George Keister's 1899 35-37 East 20th Street

 

John H. E. Whitney was born in New York City on July 30, 1840.  He became an expert engraver but in 1861, as noted decades later by The Printing Art, "the Civil War opening at this time, patriotism took the place of self-interest and we find instead of a wood engraver, a 'Hawkins Zouave.'"  Following the conflict, Whitney returned to New York and to engraving, becoming an expert in his craft.  Whitney lived in a high-stooped brownstone at 37 East 20th Street.  He died there on November 22, 1891.

At the time of his death, Whitney's once-refined residential block was seeing change as commerce inched northward into the neighborhood.  Six years later, in July 1897, the Knickerbocker Realty Improvement Company was formed for "the erection of business buildings which are to be constructed and operated by the company," as reported by Building & Architecture in New York.  Its first project was the demolition of the former Whitney house and its neighbor at 35 East 20th Street, and the erection of an eight-story loft-and-store building.

Only a month into the firm's existence, its architect George Keister filed plans.   Unlike many of the mercantile buildings at the time, which were faced in cast iron, the 50-foot wide structure would be clad in limestone and granite.  Prominent cornices marked the entrances that flanked the vast ground floor show window--one to the upper floors and one to the store.  The rusticated second floor was distinguished by a frieze of interlocking palmettes and a striking, classical caryatid between the show windows.  Bowed balconettes at the fourth floor almost assuredly had stone or iron railings, removed later to accommodate fire escapes.  Two-story arcades at the top section featured elaborate Corinthian capitals and foliate keystones.  A bracketed cornice completed the design.

A sedate caryatid looks out at 20th Street from the second floor.  The two blank spaces on either side of the classical urn in the panel directly below would have held the name of the ground floor store.

The building would have a wide variety of tenants.  As construction neared completion in October 1898, The Jay C. Wemple Company leased the store and basement "for a term of five years," according to The Sun.  The firm's residency would be far longer.

The Drapery Sketch Book, 1914 (copyright expired)

In 1901, E. Haertel & Co., "retailers of high-class fur garments and furs," as described by Cloaks and Furs in May that year, moved into its "handsome new showrooms" here.  Also in the building were H. Curtis, makers of The Curtis Hose Supporter; and the Brooklyn Chair Company.  The latter's factory was, as the name suggested, in Brooklyn.  Among the "high grade goods" offered in 1903 were "office chairs, dining chairs, bedroom chairs, Mission chairs, slipper chairs, and ladies' desk chairs," as well as "a line of good reed rockers."

This 1903 Curtis ad bordered on racy.  Beauty & Health, May 1903 (copyright expired)

Alonzo E. Wemple was secretary of the Jay C. Wemple Company.  He and his wife and two daughters lived in a handsome house at 180 West 59th Street.  The wealthy window shade manufacturer was a member of the Atlantic Yacht, the New York Athletic and Brooklyn Clubs.

At 4:45 on the afternoon of May 17, 1904, Wemple entered Shanley's restaurant at Broadway and 42nd Street.  The New York Sun reported that he "ordered a light luncheon.  He told the waiter that he felt ill and asked that a glass of water be brought to him as soon as possible."

The Evening World said, "The music was playing and about him everywhere was life as it is known on Broadway.”  The carefree atmosphere was about to darken.  The New York Sun reported, "After Mr. Wemple had drunk the water he collapsed in his chair."  A physician who was dining a few tables away ordered Wemple taken to an apartment upstairs.  He died there a short time later.

The wide variety of tenants continued.  Kate E. Tirney ran a purchasing agency in the building at the time of Wemple's unexpected death.  In January 1904 she began publishing Shop Talk, a monthly magazine "on feminine attire and the contents of the shops," according to the New-York Tribune on January 31.

The premier issue of Shop Talk.  (copyright expired)

Oriental carpet merchants and importers Sjun & Tehelram also operated from 35-37 East 20th Street at the time.  In 1904, Hadji Hassonoff, a Turkish-born Brooklynite, brought $250,000 worth of rare rugs into the country and dropped them off with the firm, presumably on consignment.  The value would translate to a staggering $8.9 million in 2024.

On April 1, 1905, Sjun & Tehelram went out of business.  Upon hearing the news, Hassonoff went to 35-37 East 20th Street two days later to retrieve his rugs.  The offices were locked and dark.  Then, two days later, he recognized Frederick Comp, the 40-year-old bookkeeper of Sjun & Tehelram, going into the office of carpet broker Charles H. Climper at 10 East 17th Street.  He followed him and discovered "two beautiful rugs set out for sale" in Climper's office, according to The New York Times.  The newspaper said, "he almost shouted for joy, and he lost no time in claiming them as his own."

