any other district in New York, Gramercy Park, which was planned as a fashionable residential neighborhood, has always remained a fashionable residential neighborhood. The stcac^y march of expensive real estate, always going uptown, skirted around this small oasis, leaving its value intact.

Despite an abortive effort in 1890 and 1912 to .run a cable car route through the Park, connecting Irving Place and Lexington Avenue, and the development of some apartment houses and hotels in the area, the district nevertheless survives as a graceful expression of its time.

On the periphery of. the Gramercy Park Historical District, a busy industrial and commercial area of tall buildings looms up oh the skyline. In spite of changes over the years, the Gramercy Park Historic District still maintains a quiet, withdrawn charm which proves the soundness of its basic plan. This Park, which Samuel Ruggles created in the early nineteenth century, resulted in a residential area which remains viable today, long after the death of the society^ for which it was designed.

Comments on the District

Writing about new York, various authors have commented on the unique character of Gramercy Park.

John B. Pine in his book "The Story of Gramercy Park" published in 1921 said

"The laying out of Gramercy Park represents one of the earliest attempts in this country at 'City Planning'." He added, "As a park given to the prospective owner, of the land surrounding it and held in trust for those who have made their homes around it, Gramercy Park is unique in this City, and perhaps in this country, and represents the only neighborhood, with possibly one exception, which has remained comparatively unchanged for more than eighty years — the Park is one of the City's Landmarks,"

Charlotte Devree, in an article in the New York Times, "Private Life of a Park" , compared the Park to "a Victorian gentleman who has refused to die". She continued, "There is nothing else quite like Gramercy Park in the country. It is the City's only privately owned Park, and there is not another so venerable or so centrally located in any big city."

Theodore Roosevelt House

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:39:35 -0700

Emilio Guerra posted a photo:

Madison Square, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

A handsome row house in the Gothic Revival Style at 28 East 20th Street was the birthplace of President Theodore Roosevelt in 1858. He lived there until his fourteenth year, and the house has been preserved and restored as a memorial to him.

The house has the usual high stoop and paired doors at the entry. An unusual note of elegance is shown in the drawing room windows at first floor level which are full length and open upon a handsome cast iron balcony. All windows and the front door have those special drip mouldings above them which were the hallmark of the Gothic Revival house. All the windows, with the exception of those in the basement, are shuttered and the whole house has a quiet air of restrained dignity. The cornice at the top of the front wall is carried on a continuous series of small arches, a concession to its having been designed in the Gothic Style.

The building was restored and remodeled and now includes the house of Robert Roosevelt adjoining it to the west. Theodore Pope Riddle, a noted woman architect, did the alteration and subordinated the features of the Robert Roosevelt house in order to enhance the importance of Theodore Roosevelt's birthplace. Wing-walls were added at each end where the adjoining buildings project forward, thus helping to retain the brownstone character of the two houses which were preserved.

- From the 1966 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

Gramercy Park South

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:37:02 -0700

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Theodore Roosevelt House

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:38:14 -0700

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Friends Meeting House

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:34:33 -0700

Emilio Guerra posted a photo:

Gramercy, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

The Friends Meeting House is a two-story building with basement. It is a restrained and successful example of Anglo-Italianate architecture. Its calculated restraint and understatement reflect the English component in its design. The building has a handsome fapade with a classic pediment as its dominant feature. The design of all of the individual elements of the structure reflect the work of an architect of special competence. Compared with typical examples of Anglo-Italianate architecture, this building makes an unusually effective architectural statement of outstanding merit.

At the public hearing, the chairman of the trustees of Gramercy Park testified, "This appealing old building, in its very simplicity, its serenity, reflects an outlook, a spiritual attitude which needs to be remembered today.. .windows symbolical in a way of the beliefs and attitudes within, it gives an irreplaceable distinction to the southeastern corner of Gramercy Park."

