The 1888 Fairchild Publishing Bldg - 10 East 13th Street

 

photograph by the author

Although the millionaires of lower Fifth Avenue had already begun moving northward by 1887, the news that John Glass intended to erect a six-story "brick warehouse" at 6 through 10 East 13th Street, just steps from the storied thoroughfare, must have shocked many.  Glass had hired 43-year-old architect Gilbert A. Schellenger to design the structure.  On February 4, 1888, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that the project would cost Glass $75,000--or about $2.6 million in 2026.  Construction was completed by the end of the year, and in December Glass sold the building to Eugene A. Hoffman, garnering a satisfying profit.  Hoffman paid $170,000 for the new building.

Schellenger had created an industrial take on the Renaissance Revival style.  Faced in red brick above a cast iron base, the midsection was divided into three three-bay-wide sections by full-height piers.  A Tuscan inspired arched corbel table ran below the sixth floor.  Schellenger compensated for the stoic appearance of the lower floors with ornate terra cotta ornaments, a frieze with a robust chain motif, and a crenelated parapet.

photograph by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Hoffman sold the property to the Butterick Publishing Company in 1896.  The firm was a household name among American housewives.  In 1863, Ebenezer Butterick had created the first graded sewing patterns, and three years later his sewing machine company began making women's dress patterns.  In 1867, he published the first issue of the Ladies Quarterly of Broadway Fashions.  The business became an enormous success with 100 branch offices in the United States and Canada.

Butterick Publishing Company hired architect Lansing C. Holden to make renovations at a cost of $30,000.  The alterations apparently affected only the interiors.  Court documents later explained that the building was "used and occupied as a storage warehouse [and] at no such times manufacturing or printing machinery was installed, operated or used therein."

On March 1, 1905, Butterick Publishing Company leased the building to the Carey Printing Company, also known as The Carey Press.  Founded in 1898 by Peter M. Carey, the firm specialized in posters, advertising materials and weekend newspaper supplements.  On December 10, 1906, for instance, Walden's Stationer and Printer reported, "The Cary [sic] Printing Company, 6 East Thirteenth street, is printing a very handsome calendar for the new year, which will be worked by the three color process."

The Burr McIntosh Monthly, December, 1908 (copyright expired)

Employees of The Carey Press were union members, a wise decision by the firm's management during the a time of tense labor relations.  In its April 1912 issue, The Typographical Journal reported about the contract Vechten-Waring Company, "a non-union printing firm," had landed with Crerand's Publications, including Crerand's Cloak Journal.  The article said that Vechten-Waring's superintendent had boasted "of his ability to turn out work with any kind of workmen."  That contract was short-lived.  The Typographical Journal said, "The first essay at the job was so rotten that the Crerand people canceled the contract and turned the work over to the Carey Press...a first-class union office."

In the spring of 1914, The Carey Printing Company merged with Friedman Print and moved to Tenth Avenue.  Two years later, on December 2, 1916, the Record & Guide reported that Butternick Publishing had sold 6-10 East 13th Street to Fairchild Brothers.  "The property will be altered for the purposes of the purchasers," said the article.

Fairchild Brothers was founded in 1892 by Edmund, Arthur and Louis E. Fairchild.  In 1910, it published the first issue of Women's Wear Daily, a trade journal that would become a must-read for businessmen and designers involved in the fashion business.  The American Printer explained, "Its volume of business having increased with remarkable consistency, a larger plant was made necessary, hence the purchase of the Butterick building."

A month after buying the building, on January 6, 1917, the Record & Guide reported that Fairchild Press had hired architect Charles E. Birge to make $50,000 in renovations.  The figure would translate to a staggering $1.3 million today.  As was the case with the Butterick Publishing remodeling, the changes were all inside.

On February 5, 1917, The American Printer reported that the former Butterick Building was "being completely remodeled," adding "The entire structure will be occupied by the Fairchild Press, printers of the Women's Wear and Daily News, daily trade papers, and the Men's Wear Director."

An all-male staff works in the editorial offices, while all-female typists work in another part of the Fairchild Publishing building.  photos by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Fairchild Publications operated from East 13th Street for three decades before the firm's astonishing success necessitated larger quarters.  On January 30, 1946, The New York Times reported, "Plans for a printing plant at 3-9 East Twelfth Street and 6-10 East Thirteenth Street to cost $1,000,000 were filed yeterday...by Fairchild Press, Inc."  Those plans were not entirely fulfilled and Fairchild moved to East 12th Street and 6-10 East 13th Street was spared.

The building became home to Bruns, Kimball & Co., distributors of yachts, marine engines and motorboats.   It was established in 1900 and heretofore been operating steps away at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 13th Street.

Yachting Magazine, 1932

On January 10, 1947, The New York Sun reported on Bruns, Kimball & Co.'s "twenty-six-foot Marlin sport fishing cruiser."  The article said it was "among the first of the post-war boats to be produced in quantity" adding:

The Marlin, in addition to being at the motor boat show, also is on exhibit at the Bruns Kimball & Co. display rooms, 10 East 13th street, along with a fleet of other cruisers, fishing boats, sailboats, outboards and dinghies.  Kermath inboard engines also are displayed, as they have been for the past thirty-five years that the firm has represented the manufacturers.

Motorboats and yachts were replaced by bicycles by the mid-1970s.  The Stuyvesant Bicycle shop now occupied the ground floor.  It added an innovative item to its stock in 1977, a "roller" that enabled apartment owners to transform their  regular bikes to stationary bicycles.

Stuyvesant Bicycle and the other tenants in the building would have to find new accommodations in 1979 when a renovation began to convert 6-10 East 13th Street to residences.  While preserving its cast iron pilasters, the ground floor was given a modern re-do.  Platform-like balconies were added to the facade and the parapet removed.  

image via miradorrealestate.com