Hassonoff found a police officer and returned.  He pointed to one, saying, "This one is 500 years old.  It is made by hand.  It is 16-1/2 feet long and 7 feet wide, and it is worth more than $10,000.  This smaller one is worth over $8,000."  As Policeman Tyndale took Frederick Comp into custody, Hassonoff grabbed him by the shoulders demanding, "Where are my other rugs, you?"

The cornice survived in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Comp pleaded that he had not seen his employers in days and that he had he been instructed to sell the two rugs on commission.  He and Climper were arrested for selling and receiving stolen property.  Whether Hassonoff ever regained his other valuable rugs is unclear.

Around 1906, hospital supply firms began taking space in the building.  The first was the Greenpoint Metallic Bed Company, whose Brooklyn factory manufactured "metal bedsteads and furniture; hospital supplies; operating tables; dressing, water and instrument sterilizers; metallic and glass cabinets."

It was soon joined in the building by the Watters Laboratories and the Hospital Supply Co. of New York.  Both firms manufactured medical instruments.  The latter advertised itself as "The largest manufacturers of Hospital Furniture Sterilizers."  

The Post-Graduate, April 1911 (copyright expired)

The building saw an influx of new tenants in 1915.  They included the Gutman Novelty Company; Simon Durlacher; Rosenberg & Rosenberg, makers of "novelties and muslin underwear;" Edwin Horrax, "notions and small wares;" and the Apartment House Decorative Co., which leased the fifth floor in April that year.

Jay C. Wemple died in 1917.  In its June issue that year, The Upholsterer and Interior Decorator announced that Charles Breneman & Co., had purchased "the business, including the good-will, trade-marks, etc." of Jay C. Wemple & Co.--the first tenant of 35-37 East 20th Street.  William T. Haywood, who had been president of Jay C. Wemple & Co., was apparently not offered a position by the new owner.  He opened a competing company in the same building.  The article noted he "has started in business for himself under the name of William T. Haywood, Inc., with general offices and salesrooms at 35-37 East Twentieth Street, New York."

Hand Book of the Upholstery and Allied Trades, 1921 (copyright expired)

The post-World War I years saw apparel manufacturers in the building.  These were not the run-of-the-mill clothing makers, however.  The Universal Dolls Outfitters leased the fourth floor in November 1919.  The following year, in June, it advertised for, "Experienced crocheters and knitters on infants' and doll's sacques, bootees, etc."  The successful applicants (who were required to submit samples of their skills) would work from home making doll clothes.

Similarly, Cupid Knitwear Co., Inc. created knitted outerwear for dolls.  The miniature sweaters and coats were sold to toy wholesalers.

Playthings magazine, June 1926 

All of the building's tenants would have to find new space in 1947.  On January 23 that year, The New York Times reported that the Expert Cloth Sponging Co., had purchased the building.  The article noted that the firm would occupy all eight floors.

As the neighborhood changed once again in the third quarter of the 20th century, Hadler Galleries occupied the former Jay C. Wemple & Co. space.  The New York Times reported on a one-man show of weaver Lewis Knauss's works on September 30, 1975, for instance.

The gallery's existence was indicative of changes to come.  A renovation completed in 1981 resulted in apartments above the ground floor.  It was possibly at this time that the cornice was removed.  Rather than leave a blank scar, as most owners did at the time, the architects fashioned a parapet.  It was a laudable, if wholly unsuccessful, attempt to disguise the architectural loss.

photographs by the author

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The R. H. Macy & Co. Annex - 56 West 14th Street

 

In July 1871, when Albert Levi broke ground for a four-story brick store at 56 West 14th Street, just east of Sixth Avenue, the district had transformed from high-class private homes to boarding houses and stores.  On Sixth Avenue, steps away from Levi's site, Rowland Hussey Macy had operated his fancy goods store since 1858.  Macy had started out with a small shop, living above it with his family.  Starting in 1863 he expanded into neighboring buildings until his mish-mash of eleven buildings would engulf the Sixth Avenue blockfront from 13th to 14th Streets and around both corners.

Astoundingly, only two months after Levi's building plans were filed, the brick building on 14th Street was completed.  On September 4, 1871 an announcement appeared in the New York Herald:

Albert Levi has removed from his old established stand, 321 Canal street, to the more centrally situated store, 56 West Fourteenth Street, where he will open on Tuesday, the 5th inst., under the firm of Albert Levi & Bro., with an entire new stock of fine watches, jewelry, sterling silver ware,  &c.

By the last decade of the century, the district known as the Ladies' Mile was lined with lavish emporiums.  The Sixth Avenue elevated, opened in 1878, conveniently transported women shoppers to the district.  The former Albert Levi & Bro. building had become home to Rothschild's millinery and fancy goods store by 1893.