The retired editor of Architectural Forum Magazine said, "In his modest building, architect John Kellum in 1859 achieved an aesthetic rarity for New York or any other city: not pretentious but direct, reticent, of good proportions and superior in many a more ambitious effort then or now."

- From the 1965 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

Theodore Roosevelt House

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:38:40 -0700

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Gramercy Park South

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:36:04 -0700

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Gramercy Park

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:37:34 -0700

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19 Gramercy Park South

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:34:58 -0700

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Gramercy Park South

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:36:36 -0700

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Theodore Roosevelt House

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:39:09 -0700

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Wheatsworth Bakery Building

nobody@flickr.com (Emilio Guerra) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:28:04 -0700

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Alphabet City, Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

Summary

The Wheatsworth Bakery Building was constructed in 1927-28 to the designs of J. Edwin Hopkins, a specialist in the design of industrial bakeries. This Art Deco/Viennese Secessionist style factory building features a granite base, light-colored iron-spot brick, large multi-pane pivot steel windows and polychrome terra-cotta friezes with green circles at the base and the parapet. The linear ornamentation of the terra cotta friezes with their restrained, geometric designs is characteristic of this style of architecture. The door surrounds at either end contain terra cotta panels with images of bundles of wheat stalks.

The brick façade and large multi-pane steel windows are standard features of factory buildings of the era; however, the elaborate decorative terra cotta distinguishes this building from typical factory buildings of the 1920s. The building was built by Wheatsworth, Inc., the manufacturer of whole wheat biscuits and flour and inventor of the Milk-Bone dog biscuit. The company was formed under the name F.H. Bennett Biscuit Company in 1907 by Thomas L. and Frederick H. Bennett to market whole wheat products. Wheatsworth was a successful food manufacturer with plants in Manhattan and Hamburg, New Jersey. According to the New York Times, the new factory, which was built adjacent to their existing Manhattan plant, would triple the capacity of the company’s baking activities. National Biscuit Company acquired Wheatsworth in 1931.

The company, now known as Nabisco, sold the rights to the Milk-Bone dog biscuit in 2006 but continues to make Wheatsworth Crackers. This area of the East Village near the river was an industrial area populated with gas works, coal yards, iron works, ice companies, mills and factories. Most of these industrial facilities have been replaced by residential housing, including several public housing complexes, a public pool and parking garages. The Wheatsworth Bakery Building is one of the few remaining industrial buildings in the far East Village. Architect J. Edwin Hopkins designed another bakery factory in 1930 for the Van de Kamp’s Holland Dutch Bakery in Los Angeles.

The East Village

The Wheatsworth Bakery is located in the East Village of Manhattan which consists of the section from Avenue A east to Avenue D and from 14th Street to Houston Street. The East Village is part of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a term used as an umbrella for a number of different neighborhoods with complex, overlapping and interconnected histories. The bakery occupies a lot on the south side of East 10th Street between Avenues C and D, two blocks to the east of Tompkins Square Park. The park was named for Daniel D. Tompkins, governor of New York and vice president of the United States under President James Monroe and a prominent abolitionist. During the first half of the nineteenth century, brick and brownstone residences were developed along the east side of the park and the Tompkins Square area was populated by workers and middle class shop owners, while the industrial areas closer to the East River contained gas works, coal yards, iron works, ice companies, mills and factories.

Most of these industrial facilities have been replaced by residential housing, including several public housing complexes, a public pool and parking garages.

The Lower East Side has always been home to poor immigrant groups seeking labor in the industrial city. Beginning with the first construction of tenement buildings in the 1840s, the bulk of the population was made up of Irish Catholics working in the shipbuilding and construction trades. Later in the nineteenth century, the population became mostly German, a group that dominated the area into the twentieth century. The northern section of the Lower East Side, east of the Bowery and north of Division Street, became known as Kleindeutschland, Little Germany, Dutchtown, or Deutschlandle. From the late 1840s to 1860, “another hundred thousand Germans fleeing land shortages, unemployment, famine, and political and religious oppression” joined their countrymen who had already made it to America. The community overflowed the area near City Hall, where they previously lived, and established a new neighborhood whose boundaries expanded north to 18th Street and east to the East River.

