The 1927 Fred F. French Building - 551 Fifth Avenue

 

image via akatsuki-d.com

Born in 1883 the child of a single mother, Fred Fillmore French grew up in poverty in the Bronx.  The New York Times would recall, "Still a child, he peddled papers, ran errands, washed windows, and mowed lawns."  By the early 1920s, he was among the foremost real estate developers in New York City and on December 17, 1925 announced the Tudor City plan--the largest housing project ever undertaken in mid-Manhattan.

Four months earlier, in August 25, the Fred F. French Operators, Inc. filed plans for a 38-story office building to be erected at the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 45th Street.  On the site stood the 1869 Church of the Heavenly Rest and two former mansions.  

from the collection of the New York Public Library

On February 1, 1926, Buildings and Building Management said,  "The Fred F. French Company is the architect."  The article explained that the firm's in-house architect H. Douglas Ives would lead the project and "John Sloan, of Sloan & Robertson, New York, is the consulting architect."  It added, "the facades of the four lower stories will be of Indiana limestone."

Ives and Sloan created a striking anomaly in Art Deco architecture.  The building's dramatic series of setbacks were enhanced by its highly unusual rectangular form.  The architects emblazoned the sandy-colored brick with spectacular polychromed terra cotta ornaments drawn from ancient Mesopotamia.  (In fact, H. Douglas Ives described the design as "Mesopotamian.")

The architects' water-color washed rendering was released in 1929 (copyright expired)

Some of the massive terra cotta panels were four-feet long.  Ives explained to reporters that the sunburst images stood for "progress," the Assyrian-style griffins represented "integrity and watchfulness," and the heads of Mercury were meant to spread "the message of the French plan."  The ground floor was trimmed with bronze panels depicting Assyrian winged lions.

The architects brought the Near Eastern motif into the lobby.  The vaulted ceiling was decorated with polychrome designs.  The panels of the 25 guilt-bronze doors depicted bearded Mesopotamian genii and women engaging in various aspects of commerce and industry.  John Sloan designed the eight crystal chandeliers and even the griffon-decorated bronze maildrop.

image via newyorkdaily photo.com

Completed in 1927, the Fred F. French Building filled with a wide variety of tenants, among the first being Seligsberg & Co., brokers; the Chicago-based James P. Marsh Company, makers of pressure gauges; and the newly-formed Photomaton, Inc., "engaged in the operation of the automatic camera," according to The New York Times.  In 1928 the American Broadcasting Company moved in.

In addition to those business concerns, organizations leased space.  Groups that signed leases in 1928 included the World Anti-Narcotic Union; the American Union of Decorative Artists and Craftsmen; and the Aviation Country Clubs, Inc. (all three of which were newly-formed); as well as the Netherland-America Foundation; and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.  

The lobby elevator doors depict women and Mesopotamian men engaged in commerce.  image by Bebgsurg

The Colonial Sand Company, the offices of which were on the 31st floor, was an initial tenant.  Its president was Generoso Pope, who most often Anglicized his first name to Gene.  On September 30, 1928, The New York Times reported that Pope had purchased Il Progresso Italo-Americano, "said to be the oldest and largest Italian daily newspaper published in this country."  Pope announced, "that the policies and personnel of the paper would remain the same."

Another initial tenant was Van Heusen Products, Inc., founded by John M. Van Heusen.  Starting out working in a bank, Van Heusen had an inventive bent.  He quit his bank job after inventing a non-slip shoulder strap for female lingerie and a non-slip men's garter.  He invented several shoemaking innovations before perfecting a semi-soft collar for men's shirts.  He founded his Van Heusen shirt company in 1921.

Two years after the Fred F. French Building opened, the Great Depression crippled the nation.  It prompted certain otherwise respectable businessmen to turn to crime.  Walter E. Pruzan's office was here in 1931.  The 51-year-old had been president of the Boyish Form Corset Corporation until its collapse in 1929.  Now, he dealt in real estate.  The New York Times said that former business associates of Pruzan "said he was virtually penniless, although before his corset business went into bankruptcy he was estimated to be worth $250,000."  Pruzan's problems worsened when he and his wife separated on November 19, 1931.  He moved into the Hotel Lincoln (today the Milford Hotel).