Nathan and Isidor Straus had controlling interest in Macy's at the time (Roland Macy had died in 1877).  Like Macy, they continued to expand the massive Sixth Avenue store, adding two annexes on West 13th Street in 1892 and 1894.  And they were not finished.

In April 1897, the architectural firm of Schickel & Ditmars filed plans for a $90,000, "nine-story-and-basement brick store" on the site of the old Albert Levi building for Nathan and Isidore Straus.  The construction costs of this latest annex would translate to about $3 million in 2023.

The slim limestone-clad structure--what would be called a sliver building today--was the tallest in the neighborhood.  Its effervescent Beaux Arts style design included handsome carved angel heads above the storefront that flanked a panel announcing the store's name.  The rusticated second and third floors featured a vast arched window and a French style balcony above a carved cartouche.  Massive snarling lions' heads supported fruit-carved brackets beneath the ninth floor balcony.  A copper cornice crowned the edifice.

Until recently, the blank panel held faded but legible lettering that read "Macy's."

As had been the case with Albert Levi's building, construction proceeded at a lighting-fast pace.  On December 13, 1897, eight months after the plans were filed, an R. H. Macy & Co. advertisement in The Evening Post was titled "Christmas Presents for Everybody."  It said in part:

Our New Entrance to the main store (open to-day) is another step of progress in our constant effort to improve our facilities and add to the comfort of our customers.  It is at 56 West 14th Street and opens into our Newest Building, a beautiful and artistic addition to the architectural attractions of 14th Street.

The ad said that at the Macy Annex, "You can shop there all day with perfect comfort."

In June 1902, R. H. Macy & Co. hired the architectural firm of De Lemos & Cordes to do $50,000 in renovations to the West 14th Street building.  (The architects had designed the massive department store building of Macy's greatest competitor, Siegel-Cooper, on Sixth Avenue in 1896.)  The New-York Tribune noted that "new corridors and staircase are to be put in."  The tremendous outlay is surprising, considering that in July 1901 R. H. Macy & Co. had announced it would erect a massive, 1.5 million-square-foot department store significantly north of the Ladies' Mile, on Herald Square.

On January 29, 1903 the New-York Tribune reported that Nathan Straus had sold 56 West 14th Street, "formerly the annex to R. H. Macy & Co's. store in Fourteenth-st.," to coffee importer Hermann Sielcken.  Sielcken had paid "more than a million dollars" for the structure, or 32 times that much in 2023 dollars.  "Mr. Sielcken said that he had no intention of using the building for his business," said that article explaining that he purchased the property as an investment.  "The building is practically new and is one of the tallest buildings in West Fourteenth-st."

The article noted that Henry Seigel, R. H. Macy & Co.'s nemesis, intended "to erect a large drygoods store" on the site of the former Macy's main store.  "He was asked last night if he would lease or had leased the annex, but he declined to talk on this matter."  The secret came out two days later.  The Chicago Tribune reported on January 31, "Henry Siegel authorized a statement to the effect that he had leased the ten [sic] story building running through from 56 West Fourteenth street to 55 to 61 West Thirteenth street, from Herman Sielcken, who purchased the property a few days ago."  Siegel's 21-year lease came with the staggering rent of $70,000 per year.

Women in shirtwaists and exuberant millinery pass the former Macy's Annex around 1904.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

Ironically, a month later Herman Sielcken sold the building to the Fourteenth Street Realty Co.  Two of its directors were Edmund E. Wise, a nephew of the Strauses and attorney for R. H. Macy & Co., and William W. Fitzhugh, the firm's auditor.  

If Seigel originally intended to demolish all of the old Macy's properties, it never happened.  Ruined by scandal, falsification of books, and misappropriation of company funds, he was imprisoned in 1914.

As the fashionable shopping district continued to migrate northward, West 14th Street became a center of lower-end stores.  In February 1918, with World War I still raging, the U. S. Army's Quartermaster Department announced it would lease 56 West 14th Street "for distribution purposes."

Two years later, on October 17, 1920, The New York Times reported that Acker, Merrall & Condit had purchased and moved into the former Macy & Co. annex building.  "More than $200,000 has been spent in remodeling the structure, and the firm's removal there is an important commercial change and addition to the one-time shopping section of Fourteenth Street," said that article.

Acker, Merrall & Condit had long roots, going back to a business founded in 1820.  The firm imported luxury commodities, like fine wines, "fancy groceries," and cigars.  The ground floor was leased to Kanter's Department Store, which dealt in a variety of goods from "gent's furnishings," to dry goods, shoes and furs.  The store remained through 1926, after which a Sears, Roebuck & Co. branch occupied the space for two years.

