From the Archives: Empire Views

Today our 34th Street archivist Anne Kumer shares some history of the 34th Street district. This post also appears on NYC Circa.

On March 17, 1930 construction began on the Empire State Building. It was built by the newly formed Empire State, Inc., who took their name from the moniker bestowed on New York State by George Washington in 1785. Designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon (who also created another 34th Street District treasure, the Gimbels Traverse) and built during the Great Depression, the new office tower became a symbol of perseverance and hope. E.B. White wrote of it in his 1949 essay "Here is New York": "The Empire State Building shot twelve hundred and fifty feet into the air when it was madness to put out as much as six inches of new growth."

It opened just over  a year later on May 1, 1931. Over 5,000 visitors stood in line at the street level on a rainy day to view the city from what was then the tallest man-made structure in the world (NYT, 1931-05-04).

Visitors to the 86th Floor on opening day, May 1, 1931. Image: tumblr

The 86th floor observation deck immediately became a popular destination for tourists. A photographer was on hand to capture the moment, which was then printed on a postcard.

Visitor Postcard photo taken on the Empire State Building observation deck, 86th Floor, May 8, 1934; front. Image: private collection (Pisark's)

Visitor Postcard photo taken on the Empire State Building observation deck, 86th Floor, May 8, 1934; back. Image: private collection (Pisark's)

Visitor Postcard, Empire State Building Observation Deck, 86th Floor, August 1935. Image: private collection (Pisark's)

Visitor Postcard, Empire State Building Observation Deck, 86th Floor, [1930s]. Image: Private collection (Pisark's)

Visitation to the observation deck increased throughout the 1930s and into the next decade, despite a few setbacks in the 1940s. On July 28, 1945 a B-25 Bomber crashed into the north side of the building during a routine personnel transport mission killing 14 people and injuring elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver. The building was re-opened the following Monday.

Just two years later, a photography student named Robert Wiles happened upon the aftermath of Evelyn McHale's suicide and took a photograph. The photo, published by LIFE magazine on May 1, 1947 is still regarded as one of the most poignant portraits of suicide.

Following this and other incidents, building management announced the forthcoming construction of an additional steel barrier along the building's parapet. A New York Times article also stated that during the Empire State Building's first 16 years of operation, there were 9,000 visitors, and only 15 suicides (with just one instance of injury to a pedestrian below) (NYT, 1947-05-11).

The steel barrier and parapet, 1948. Image: Private collection (Pisark's)

Though taller and larger buildings continue to rise throughout the city, the Empire State Building remains one of the city's greatest treasures, and receives nearly 3.6 million visitors a year.

Other Sources and Sites of Interest:

-Empire State Building Historical Timeline
-Empire State Building fact sheet

-Columbia University Avery Architecture and Fine Arts Library, Empire State Building Archive

From the Archives: B. Altman's Palace of Trade Moves Uptown

Today our 34th Street archivist, Anne Kumer, shares some retail history of the district. This post also appears on NYC Circa.

Retailer Benjamin Altman of Altman & Co. opened his first large store in 1886 at Sixth Avenue and 19th Street. Though he previously occupied smaller stores in various parts of the city, this location was quickly dubbed "Palace of Trade" for its vast inventory and size. Business was great, and soon Altman was looking to expand yet again. Noticing the increasing numbers of mansions appearing along Fifth Avenue, he chose the corner of  West 34th Street and Fifth Avenue for the new flagship location of his store. At the time, the area was quiet, residential, and didn't look at all like it would support a large retail outlet.

34th Street looking east from Fifth Avenue, 1870. Image: NYHS

Altman purchased his first lot under an employee's name (Benjamin Jenkins) rather than his own, on the SE corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street in 1892. Shortly after, he set up the Wallingford Realty Company to handle all future transactions. Between 1892 and 1904, the company brokered a total of 28 purchases and long-term leases on behalf of Altman, gradually taking control of almost the entire block between 34th and 35th Streets and Madison and Fifth Avenues. By the time construction of the new building began in 1905, there was still one "holdout" building on the corner of 34th Street and Fifth Avenue, occupied by the Knoedler Gallery. Altman would have to wait another five years to acquire that property and expand the store all the way to Madison Avenue. In the meantime, on October 6, 1906 the new store opened for business.

Corner of 35th Street (left) and Fifth Avenue looking SE, 1906. The shorter building to the far right is the "holdout" property at 34th Street and Fifth Avenue. Image: LOC

The gallery held onto their corner until their lease ended in 1910 and they were forced to give up the property. Altman wasted no time on the store expansion he'd envisioned many years prior. He died just before the full-block expansion was completed in 1913, but just after he founded the philanthropic organization, the Altman Foundation.
 

