image via redesignarchitects.com
Architect James Edwin Ruthven Carpenter, Jr. (who went professionally as J. E. R. Carpenter) was three years old than his brother, real estate developer James H Carpenter. The two collaborated on several significant Manhattan structures, and in 1930, just months after the Stock Market crash, they embarked on another: a 42-story, $2 million office building at the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and 53rd Street. (The construction cost would translate to $41.2 million in 2026.)
Completed in 1931, J. E. R. Carpenter's Gothic-inspired Art Deco pile was faced in gray brick above a three-story limestone base. The deeply recessed entrance, flanked with storefronts, sat below a bronze-and-glass marquee and was framed by a gold-veined stone arch, carved with Gothic motifs.
The groined Gothic-style ceiling of the lobby can be glimpsed. photo by Carole Teller
Terra cotta Gothic tracery sat atop the openings of the third floor, and cast Gothic-style spandrel panels decorated the upper facade. Setbacks began at the 14th floor, rising to an offset tower.
photograph by Americasroof
Opened in October 1931, the building quickly drew advertising and publishing firms. Among the first tenants were the offices of the Plumbers Trade Journal, Spur Publishing Company (which occupied the 11,000-square-foot 13th floor), Outlook Publishing Company, and Advertising Digest.
An interesting tenant was The Blue Cockade. On May 10, 1932, The New York Times explained it was "a recently formed organization favoring repeal of the prohibition amendment." The membership was different from other anti-Prohibition groups. A representative told The Times, "Several department stores in the city have been organized '100 per cent' in membership in The Blue Cockade."
Real estate agent Jules Spiegel opened his "well-furnished" office here in August 1933. Just days later, the 40-year-old was taken out in handcuffs. The New York Times reported that he, "looked back wistfully as he departed with the detectives," adding, "The last thing he saw in his office as he closed the door was a large floral horseshoe. It bore the inscription 'Success.'"
Spiegel had been accused by Frank Nagel of larceny. He told authorities that he had paid $225 to Spiegel in his "luxuriously furnished office" here as security for a rent collector's job. It was a significant amount in the Depression years, and Nagel got neither the job nor his money back. As it turned out, Nagel was only one of several victims. The assistant district attorney revealed in court that Spiegel "had swindled many others by the same means in the last ten years."
Among the tenants of the storefronts as early as 1933 was the Michaelyan Galleries. It held an exhibition of Oriental rugs that November, assembled from the collection of the Textile Museum of Washington and from H. Michaeylan's personal collection.
A much more controversial tenant at the time was the Second Spanish Republic Consulate. The government had been formed on April 14, 1931 after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII. In 1933, a "revolutionary uprising" by Spanish Socialists was put down and the rebels imprisoned. It sparked a backlash among some Americans.
On October 10, 1934, The New York Times reported that "about 200 men and women stalked and shouted for an hour yesterday afternoon demonstrating their support of the Spanish revolt," and on November 24, 1934, The Daily Worker reported that the Young Communist League had called for "mass picketing to demand the release of the imprisoned Socialist and Communist workers of Spain" in front of 515 Madison Avenue that day.
Another sometimes controversial tenant at the time was the New York State Birth Control Federation. Two years later, on May 14, 1936, the formation of the National Medical Council on Birth Control was announced here.
Theatrical producer Jules Alberti operated from 515 as early as 1934. On the afternoon of January 23, 1935, 23-year-old John Days, Jr. entered the office, "brandished a pistol and demanded $1,000," according to The New York Times. The article described Days as "a WPA worker" and said his wife had formerly worked as a domestic servant in Alberti's home.
At gunpoint, Alberti was forced to make out a promissory note for the money. He promised to meet Day at the corner of 54th Street and Lexington at 7:00 that evening to give him "an installment." Not surprisingly, when Day showed up, two detectives were waiting for him.
More turmoil within the Spanish Consulate was to come. In 1936, civil war resulted in the overthrow of the government and the installation of General Francisco Franco as the country's ruler. On August 6, 1936, The New York Times reported that the consul, Felix de Iturriaga had been replaced "because he apparently was 'not in sympathy' with the present Spanish Government." And six months later, on January 13, 1937, the new consul, Luis Careaga, announced that the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce was "no longer authorized." He told reporters that the functions of the chamber would now be exercised at 515 Madison Avenue.