Although it retained possession of the property, in 1931 Acker, Merrall & Condit relocated.  The Hale Desk Company signed a ten year lease starting on May 1 that year for all but the ground floor space.  The firm used the upper floors, where well-dressed women had once shopped for kid gloves and feathery hats, as an office furniture warehouse through 1939.

That year The New York Sun reported that the Noma Electric Corporation had purchased the building, calling it "an important transaction in the Fourteenth street section."  Founded in 1925 by Albert Sadacca, the firm was an offshoot of his family's Christmas light manufacturing company, the National Outfit Manufacturers Association.  Reorganized in 1953 as Noma Lites, Inc., it was reportedly the largest maker of Christmas lighting decorations in the world at one point.  The firm remained in the building until its closure in 1965. 

A close-up of the 1904 photograph shows the original first floor appearance and a panel placed over the Macy's sign above the entrance.  (Note the little boy in the sailor suit.)  from the collection of the Library of Congress (cropped)

The building next became home to TICO Plastics, here until 1971, and art book publishers Clarke & Way, Inc. which closed in 1970.  The painted Macy's sign above the storefront survived, protected for some years by an added panel.  By 2011, when the building was granted individual landmark designation, it was greatly faded, but still legible.  Recently, however, the signage that had survived since 1897 was painted over.

Although the ground floor has been brutalized, the upper portion of the former R. H. Macy & Co. Annex building remains essentially intact.

photographs by the author

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

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Frederick C. Zobel's 1907 Gabay Building - 30-32 East 20th Street

 

In the 1840s, the block of East 20th Street between Broadway and Fourth Avenue (later Park Avenue South) was lined with elegant homes like those of brothers Robert and Theodore Roosevelt at 26 and 28 East 20th Street, respectively.  But as the century drew to a close, that had changed.  Wealthy families had moved northward, their homes altered for business use or razed.

In May 1906 the Gabay Construction Co. purchased the two altered dwellings at 30 and 32 East 20th Street.  The Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide noted on May 5 that the firm "will at once raze the present buildings and erect a modern fireproof office building."  The article noted the advantages of the site.  "This property adjoins the house in which President Roosevelt was born, and has been restricted by the Roosevelt Club as to height and depth, which gives the adjoining property exceptional advantages for light and air."

Within a week architect Frederick C. Zobel was working on plans for a seven-story office and studio building.  His tripartite Beaux Arts design included a two-story base--as much glass as masonry--within a sheaf-carved frame.  The classically inspired entrance announced Gabay Building.

The understated four-story midsection was faced in beige brick, every sixth row of which were recessed to create rustication.  The double-height brick piers between the openings of the top section were capped with cast metal capitals and a copper cornice completed the design.

The top floor of the building contained artists studios and the lower floors offices and loft space.  It drew a wide range of tenants.  Among the first were Weisman & Burger, dealers in furrier supplies; boat manufacturer Palmer Bros., whose factory was in Cos Cob, Connecticut; and the London-based Crown Perfumery Co.  In 1908 Crown Perfumery Co. introduced a new scent, Jeunesse Doree, while continuing to market well-known items Crown Lavender Salts and Crab Apple Blossom, touted as "favorites for forty years." 

Highlighting the variety of tenants was the Utility Import & Export Co., sellers of vacuum cleaners, here by 1908.  In searching for traveling salesmen that year, the company touted the Surprise Suction Sweeper as the "perfect vacuum household cleaner."  The ad promised, "It does the work of the most expensive vacuum cleaning plans; housewives snap it up and there's a big margin for salesmen."

The New York Times, April 10, 1910 (copyright expired)

Among the first tenants of the top floor studio spaces were architect E. G. W. Dietrich, and sculptor Victor David Brenner.  Also occupying space on the top floor was the Parsonian Art School, headed by C. L. Parsons.  An advertisement in 1908 offered, "Instruction in charcoal and crayon drawing, water color, oil, pastel and tapestry painting."

Victor David Brenner was born  Avigdor David Brenner in 1871 in Lithuania.  He anglicized his name upon arriving in America in 1890.  He took advantage of the free classes at Cooper Union to study art and English.  Among the first works he worked on in his East 20th Street studio was a bas relief plaque and matching medal of Abraham Lincoln in profile, completed in 1907.