By 1880, the German-speaking population of Kleindeutschland exceeded 250,000 making up approximately one-quarter of the city’s population and becoming one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the world.

In 1904 more than 1,000 of the area’s residents died in the burning of the General Slocum, an excursion steamboat. Following the tragic accident, many of the remaining German residents moved out of the area. Italian, Eastern European, Russian, and Jewish immigrants replaced the German residents and made the neighborhood their own. After World War Two, an influx of residents from Puerto Rico and Caribbean countries increased the area’s Latino population, mixing with an influx of artists that began around the same time. By the late twentieth century, a more affluent population began to arrive and displace the existing residents. This gentrification continues into the present.

Although there has been some recent new construction, many of the nineteenth and early twentieth century masonry row houses and tenements, built for the masses of immigrants then arriving in New York, still line the neighborhood’s streets. The remaining late-nineteenth, early-twentieth century Greek Orthodox churches, Catholic churches, and Jewish synagogues suggest the historic diversity of the area.

A few important buildings evoke earlier eras and have been designated as New York City Landmarks: The New York Public Library, Tompkins Square Branch at 310 East 10th Street ; First Houses ; the Charlie Parker House, 151 Avenue B ; the Children’s Aid Society, Tompkins Square Lodging House for Boys and Industrial School, 296 East 8th Street ; and Public School 64, 605 East 9th Street . Amid this neighborhood of tenements, the large scale Wheatsworth Bakery represents a significant civic presence and one of the few remaining industrial buildings in the far East Village.

History of Wheatsworth, Inc.

The bakery building was built for the F.H. Bennett Biscuit Co., which changed its company name to Wheatsworth, Inc. during construction of the building. The company was formed in 1907 by Thomas L. and Frederick H. Bennett to market whole wheat products, which they considered to be more healthful than those made from white flour. The company’s first factory was located at 138 Avenue D , around the corner from the East 10th Street bakery. The company’s facilities soon expanded to a group of buildings on the west side of Avenue D, across the street from its headquarters and adjacent to the property the company would acquire for its new factory in the 1920s.

Besides having formulated the company’s signature Wheatsworth crackers, which are still being produced, Bennett also invented the Milk-Bone dog biscuit in 1908. Originally called the Maltoid, the biscuit was a bone-shaped treat made from minerals, meat products, and milk. The name was changed to Milk-Bone sometime between 1915 and 1926, owning to the high composition of cow’s milk. The Milk-Bone was eventually expanded to include different flavors, and its marketing focus was shifted from its being merely a dog treat to a product that promoted cleaner teeth and better breath. The company also manufactured and distributed whole-wheat flour. Bennett’s success in the 1910s and 20s resulted in the expansion of the company’s Manhattan plant and the addition of a mill and amusement park located in Hamburg, New Jersey.

The first wholesale bakeries in New York City appeared in the mid-nineteenth century, delivering their goods by horse and wagon to grocery stores. The first successful firms included Holmes and Coutts, the Purssell’s Manufacturing Company, and the S.B. Thomas Company, which introduced English muffins. Later in the century, the number of commercial bakeries increased along with the city’s population, which included a growing number of immigrants from eastern and southern Europe, many of whom found employment in the baking plants. By the 1890s, the business was characterized by mergers and trusts, with the New York Biscuit Company, formed from eight bakeries already dominating baking in the city, merging in 1898 with the even bigger National Biscuit Company , the Midwestern American Biscuit Company, itself the result of the merger of forty midwestern bakeries, and the smaller United States Baking Company.