As early as 1936, the burgeoning television industry was represented in 515 Madison Avenue by The Television Corporation of America. It was joined by the Allen B. Dumont Laboratories, Inc., "manufacturers of television equipment." In 1938, Dumont installed a broadcasting antenna on the building and in May 1939 The New York Times reported it would erect an "outdoor studio" for "the transmission of tele-pictures." The article said it "will be equipped on a setback of the building to receive the benefit of daylight. It will be roofed with glass so that inclement weather will not interfere with the schedule."
Licensing of the Dumont Laboratories television station was granted in April 1940. Later that year, the station made history. On November 10, The New York Times reported:
Television has just played with honor and acclaim its most striking role in America's greatest political show. Last Tuesday it took its place alongside that more mature trouper of twenty-odd years of Presidential elections, the microphone.
According to the article, "nearly 4,000 television sets were in use," as the results of the Presidential election came in.
The firm's visible presence here gave the building its nickname, the Dumont Building. The following January, the Allen B. Dumont Laboratories, Inc. demonstrated a "625 line definition" receiver here that produced enhanced clarity to the image. The firm made history again that year by initiating "commercial" television. The New York Times reported on May 11, "The DuMont station will specialize in outside pick-ups, such as baseball and football games and events."
As turmoil swept Europe, the newly-formed American First Committee took space here in 1941. Perhaps its most visible member was Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh. He made an appeal in April "to keep the United States out of the war." In response, 3,000 membership applications were received the next day. "Each member is required to subscribe to a declaration that he has no affiliation with any foreign power," noted The New York Times on April 25.
On June 16, 1941, the Government closed the United States consulates in Germany. The Anti-Nazi League reacted, "It's about time. The league has long advocated just such a course." The New York Times reported, "The America First Committee, 515 Madison Avenue, declined to make any statement."
The Dumont Television Laboratories continued to break ground. On September 30, 1943, it announced it had teamed with Police Headquarters. "Pictures of missing persons will be broadcast over [the] television system," reported The New York Times. And on November 5 that year, the newspaper said, "When Senator Robert F. Wagner goes on the air at 8:15 o'clock tonight over Station WABD, it will be the first time in the history of the nation that a candidate for major public office has used television as a means of appealing for votes on election day."
In 1945, with the war ended, the Society for the Prevention of World War III, Inc. established an office here. And resumption of protests against the Franco regime resumed. On March 3, 1946, The New York Times reported on the 700 pickets outside, "demanding that the United States sever diplomatic relations with Franco Spain."
On May 18, 1950, the Dumont Laboratories announced the "invention of an all-color all-electronic direct-view television tube." And while the headquarters continued to operate from 515 Madison Avenue, in December 1951 it announced the opening of its "$4,000,000 Tele-Centre" at 205 East 67th Street. The seven-story structure would house five studios. In the move, the WABD antenna was removed and relocated to the Empire State Building. The headquarters in the Dumont Building was now named the Dumont Television Company.
In 1958, the former Dumont rooftop station became home to the Columbia University WKCR-FM radio station. It would remain until 1977.
The Dumont Building was sold in May 1962 to Aaron Rabinowitz, chairman of the board of the Fred F. French Management Company. The New York Times reported that he purchased it "for family investment."
Among the tenants at the time was the national headquarters of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, founded in 1912. It held an annual awards dinner on January 31, 1963 in Washington D.C. where it awarded President John F. Kennedy its America's Democratic Legacy Award, established in 1948.
An alarming incident occurred here on September 21, 1974. Brothers Caro and Isaac Yarnaoka ran the jewelry business, Caro Yamaoka Company, on the 13th floor. Just after noon that day, two males posing as deliverymen entered. They "drew guns, handcuffed the owner, his brother and an employee and escaped with about $150,000 in pearls," according to police. The heist would equal more than $950,000 today.
image via marketplace.vts.com
The renovations to the ground floor of 515 Madison Avenue--always the first to be brutalized--have been made with some sympathy to the 1931 architecture, and the magnificent entrance is beautifully intact. The building's "stepped-back shape," was was described by The New York Times architectural critic Paul Goldberger on February 8, 1987, "a genial eclectic relic from the 1920's."
many thanks to artist Carole Teller for suggesting this post
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