Two years earlier, President Theodore Roosevelt had tasked Augustus Saint-Gaudens to redesign the United States coinage.  The same year that Brenner created his Lincoln profile, Saint-Gaudens died, leaving the Government's project unfinished.  In 1909 Roosevelt commissioned Brenner to redesign the plaque image for the United States one-cent piece, which at the time featured the image of a Native American.  Brenner's Lincoln Head penny, with minor variations, is still in circulation today.

image via PCGS CoinFacts

While working here Brenner's works were annually included in the esteemed Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Exhibitions.  On December 6, 1913, the New York Herald reported, "Mr. Victor D. Benner, of No. 30 East Twentieth street, sculptor, who designed the Lincoln penny, was informed yesterday that his design had been accepted for the $50,000 work in granite and bronze to adorn the entrance to Schenley Park, Pittsburg, Pa."  And the following year Herringshaw's American Blue Book of Biography noted, "He has works in the Metropolitan museum of art and in [the] Luxembourg Museum...and many other places."  Brenner's studio was in the Gabay Building at least through 1916.

Victor David Brenner, from the collection of the American Numismatic Association.

In the meantime, the lower floors continued to house myriad tenants.  In 1910 The Commercial Photo & Designing Co. was in the building, selling art reproductions; and the Excello Arc Lamp Co. made high-powered commercial lighting for venues like the New York Hippodrome and Steeplechase Park.

Excello Arc Lamp Company catalogue, 1908 (copyright expired)

In 1913 J. C. Scheff & Co., converters of silks and satins, signed a lease on the eastern store space; and six years later Lemcke & Buechner, book dealers, opened in the western store.  The bookstore, which would remain well into the 1920s, was the agent for the Columbia University Press.

The post-World War I years saw George E. Mallinson, a floor coverings and furniture importing company in the building.  In 1920 the Nemo Furriers' Supply Company signed a lease, as did the Riverdale Manufacturing Company.  During the Depression years the offices of Artist Fast Freight, a trucking company, moved in.  (Artist Fast Freight got its somewhat confusing name from its owner, Anthony Artist.)  

During most of the 20th century, workers were paid in cash.  A trusted employee, usually a bookkeeper or clerk, had the uncomfortable task of bringing the payroll from the bank each week, often accompanied by co-worker for protection.  Thieves were well aware of the practice and often monitored the movements of a particular company's messenger for weeks before pouncing.

In 1937 two "thugs" as described by The New York Times made careful note of Artist Fast Freight's schedule.  They were aware, reported the newspaper, that between noon and 1:00 "there is a payroll of about $350 in the office."  The amount would be equal to around $6,600 in 2023.  Unfortunately for them, on October 1 they miscalculated their hold-up by minutes.  Anthony Artist had just left the office with the cash in his pocket to pay his 14 truckers.

Before he left, Artist had paid his 20-year-old stenographer and bookkeeper, Regina Dudell, her $24 weekly salary.  She was in the office with a friend, Bessie Chipkin, who had dropped by to keep her company, when suddenly, "Two stylishly dressed hold-up men" burst into the office, as reported The New York Times.

"'Where's the payroll?' one of the intruders asked, brandishing a pistol.  Miss Dudell told him it was not in the office.

"'Come on, give me the money; I've got four kids,' the hold-up man said as his companion stood at door on guard," recounted The New York Times.

Regina insisted that her boss had already left with the money, but she offered, "Take my money if you want it," removing the $24 from her pocketbook.  The New York Times said the men "with a lot of pride but no cash put on the proverbial high hat yesterday afternoon and snubbed loot of at least $24 as mere chicken feed."  The gunman told Regina, "We don't want your dough; we want the firm's dough," and the pair rushed out, slamming the door behind them.

Although somewhat difficult to see, the metal capitals were still in place in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The Artist Fast Freight remained in the building into the 1940s.  By 1941 the American Booksellers Association had its offices in the building, as did the publishers of Science and Society, established in 1936.  Science and Society was still here in 1947 when the Marxist journal drew the attention of the House of Representatives Committee of Un-American Activities.

The third quarter of the 20th century saw changes in the neighborhood as many loft buildings were converted to residential use and street-level shops became trendy restaurants or boutiques.  In 1976 Darts Unlimited occupied the store space of the Gabay Building.  Writing in The New York Times on May 19 that year, Lawrence Van Gelder said, "The point of just about everything in the tiny shop at 30 East 20th Street is darts.  In fact, as its name states, it is Darts Unlimited, which is, to these shores, what an emporium devoted to baseball equipment would be in London's Haymarket.

More recently a branch of the Paris restaurant Le Coq Rico was in the ground floor, where once customers shopped for silk fabrics and books.

photographs by the author

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The Proctor & Company Building - 5 East 20th Street

The cafe-chocolate shop L. A. Burdick was in the ground floor space in 2010.  photo by Beyond My Ken

Around 1850 broker and bookseller John Paine sold the vacant lot at 5 East 20th Street to William V. Brady, who erected a two-story stable on the plot.  Brady was a postmaster whose home was far downtown on Cedar Street, so this was not his private carriage house, but almost assuredly a livery stable.

