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photograph by "Eden, Janine and Jim"
On February 22, 1910, two days after its final service was celebrated, demolition began on the 1855 Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church. The previous month, The American Carpet & Upholstery Journal had reported that, "The well-known importing and jobbing firm of Mills & Gibb" had purchased the church property at the northwest corner of Fourth Avenue and 22nd Street "for the erection of a sixteen-story building for their exclusive use."
Philo L. Mills and John Gibb established the firm in 1865. It dealt in dry goods with a focus on lace and linen. Saying that the new building "will be in the heart of the new business district," The American Carpet & Upholstery Journal said it "means additional room for the expanding business."
The original concept of a 16-story structure had been scaled back by May when The American Carpet & Upholstery Journal reported, "The new building of Mills & Gibb...will be an imposing fourteen-story affair. The architects are Godwin, Stearritt & Van Bleck." The journalist had grossly gotten the firm's name wrong. The architect was the respected firm of Starrett & Van Vleck.
Completed in 1910, the Mills & Gibb Building's tripartite Renaissance Revival design included a three-story rusticated limestone base. Stores sat behind a double-height arcade along the ground floor. Each arch was capped with a Renaissance inspired shield--some blind and others carved with intricate designs. They reappeared in the terra cotta spandrel panels (where they were held by cherubic figures against a background of swirling vines and flowers) and at the corners of the 12th floor.
One of the spandrels of the lower arches. image via Beyond My Ken
The mid- and top sections were faced in variegated, sandy-colored brick and trimmed in limestone and terra cotta. The two-story top section featured double-height arcades that echoed those of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence.
Mills & Gibb leased the stores and portions of the upper floors. Among the early tenants was the publishing firm Funk & Wagnalls Company, here as early as 1913.
On February 2, 1928, The New York Times reported, "The Mills & Gibb Building...has been purchased by William F. Kenny." With the massive dry goods firm now gone, Kenny filled the essentially vacant building with a variety of tenants. In December, the headquarters of the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor moved in. And the following year, a swarm of businesses signed leases.
Among those moving into stores during 1929 were Rottenberg Sons Co., Inc. and Yarns Corporation of America. Upper spaces were taken by the Container Testing Laboratories for its offices and laboratory; Picker X-Ray Corporation, which leased the 11th floor; the National Carbon Company; Standard Radio Corporation of America; Vassar Swiss Underwear Company, the John Martin's House, Inc.; Walcott-Taylor Company, Inc., which took the 10th floor; the E. P. Dutton publishing firm; and Carl Gutmann & Co.
image from the collection of the Library of Congress
E. P. Dutton & Co. would remain for years. It launched an unusual marketing campaign in February 1932. The New York Times reported, "In order to tap the vast reservoirs of knowledge of the publishing business possessed by the general public, E. P. Dutton & Co. are offering a number of prizes." The writer who best stated what books should be included in the firm's catalogue "and why he would have published them" would receive $50. The Depression era money--equal to more than $1,000 in 2026--was a significant incentive.
The building's tenant list continued to be highly varied. In 1936 the School for Embalmers was here, and the following year, on April 28, 1937, the headquarters of the National Distillers Products Corporation opened. Its first item of business, reported The New York Times, was the end of "the price war which disrupted wholesale liquor price schedules."
Also taking space that year was the National Conference of Jews and Christians. The organization's focus, understandably, was greatly taken up with happenings in Europe. On November 15, 1938, for instance, its director, Dr. Everett D. Clinchy, "announced plans for a mass meeting...at which implications of the German persecutions would be discussed."
By 1943, the National Conference of Jews and Christians operated a syndicated column, "The Question Box." On January 18, 1943, The Tacoma Times urged: "Readers of The Times are invited to send in questions regarding the Protestant, Catholic or Jewish faiths. Questions will be answered as promptly as possible."
In the meantime, the ongoing war kept another tenant, the North Atlantic headquarters of the American National Red Cross, more than busy. On August 4, 1942, The New York Times reported, "The urgent need for 3,000 nurses a month--2,500 for the Army and 500 for the Navy--and methods of recruiting them were discussed yesterday at a conference of nurses" here.
The Architectural Record, December 1910 (copyright expired)
Domestic emergencies did not pause because of the global upheaval overseas. On the night of November 28, 1942, fire broke out in the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston. It resulted in the deaths of 492 patrons. Two days later, The New York Times reported, "The North Atlantic area of the Red Cross, with headquarters at 300 Fourth Avenue, went to work in a hurry late Saturday night and continued all days yesterday to do what it could to supply relief to the victims of the night club fire."
Another domestic disaster occurred on January 3, 1944, when explosions sank the Navy's USS Turner near Sandy Hook, New Jersey. The Red Cross sprung into action, quickly packing 200 cartons of blood plasma. A helicopter landed in Battery Park to transport two cases to Sandy Hook, while the rest were sent by Coast Guard cutter.
The Picker X-Ray Company was still here at midcentury. On December 16, 1950, its "new type of X-ray shield that makes it possible for radiologists to treat deep-seated cancers with X-ray dosages" was announced by the Radiological Society of North America.
Also operating from the building in the 1950s were the Kamlet Laboratories and Allied Impex Corporation. The former firm announced a surprising development on August 12, 1955. Explaining that "The tradition that goats thrive on a diet of old newspapers and the labels from tin cans got strong confirmation this week," The New York Times reported that Dr. Jonas Kamlet had received a patent for goat feed that contained substantial amounts of newsprint.
The Allied Impex Corporation, which dealt in photographic supplies and devices, also created innovations. It announced its Ultrablitz Monoject electronic flash gun on October 4, 1959, for instance.
In 1959, the Fourth Avenue was renamed Park Avenue South. Having a new address did not change the disparate tenant list. The United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 leased a floor in September 1962; East House Enterprises, makers of paper products took a floor in 1964; and the National Citizens Committee to Defend Academic Freedom at St. John's [University].
The 1970s saw Planned Parenthood, the American Council of Voluntary Agencies for Foreign Service and Cabrini Health Care Center in the building.
Change came in 2010 when Rockrose Development Corporation purchased and vacated the Mills & Gibb Building in order to reimagine it. In a 2012 interview, Rockrose president Justin Elghanayan explained that the firm had transformed it "into a creative arts building." He told Vivian Marino of The New York Times, "We have the Smithsonian, Leo Burnett, the Whitney, Wilhelmina Models and various other high-profile tenants."
photograph by Beyond My Ken
What Rockrose Development did not remodel was Starrett & Van Vleck's 1909 design (other than the main entrance). The commercial palazzo retains its stately presence after more than a century.
many thanks to reader Peter Alsen for prompting this post
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