Also known at the time as N.B.C., the National Biscuit Company held a virtual monopoly on cookie and cracker manufacturing in the United States with its 114 bakeries. The company continued to grow and acquire independent bakeries, such as Wheatsworth, during the twentieth century. Now known as Nabisco Foods, the company continues to be a leading manufacturer of baked goods and has expanded to include other food products. By 1900, there were nearly 2,500 bakeries in New York City, most of which were small retail shops serving the neighborhoods, while N.B.C. monopolized commercial baking.

By the 1920s, innovations were made in baking technology, and many firms became manufacturers of baking ovens and machines. Some of the best-known brands of bread and cakes were made in the city, such as Tip-Top Bread, Wonder Bread, and Hostess cakes. Other large baking concerns included the Continental Baking Company , Dugan Brothers , Silver Cup Bread , Fink Baking, and the General Baking Company.

The F.H. Bennett Company’s main product was its line of Wheatsworth whole wheat biscuits, produced for human consumption, which the company heavily advertised in the 1920s. The crackers were so well-received by consumers that the directors of the company decided to change its name to Wheatsworth, Inc., “to capitalize the good-will attached to the name,” when the company began offering its stock to the public. At the same time, the company began an expansion campaign, announcing the construction of a new factory on East 10th Street in Manhattan adjoining its existing plant. According to the New York Times, the new factory would triple the capacity of the company’s baking activities.

Negotiations for the acquisition of Wheatsworth, Inc., by the National Biscuit Company commenced in late 1930. The purchase, which was completed in January 1931, included the entirety of Wheatsworth’s product line and assets, including its Wheatsworth crackers and Milk-Bone dig biscuits, as well as its Manhattan plants and Hamburg mill including the Gingerbread Castle Amusement Park. Nabisco, now a subsidiary of Kraft Foods, sold the rights to the Milk-Bone dog biscuit to Del Monte in 2006 but continues to make Wheatsworth Crackers. It closed the Lower East Side facility in 1957.

Design and Construction of the Wheatsworth Bakery Building

On May 23, 1927, the F.H. Bennett Biscuit Company filed plans at the New York City Buildings Department for a new seven-story, fireproof bakery factory at 444 East 10th Street, located adjacent to its existing Lower East Side facility at the southwest corner of Avenue D and East 10th Street. The site of the new building was previously occupied by three one- to four-story brick dwellings. To design its new factory, which would be constructed of reinforced concrete, the company engaged a local architect, J. Edwin Hopkins, who was considered an expert in the design of bakery plants. Hopkins chose a subdued interpretation of the Art Deco/Viennese Secessionist style, featuring a granite base, light-colored iron spot brick, large multi-pane pivot steel windows, and polychrome terra-cotta friezes at the base and parapet. The Turner Construction Company of New York, experts in the construction of reinforced concrete structures, was the builder.

Founded in 1902, the company erected several of New York City’s largest concrete buildings and complexes, including Bush Terminal in Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Army Terminal . The company soon gained a worldwide reputation that it continues to enjoy today.

Hopkins’ elegant, modern design is characterized by large expanses of glass formed by wide, rectangular window openings at the five center bays and recessed sash at the projecting end bays. The linear ornamentation of the terra cotta friezes above the second and seventh stories with their restrained, geometric designs is indicative of the Art Deco style, while the vertical emphasis of its projecting piers and abstracted sculptural forms are indicative the Seccessionist-inspired architecture being popularized in New York City by Hopkins’ contemporaries Ely Jacques Kahn and Robert D. Kohn.