Elias Smith Higgins purchased the building around 1860 and enlarged it with a large extension to the rear.   Livery stables commonly assisted their customers in selling used vehicles.  An advertisement in the New York Herald on December 17, 1871 offered:  "For sale--A double sleigh, but little used; will be sold cheap; also Bells and double Harness.  Apply at stable, No. 5 East Twentieth street."  And four years later a customer advertised, "A New Peter's Brougham for Sale--No. 5 East Twentieth street."

The second floor held both storage and living accommodations.  In 1878-79 John Corbet and Robert Musgrove, both coachmen, were listed as living here.

As the turn of the century neared, the vintage stable was converted for business.  As early as 1892 Proctor & Company's East India House operated from the ground floor.  The home decorating store imported high-end furniture, bric-a-brac and textiles from Europe.

The Jewish Messenger, August 26, 1892 (copyright expired)

In 1893, Elias Higgins's son, Eugene, hired architect R. F. Bloomer to enlarge the building again.  A third story and an rear extension greatly increased the interior square footage.

Proctor & Company was still in the building in 1897, sharing it with a shop selling "Japanese fancy goods," and A. L. Bogart Company, electrical contractors.  On September 9 that year, The Electrical Engineer said Bogart was "well known in the electrical field."

Eugene Higgins brought in architect John L. Jordan to give the building a stylish makeover in 1901.  A new storefront was installed for Louis Struever, who had just signed a 10-year lease, and the upper stories received a new metal cornice and pressed metal window decorations.  Even the columns flanking the middle window on the top floor were simply rolled sheet metal.  The renovations resulted in the former livery stable receiving a charming French personality.

Louis Struever most likely had much input into the design.  He and his brother, Emil, were well known café proprietors.  (Emil's was at 876 Broadway.)

It appears, however, that Struever's café did not succeed.  On September 15, 1904 John Bohling took over the lease.  While he listed his business as "restaurant," it appears it was a tavern that also served food.  When Bohling went out of business in 1913, an auction was held of the "saloon fixtures."

The post-World War I years saw a completely new list of tenants in the building.  In 1920 M. Rabinowitz moved his stationery store in.  He had been in business since 1905, originally located at 108 Fifth Avenue.  The same year the Art Lamp Shade Studios moved into the building from 1 East 13th Street.  And in 1921 the toy company Invincible Importing Co. leased the second floor.  In its January 1922 issue, Toys and Novelties explained that the firm was only several months old, but "It grew so rapidly that they had to find larger quarters and were fortunate in securing show rooms at 5 East 20th Street, near Broadway."  The article said, "Manager Hersfeld has been spending many nights working like a beaver to have everything in the new lines of imported and domestic toys ready for buyers."

Toys and Novelties, March 1922 (copyright expired)

The little building continued to see a variety of tenants.  The M. Rabinowitz stationery store was closed in bankruptcy in 1934, and in 1939 the Blackshaw Press, Inc. operated from one of the upper floors.  The firm published popular novels like H. B. Liebler's 1939 Moccasin Tracks, and the 1940 The Alleghenians by Frederic Brush.

Jane Products operated from the building in the 1970's, offering novelties like a French policeman's whistle, perfect "for hailing cabs or scaring mashers," according to New York Magazine on December 7, 1970.

As the neighborhood transformed to the trendier Flatiron District, chef Cyril Renaud opened Fleur de Sel here in November 2000.  The New York Times food critic Florence Fabricant noted, "The concise menu has a decidedly French focus, as does the décor, enlivened with his watercolor interpretations of Impressionist paintings."

Fleur de Sel was replaced by a café and chocolate shop, L. A. Burdick.  Not merely a candy store, its owner Larry Burdick hosted a "discussion about chocolate, with a tasting" with Sepp Schoenbaechler of Felchlin Chocolate in Switzerland in September 2011.

In 2017 The Hudson Company opened its flagship shop at 5 East 20th Street.  Based in upstate New York, the firm markets reclaimed and custom hardwood flooring, beams and paneling.

Today there are three apartments in the upper floors.  Sadly, John L. Jordan's cost savings 1901 renovations have not withstood the ravages of time and weather well.  The pressed metal cartouches and the rolled sheet metal columns are badly dented, and one capital has fallen away.   Scaffolding on the building in 2022 gives promise that, perhaps, a restoration is underway.

photographs by the author

many thanks to Laurie Gwen Shapiro for inspiring this post

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The 1903 Flynt (Stiehl) Building - 28-30 West 20th Street

 

Prosper Montgomery Wetmore, who lived at 28 West 20th Street, was typical of the residents of the block between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in the 19th century.  A legislator and author, he was a founder of the American Art Union.  But well-to-do families like the Wetmores were pushed out of the neighborhood as the 20th century approached and commercial interests moved in.

