Louis A. Abramson's 1927 145 East 32nd Street

photograph by Carole Teller

The Ivy Construction Company demolished the vintage buildings at 145 through 151 East 32nd Street, just east of Lexington Avenue, in 1925.  The developers hired Louis A. Abramson to design a 13-story "brick stores and loft building" upon the plot.  Construction was completed two years later at a cost of $450,000, or about $8.34 million in 2026.  The developer had no intention of being a landlord and on August 1, 1927, the New York Evening Post reported that the Ivy Construction Company, Inc. had sold the building to "the newly formed 145 East Thirty-second Street Corporation."

The structure was faced in beige brick above a two-story limestone base.  Abramson's modern profile of setbacks started at the ninth floor, where they flanked a three-story  section with angled sides.  The architect's 1927 design had its roots in 15th century English motifs.  Square-headed drip moldings below the third floor wrapped terra cotta heraldic shields.  The upper floors were decorated with hooded niches, presumably intended for statues, reeded panels and heraldic emblems.

photograph by Carole Teller

The building drew tenants from various industries.  Among the earliest included Max Engerow, a fabrics dealer; the A. C. M. Embroidery Company; Van Blerk Furniture Company; and W E C O Pharmaceutical Laboratories.  Perhaps less expected tenants were Hunter College and Hunter High School. 

Hunter College (formerly Normal College) sat on the block between Park and Lexington Avenues and 68th to 69th Street.  It shared space with Hunter High School.  But the 1873 complex could not accommodate the 20th century enrollment.  The overflow of the institutions were taught in rented floors within 145 East 32nd Street.

Matriculation in an industrial building had, of course, serious drawbacks.  Hunter solved the problem with a modern structure.  On September 27, 1938, the Staten Island Advance reported that the approximately 1,500 girl students attending Hunter High School here would be moving to "a new 16-story building which will be erected on the site of the old college building at Park avenue and 68th street."  

Another non-industrial tenant was the National Youth Administration.  As part of his sweeping Depression Era Works Progress Administration, Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the program to provide education and work for Americans between 16 and 25 years of age.  

A recruitment poster offered opportunities for young women and men.

Young people who participated in the program were eligible for jobs within cooperating organizations.  Those included the New York Urban League, Selective Service Boards, Department of Welfare offices and the New York City Housing Authority.

The National Youth Administration's Manhattan operation was enlarged in 1941.  On August 23, The New York Age reported that the NYA Harlem offices were being transferred to the 32nd Street location.  "This consolidation will insure better service for the young men and women of the Harlem area as HYA Headquarters houses the Consultation and special divisions maintained by the NYA for its youth," said the article.

Among the areas available to the participants, according to The New York Age on May 9, 1942, were "Radio Communications, Photography, and Commercial Silk Screen Work/Projects."

As early as 1944, the National Jewish Welfare Board occupied space here.  Founded in 1917, it oversaw the national activities of the Young Women's Hebrew Association, the Young Men's Hebrew Association and Jewish Community Centers.  The 1952 Handbook of Facts on Women Workers explained:

It is also the recognized Jewish community agency for meeting the religious, welfare, and moral needs of Jewish personnel in the armed forces, and its a constituent agency of the United Services Organizations (USO).

The National Jewish Welfare Board received a shipment of poignant items in the summer of 1946.  On July 15, The New York Times reported that the organization's Committee on Army and Navy Religious Activities "took temporary custody yesterday of 105 Jewish religious objects that had been stolen by the Nazis from synagogues they destroyed in Germany."  The stash, which included objects of bronze, brass and silver, had been discovered "by chance" in Nuremberg, said the article, which added, "The committee will decide the permanent disposition of the objects."

photograph by Carole Teller

Another branch of the NJWB was established in 1948.  On September 1, 1948, The New York Times reported "Ten executives in the field of Jewish social work received yesterday the first certificates to be issued by the Jewish Communal Service Training Bureau."  The article said that the social workers had completed a 15-month course "including nine months of supervised placement work."  

Around 1954 the National Jewish Music Council also shared space here, and in 1962 the Zionist Organization of America was listed in the building.  The National Jewish Welfare Board remained at 145 East 32nd Street until around January 1968, when it moved to East 26th Street.  

Perhaps the first engineering firm to move in was Barr & Barr, here prior to midcentury.  The firm was responsible for erecting the British and French Buildings in Rockefeller Center, the Centre Theatre, and Time and Life Building.

Other construction and engineering firms occupying space here in the 1950s and '60s included Bogert & Childs; Maganaro, Martin and Lincoln; and Lev Zitiln Associations, Inc.

In December 1959, the furniture manufacturing firm Baumritter Corporation leased the first three floors for its showroom and sales office.  In 2004, the upper floors were converted to medical offices.  The end of the furniture showrooms came with a renovation initiated in 2011.  It resulted in the entire building being used by medical facilities.

many thanks to artist Carole Teller for suggesting this post