While certain contemporary and later observers of American architecture were dismissive of its “modernism” in the first three decades of the 20th century, particularly in contrast to Europe, others have studied those trends that together forged a distinctly American modern architecture by the end of the 1920s. Among such trends were the unadorned, economical designs for many commercial and utilitarian structures, such as warehouses and “daylight” factories; and the searches for an “American style,” the appropriate style or appearance for a particular building, with or without historicist references, and an appropriate architectural expression of function. Eliel Saarinen’s widely noted second-place-winning entry in the Chicago Tribune Company’s architectural competition of 1922 is widely considered to have marked a turning point away from historicist styles for tall buildings. As observed in 1984 by Deborah F. Pokinski, in her published dissertation:

The Development of the American Modern Style, between 1922 and 1929, awakened by the unprecedented stylistic quality of Saarinen’s Tribune Competition design, American architects became more attuned to the demands of modernity and increasingly conscious of the urgent need to have their architecture appear up-to-date; they became preoccupied with the question of how their newest architecture should look.

Among the earliest New York skyscrapers that reflected this attempt at modern design were the American Radiator Building , 40 West 40th Street, and Barclay-Vesey Building , 140 West Street. A modern or “skyscraper” style emerged in New York in the 1920s, characterized by its vertical emphasis, sculptural massing, setbacks in response to the 1916 Zoning Resolution, and ornament subordinated to the overall mass.

Pokinski further observed that during the 1920s “Americans considered a variety of styles to be modern,” and that the terms “modern” and “modernism” were used inconsistently, the former generally having a more neutral connotation, while the latter often connoted advanced or radical design. In the 1920s, the interest in abstraction and simplification of architectural forms, and the accompanying use of blank wall surface that contrasted with concentrated areas of flat decoration, embraced such stylistic trends as modern Classicism and what was later termed Art Deco.

J. Edwin Hopkins, Architect

J. Edwin Hopkins was raised in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn and earned his architectural degree in 1906 from the University of Pennsylvania. He was a finalist in the Society of Beaux Arts Architects’ Paris Prize competition in 1908, at which time he was working in the offices of architect Louis Jallade. In 1910, Hopkins opened his own architectural business on Havemeyer Street in Brooklyn not far from his parents’ Hewes Street home, where he continued to reside into the 1920s. Hopkins moved the office to Manhattan in 1912, but by the 1920s, he was associated with The McCormick Company, Inc., planners of bakery plants with offices in New York and Pittsburgh. The McCormick Company was the architect of record for the A.Goodman & Sons Bakery, located at 634-640 East 17th Street , which was built in c.1923. By the 1930s, Hopkins was president of the company, which employed architects and engineers.

Around the turn of the twentieth century, architecture and engineering firms specializing in the design and construction of industrial buildings relating to particular industries, such as textiles, tool manufacturing, automobiles, and baking, were being established in the United States and elsewhere. These firms offered complete planning of industrial plants from conception to operation, including “location selection, site layout, plant design, construction supervision, and equipment installation.” At their most sophisticated, the firms employed architects, engineers, appraisers, economists, and business counselors, and acquired the expertise to serve many different industries, while others, such as The McCormick Company, developed specialized niches in particular industries.

Hopkins’ interest and expertise in the design of bakeries is possibly due to his upbringing as a baker’s son. His father, John Hopkins, established his own baking business in the early 1900s, after having been employed as a baker for many years in the hotel industry in New York. The younger Hopkins was also known to have designed the Van de Kamp’s Holland Dutch Bakery in Los Angeles, as well as bakeries in Canada, Russia, and Bermuda. Later, Hopkins and his family resided in Woodhaven, Queens. He retired from practice in 1956, at which time he had opened an independent office. At the time of his death in 1963, he was living in Newtown, Connecticut.

Subsequent History

According the records held by Krafts Foods, Inc., the eventual repository of the records of Wheatsworth, the company’s Lower East Side plant’s main product was the popular Milk-Bone dog biscuit, which was also made mainly of wheat, although other Wheatsworth products were also produced there over the years. There were a series of minor interior alterations in the 1930s and 40s, consisting mainly of code work; in addition, new windows opening were created in the minor elevations of the building in 1934 and 1944. Additional code-related work took place on the interior during the 1950s, and 60s. At some point between about 1940 and the mid 1980s, the second-story windows on the main facades were sealed, as were some of the windows at the first story. There have also been some changes to the entryways and shipping bays. The present signage was installed in 2003.