On April 18, 1902, The New York Press reported that the Alliance Realty Company had purchased the former Wetmore house.  The article noted, "The company bought recently Nos. 31 and 33 West Nineteenth street, running through to No. 30 West 20th Street."  The four houses would become the site of a new loft and store building.

Architect H. Waring Howard, Jr. was commissioned to design the structure, which, according to the Real Estate Record & Guide on September 6, 1902, would be called the Flynt Building.  Howard duplicated his tripartite design on the 20th and 19th Street facades.  Completed the following year, the neo-Renaissance style building featured two-story, rusticated  limestone pilasters that divided the base into two vertical sections.  Two entrances, one to the store space and the other to the upper floors flanked the commercial window.  The three-story mid-section was clad in beige brick.  A stone cornice supported on small, fluted pilasters between the brick piers accentuating each floor.  The windows of the top floor formed an arcade, below the cast metal cornice.

Among the initial tenants were the Andrews School Furnishing Co. and Samuel Oppenheim & Brother.  Touting itself as the "oldest established school furniture house in the country," Andrews also marketed "opera chairs," and church furniture.  Samuel Oppenheim & Brother took three floors in the new building.  Despite the size of its operation and long-established trade, the maker of women's cloaks and suits quickly suffered financial problems.  On December 1, 1903 the Fur Trade Review reported that the firm had declared bankruptcy.

The store space was leased to a surprising, short-term tenant that year--Tammany Hall's "sub-Post Office."  On October 24, 1903 The Evening Telegram explained, "During the last few days, as the eve of the hottest and most bitterly contested municipal election in the stormy history of New York politics approaches, the mails have been deluged with a flood of campaign literature issued broadcast by the press bureaus of both parties."  The Tammany press relations operation, however, was immense.

The article said that in the past week, 200,000 persons had received "a copy of a book called 'Father Knickerbocker Adrift,' in which Tammany's side of the story was set forth."  In order to accomplish this monumental undertaking, Tammany had leased the store space, which ran through to 19th Street.   It was laid out factory-like.  At the front half were tables where more than 100 young women addressed envelopes "from early morning until midnight."  As an inducement for them to write fast, each day the woman who turned out the most envelopes was rewarded with an extra week's pay bonus.

Young women, chosen for their handwriting and speed, at the envelope addressing area.  The Evening Telegram, October 24, 1903 (copyright expired)

In another section, "girls are busy folding, putting in envelopes and sealing the books.  Everything works like a machine."  The article said, "There is no disorder, no confusion or noise, nothing but the subdued buzz of busy workers.  They have no time to talk, these girls.  They are paid to work, paid well, and get supper money and overtime, and then there are prizes."

Other workers stuff the booklets into the addressed envelopes.  The Evening Telegram, October 24, 1903 (copyright expired)

Clerks gathered the stacks of addressed envelopes, rushed piles of books to the envelope stuffers as needed, and took the sealed envelopes to the stamp station.  (When the system was set up, $15,000 worth of stamps--about $455,000 today--were purchased from the Post Office.)  Once stamped, they were stuffed into mail bags for transport to the Post Office.  At the time of the article 657 bags had been filled.

The floors formerly occupied by Samuel Oppenheimer & Brother quickly filled.  In the January 1904 issue of Cloaks and Furs, the David I. Ullman company, maker of "silk waists and shirt waist suits" announced it was moving into the building.

And with the Tammany operation gone, around 1905 the piano store of George W. Herbert moved into the store space.  Unlike the piano manufacturers who had their own retail stores on Fifth Avenue and Union Square, Herbert handled "all the leading makes."  He widened his market in 1905 by offering pianos to rent, as well; and in 1912 advertised "Pianos bought, sold exchanged, rented, and on installments.  Tuning and Repairing promptly attended to."

The New Toy Mfg. Co. was upstairs by then.  The firm made the dolls and stuffed animals given as prizes at fairs and carnivals.  An advertisement in The Billboard in March 1914 called the firm "The Kings of 'Em All" and the "largest manufacturers of Teddy Bears, Snookey Ookum Dolls, Dressed Teddy Bears, Pillow Tops and all kinds of novelties for Paddle Wheel purposes."

The toy maker shared the upper portion of the building with garment makers:  the National Women's Wear Co., Big "G" Cloak and Suit Company, and Emil Haas.

In 1915 the A. H. Stiehl Furniture Co. took a floor.  As the firm grew, it would expand within the building, eventually taking the store space as well.  By the second half of the 20th century the Flynt Building would be almost universally known as the Stiehl Building.