Corner of Fifth Avenue (left) and 34th Street (right), just after the building's addition along Madison Avenue, about 1915. Image: MCNY

The interior of the Altman store was designed in a Palazzo style reminiscent of the Parisian Bon Marché, one of the world's first department stores. Skylights filtered light into the center of the main arcade, and steps led customers to multiple levels of departments that sold just about everything imaginable. A consummate traveler, Altman was known to go on yearly buying trips around the world in search of new and diverse merchandise.

Interior of the B. Altman arcade, 1908 Image: NYPL

Most, if not all, of the extensive bronze and iron work in the building was done by Brooklyn-based company Hecla Bronze and Iron Works. NYPL has several images in their digital archive of the Hecla Bronze and Iron Works building -- which thankfully is landmarked -- including their showroom with vaulted ceilings.

B. Altman & Co. was primarily known for catering to a well-off female customer. One who could spend hours looking at furs:

Selling floor for furs, 1914. Image: NYPL

And one who pursued the latest fashion trends. I was possibly born in the wrong century. I would wear all of these blouses today, right now.

Page from the B. Altman & Co. 1913 Summer Apparel catalog. Image: Duke University

The prude in me wishes bathing suits would move a little back in time and cover more skin like the ones shown here. The one second from the left is especially fetching. Bonus: all the lady ones are work-appropriate by today's standards! And black -- so much black! (I love it).

Page from the B. Altman & Co. 1913 Summer Apparel catalog. Image: Duke University

Aside from being at the forefront of fashion, Altman's was known for popularizing retail business practices that would eventually become commonplace. The best example is the story of the extremely wealthy and miserly Hetty Green (pictured here and here) purchasing a bolt of fabric from the Altman's at Sixth Avenue between 18th and 19th streets sometime in the mid-1800s, and then deciding she didn't like it. Returning merchandise was not accepted practice, but Mrs. Green went back to the store and asked for an exchange or her money back. Altman himself granted the return and she was so grateful that she vowed to act as guarantor to any future business loans. He never took her up on her offer, but they did stay in touch, and she introduced Altman to several of her financier acquaintances, who in turn got him interested in art collecting. Over the years, Altman amassed a massive art collection, now housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. You can read the collection handbook here and see some of the pieces here.

After several more successful decades, the Altman company was forced to sell the store to the L.J. Hooker Retail Group in 1985 and close the building in 1989. Today, the building is primarily occupied by City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, and the NYPL Science, Industry, and Business Library (SIBL), but from the outside it still looks like a palace of trade.

Other Sources:
-Altman Company Department Store Building, 335-371 Fifth Avenue. Landmarks Preservation Commission, March 12, 1985; designation list 176, LP-1274
-Bruce, John S. Jr. 100 The First Century: A History of B. Altman & Co.
-Hendrickson, Robert. The Grand Emporiums: The Illustrated History of America's Great Department Stores.
-Zola, Emile. The Ladies' Paradise.
-Department Store museum website

From the Archives: Happy 100th Birthday McAlpin Hotel

Today our 34th Street archivist, Anne Kumer, helps us wish Happy 100th Birthday to one of our favorite residential buildings, the Herald Towers. This post also appears on NYC Circa.

It's now a residential building called the Herald Towers that somewhat blends in with surrounding tall architecture, but when it was first built in 1912, the McAlpin hotel was a formidable presence. At 25 stories tall, it was the largest hotel in the world with 1,500 rooms, not including the Turkish bath, roof garden (a solid amenity if there ever was one), ballroom (throwback to the Gilded Age), and convention hall (meh).

The McAlpin going up, March 1912. Photo: MCNY

The building was designed by American architect Frank Mills Andrews and besides its fortuitous location next to the Sixth Avenue El train, it was smack in the center of rapidly changing part of the city. In 1912, the Macy's store on West 34th Street and Broadway (across the street) was celebrating its tenth year, and the area was quickly transforming from the den of sin it was in the late 1800s to a retail and hospitality center. A few blocks away on 34th Street at Park Avenue, the Vanderbilt Hotel was under construction; the Titanic sank in April 1912, taking with it Macy's founder Isidor Strauss; and the first monument dedicated to a woman was celebrated in Bryant Park. One year earlier, the New York Public Library opened its doors to the public, and in 1913, the Grand Central Oyster Bar opened its doors. In short, people were traveling, shopping, and eating out more.

The hotel McAlpin opened for business on December 29, 1912, a Monday.

Photo: LOC

A year after the hotel's opening, members of the Blackfoot Confederacy from Montana visited the hotel. The visit was arranged by Louis W. Hill, fonder of the Northern Railroad Company to promote train service from western states.