In 1957, Milk Bone production was moved out of the East 10th Street plant to Buffalo, New York, and the bakery building was shut down. Nabisco sold the property in 1958 to investors, and the building experienced a number of subsequent ownerships and occupants over the years, including General Glass Industries, Inc., Columbia University, and the City of New York. The building is now a public storage warehouse.

Description

The Art Deco/Viennese Secessionist style Wheatsworth Bakery Building is seven stories high and features a two-story base clad in granite at its lower quarter, light-colored iron-spot brick, large multi-pane pivot steel windows, and multi-colored terra cotta detailing made up of restrained, linear geometric designs. The building, which is seven bays wide, features grouped fenestration in a regularized grid, recessed behind shallow brick piers at the five center bays above the second story.

Each window opening has a projecting, cast-concrete sill , a shallow reveal, and a steel lintel supporting a soldier course. The end bays, which are set off by wider brick piers, display paired fenestration separated by flush columns made of brick, all of which sit upon shared, projecting cast-concrete sills , and which are topped by continuous soldier courses from the third through the sixth story. The windows at the end bays of the seventh story have steel lintels and segmental relieving arches outlined by radiating brick. The multi-story brick piers have terra-cotta blocks at both ends, as well as stylized terracotta decorations consisting of geometrical reliefs of circles in squares topped by blocks and vertical rectangular panels above flush terra-cotta blocks and rows of header bricks .

The seventh story is surmounted by a band of molded terra-cotta blocks containing raised circles and recessed hash marks. The band, which is interrupted by the building’s piers, curves at the end bays, following the contours of the relieving arches.

The two-story base contains three freight entrances, pedestrian entryways in the end bays, and two altered bays on the western side. The freight entrance bays have non-historic steel roll-up gates and a continuous box awning that extends to the two altered bays to the west. The two-bay pedestrian entryways sit within slightly-projecting frontispieces featuring paneled terra-cotta pilasters with images of bundles of wheat stalks, stylized metopes at the center pilaster, and a molded crown with dentils.

The top of the frontispieces serve as continuous window sills for the second story, end-bay windows. The openings are filled with non-historic metal or metal/glass doors and sash, topped by box awnings. The original transoms have been filled in with louvered vents in the east frontispiece and cement stucco surfaces with linear moldings in the west frontispiece. The altered bays, which may have originally been freight entrances that had been altered with brick walls and fenestration by the late 1930s, are now sealed at the locations of the windows with cement-stucco surfaces with linear moldings. One of these bays has an applied, backlit sign. The first story also has a number of standpipes, vents, security lamps, alarm boxes, and electrical conduits. All of the second-story windows have been sealed with cement-stucco surfaces with linear moldings. Applied synthetic lettering is stretched across the five center bays.

The second story is surmounted by row of soldier course brick, following the contours of the façade, which is interspersed at each pilaster by a single terra-cotta block. The entire base is topped by a prominent terra-cotta crown, featuring a paneled frieze filled with outlined circles, acroterion, and stylized metopes.

The roof parapet is composed of flush brick walls topped by terra-cotta coping blocks. The parapet projects slightly, becoming stepped and segmental at the end bays and are back-filled with radiating brickwork made up of rows of soldier courses topped by header bricks. The entire parapet has been re-pointed, as have smaller sections of the upper part of the façade. The east elevation, which includes a bulkhead for either a stirway or elevator, is coated with cement stucco. The reinforced concrete support structure of the building and infill brick are visible on its west elevation, which is coated with appears to be either a thick application of paint or a thin covering of cement stucco.

The outlines of now-sealed lot line windows with projecting sills are visible on the west elevation. There are several brick bulkheads at the roofline.

- From the 2008 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

Wheatsworth Bakery Building

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Wheatsworth Bakery Building

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Wheatsworth Bakery Building

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