In 1923 the firm's advertisements referred to "The Stiehl Building."  The Furniture Index, May 1923 (copyright expired)

By the last quarter of the century, A. H. Stiehl occupied the entire building.  An advertisement promoting its Washington's Birthday Sale in New York Magazine on February 7, 1972, read in part, "All styles and periods at big savings.  Values like these can't last forever.  Get your decorator to arrange a visit now."

After decades in the building, by the mid 1980's, A. H. Stiehl  was gone.  In 1986 Shar Creations, Inc. operated from the building, and in 1995 the F-Stop restaurant opened in the ground floor.  The New York Times' food critic Florence Fabricant called it "where food meets photography."  The space was home to Eden in the early 21st century.  It was described by Henry Hill in his 2003 Goodfella's Guide to New York, who said, "This property, like most of the people here, is absolutely beautiful.  Flowers, waterfalls, don't forget your Eve, Adam, unless you are a stud."

A renovation completed in 2014 resulted in offices on the upper floors.  Both facades are remarkably unchanged, including the storefronts, normally the first to go.

photographs by the author

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The 1926 Frank G. Shattuck (Schrafft's) Building - 43-49 West 22nd Street

 

In 1898, Frank Garrett Shattuck opened an ice cream and candy store on Broadway, opposite the New York Herald Building.  The candies were made by W. Schraftt & Sons of Boston.  He opened a store in Syracuse, New York in 1906, and another at Broadway and 34th Street.  The same year he joined forces with George and William Schrafft, sons of the candy firm's founder, and Shattuck incorporated the Frank G. Shattuck Company to exclusively handle the Schrafft operation.

The business expanded from ice cream and candy into the restaurant business.  The New York Times later said "Remembering the neatness and cleanliness of his mother's farm kitchen and also some of the bad meals he had eaten in restaurants while a traveling man, [Shattuck] insisted upon cleanliness and quality as cardinal virtues in his organization.  The Schraftt stores prospered and others were opened in rapid succession." 

Frank G. Shattuck, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 10, 1925

The Schrafft's bakery and confectionery shop was located on West 22nd Street, steps away from Sixth Avenue.  On August 2, 1919 the Real Estate Record & Guide wrote that the expansion of the shopping district was reflected in "the purchase by Schraffts' of property abutting their present home at 47 and 49 West 22nd street."  And yet only six years later, the firm's continued growth demanded a larger, modern structure.

On June 27, 1925, The Sun reported that Schrafft's had announced plans to "erect a thirteen story factory building" at 43-49 West 22nd Street.  Technically, the firm was the Frank G. Shattuck Company, which, explained by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, "operates the chain restaurants and candy stores in New York, Boston and Syracuse under the name of 'Schrafft's.'"

The proposed building would house the Schrafft's bakery and candy making operations.  It was designed in the Art Deco style by Russell G. Cory, senior partner in the architectural firm of Cory & Cory.  Known for his use of colorful tiles, the Frank G. Shattuck building would not disappoint.  Between the second and third floors, boldly colored tile decorations adorn the full-height piers.  At the same level, mossy green tiles stand in for an intermediate cornice in separating the building's base from the central section.

As the building rose, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle explained the scale of the work to be done here.  "That the company is a success is evidenced by the fact that it serves 60,000 men and women daily at breakfast, luncheon, afternoon tea and dinner.  It served 18,780,000 meals last year."  The article went on to say that in 1924 the company used 4 million eggs, 1.5 million pounds of chicken, 200,000 pounds of ham, 650,000 heads of lettuce. 10.6 million quarts of milk, and so on.

Construction was completed in 1926, and the Frank G. Shattuck Company listing statement of New York Stock Exchange in 1927 noted that it "is now in full operation.  In addition to the manufacture of candy and ice cream, the Company maintains at this location a large bakery, commissary department and laundry."

Although all the Shattuck properties had been operated under the trade name of Schrafft's, it was not until 1929 that the two organizations finally merged.  The New York Times reported, "Mr. Shattuck relinquished the presidency of the company bearing his name and became chairman of the board of directors."  

Frank G. Shattuck died of pneumonia on March 13, 1937, three weeks before his 77th birthday.  The company continued to flourish and in 1954-56 a 10-story annex to the bakery building was erected at 48-54 West 23rd Street, designed by Walter Monroe Cory, younger brother of the original architect.

The firm survived in the building for two decades.  In 1972 architect Herbert Tannenbaum filed plans for interior alterations, and a new entrance and lobby.  Among the tenants here by 1984 was Photographics Unlimited.

The following decade architect Beverly Willis was commissioned to give the building another major interior remodeling of the second and third floors for the Manhattan Village Academy, which remains in the building today.  But despite the several changes, Russell Cory's striking Art Deco design "make the building particularly notable," in the opinion of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

uncredited photographs by the author

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