The following month, on December 7, Pruzan and Lario Legnani, a former priest, walked into the office of Weingarten, Eisenman & Co., also in the French Building, and attempted to cash a $6,700 B. M. T. stock certificate.  The firm, of course, checked the certificate's serial number.  The New York Times reported, "The number, according to the police, is one of twenty-four certificates lost or stolen about a year ago."  Pruzan and Legnani were arrested for forgery of a stock certificate.

Pruzan was released on $1,500 bail.  Almost a month to the day later, on January 4, 1932, Pruzan shot and killed himself in his office here.  He left a note that said in part, 

Only God can help men who have fallen financially, because friends turn their heads away from you and their backs to you...It is easy to slide down, but very difficult to climb back when you are more than 50 years old.

On April 3, 1930, The New York Times reported that the 39-year-old Generoso Pope "was honored by the Italian Government on Monday when he received the official honorary title of Grande Ufficiale of the Crown of Italy."  The article noted, "The award is among the highest conferred by the Government of Italy."

Two years later, in the spring of 1932, Generoso Pope notified authorities that he was receiving threatening letters from racketeers.  Detective Eugene Canevari was assigned to guard him.  On May 21, Pope's secretary, Salvatore Pino answered a call from a man who demanded $1,000.  Pino suggested that he come to the office to receive the cash.  Shortly afterward, Nathan Robinson and Michael Comparetto arrived and Pino showed them into Pope's office, where Detective Canevari was hiding.

One of them said, "We need $1,000.  I have a brother who has been locked up by the police for carrying a revolver, and I want $1,000 to help him."  He paused and said, "Of course you know who we are; we're racketeers."

The New York Times reported, "Canevari popped out of his hiding place and the conversation was over."  As it turned out, the men were not gangsters.  Robinson was a chauffeur and Comparetto was a salesman.

Political upheaval overseas prompted new tenants in 551 Fifth Avenue.  On August 29, 1933, The Daily Worker reported on Professor Alfons Goldschmidt's arrival in America.  The newspaper called him the, "noted German economist exiled by the Nazi regime."  It said, "He will lecture throughout the country under the auspices of the American Committee Against Fascist Oppression in Germany, whose offices are at 551 Fifth Avenue."  A similar organization operating from the building the same year was the American Committee for the Relief of Victimized German Children.

Evelyn Bower was employed as a stenographer in the 25-floor office of Dr. Philip G. Cole in 1938.  The 39-year-old arrived 15 minutes early on November 13 that year in order to type a note to Cole's secretary, Mabel Bennett.  It read, "The keys for the office and another note will be found in my pocketbook in my desk.--E."  The Evening Post said, "Then she removed a glass ventilator from a window, opened it and jumped."

Mabel arrived a few minutes later.  A second note in Evelyn's handbag, "disclosed that she had decided to commit suicide two months ago but waited until her death would cause the least possible inconvenience in the work of her office," said The Evening Post.  Readers might have rolled their eyes when The Standard-Star reported, "Police investigated to determine whether her death was accidental."

The Fred F. French Building continued to attract a variety of tenants.  In 1950, the California Texas Oil Company signed a lease for the eighth through eleventh floors.  Other tenants in the early 1950s were the Jamaica Tourist Board and the Italian Diplomatic Office's Consulate General Commercial Attaché.

In 1990, a two-year restoration of the Fred F. French Building was initiated, supervised by Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates.  Senior architect on the job, Diane Kaese, told The New York Times columnist Christopher Gray that the colorful panels were "some of the biggest pieces of terra cotta I've ever seen in my life."  Gray commented, "If the large panels look like small bursts of color from afar, they are cascades close up," noting the "glazes of plum, orange, yellow, gold, [and] tropical green."

photograph by Tony Hisgett

As it was in 1927, the Fred F. French Building is a unique Midtown architectural presence--its colorful panels with ancient iconography like nothing else in the city.

many thanks to reader Andrew Porter for suggesting this post