Photo: MCNY

All sorts of PR stunts were staged, some with phonographs.

Photo: MCNY

The McAlpin was also one of the first hotels to rent ground-level space to retailers. By 1917,  the hotel's owners had purchased additional frontage along the 34th Street entrance, and were slated to add 200 more rooms.

Photo: NYPL

The McAlpin was also known for its restaurant located in the Alpine Cellar, called the Marine Grill, not so much for the food, as for the decor. The walls and ceilings were covered in Terra Cotta murals based on paintings by Fred Dana Marsh, and showed the history of the New York harbor. 

Marine Grill, c. 1924. Photo: MCNY

The restaurant eventually closed, but thankfully the murals were rescued and are now installed at the Chambers Street / Park Place A train stop as part of the MTA's public art program.

And . . . . as a bonus, I give you cartoon spats!

Postcard: From the collection of Dan Pisark

 

From the Archives: Cornices to Curtain Walls on 32nd Street

In this post, 34SP's archivist Anne Kumer shares some 34th Street history. This post also appears on NYC Circa, Anne's history blog about New York City and its public spaces and buildings.

When I first started working for the 34th Street Partnership, I was going though photos and found this one showing the corner of West 32nd Street and Sixth Avenue, or, 885 Sixth Ave., taken in March 1992.

Photo: 34SP Archive, March 1992, Norman Mintz

I recognized it as being an early 1900s building, but with a TON of signage hanging off of it and something weird happening with the cornice along the top, almost as if it had been removed? Yep, 'cause here's what it looked like shortly after being built in 1910 -- less signage and intact cornice.

Photo: MCNY

Fast forward to the 1990s. The ground floor was occupied by Leo's Famous, a hot dog emporium and coffee shop that was at this location since 1941, and closed in 1997.

Photo: 34SP Archive, March 1992, Norman Mintz

After finding these photos, I thought I'd walk down to look at the building in person. Too late. I started working for the BID in 2008, found the photo in 2009, and by then, the building was torn down to make room for The Continental, a large residential complex, with coincidentally, the same name as a Christopher Walken SNL character. He's done so many good ones.



Curbed documented the construction of  The Continental (also known as Tower 111) quite thoroughly, including a sneak peak at its insides last January. It's central location to transportation hubs, restaurants, and shopping, put residents in the . . Thick. Of. It. with almost everything the City has to offer in a short walk or subway ride away.

From the Archives: The Rise and Fall of Penn Station

In this post, 34SP's archivist Anne Kumer shares some 34th Street history. This post also appears on NYC Circa, Anne's history blog about New York City and its public spaces and buildings.

Penn Station, neighbor to the still standing Farley Post Office is mostly remembered as one of New York City's great losses. The photo below shows the station as most choose to remember it -- a beautifully designed structure filled with natural light, that makes train travel look like the best idea ever. For out-of-town travelers new to the city, it was often their first glimpse of New York City.

Penn Station, 1935. Photo:New York Public Library

Before Penn Station was conceived of and built, railroad service terminated in Jersey City on the western side of the Hudson River. From there, passengers boarded a ferry into the city. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company (PRR) put forth several proposals to bring service into the city, including elevated tracks over the Hudson. It was eventually decided to tunnel under it instead, and an initial excavation began on July 21, 1880 to link the new passage with an existing, partially completed tunnel. Unfortunately this effort ended in disaster for several workers who perished when the tunnel collapsed.

The disaster cast a shadow on the project, and it wasn't until twenty years later that PRR President Alexander Cassatt, announced plans to resume the project, tunneling under the Hudson and into the City at West 34th Street.

Architecture firm McKim, Mead & White was chosen to design the station; construction started on May 1, 1904, and was completed in 1910. September 8, 1910 was the official opening day of the station, though full train service didn't begin until November 27, 1910.

The early stages of construction, photo: Library of Congress

Penn Station in 1910 looking southwest. Photo: Detroit Publishing Co., Library of Congress

Known for their Beaux-Arts style, McKim, Mead & White placed Doric columns along the eastern facade, crowning them with twenty-two eagles. The form used for the eagles was sculpted by Adolph A. Weinman.















The station had high vaulted glass ceilings that let in natural light and lent a refinery to the terminal, almost as if it was a museum devoted to transportation, rather than just a terminal. This feature of the building also likened it to another architectural jewel that burned down years before, the Crystal Palace exhibition hall, built mostly of glass and steel and erected in Bryant Park in 1853.

Like all good architecture photos, this one is entirely without people.

Penn Station interior, 1910. Photo: Shorpy's

With the increasing practice of traveling by car in the 1950s, the railroad industry began to suffer financially. The station and air rights were eventually sold and plans for the new Penn Station and Madison Square Garden were announced in 1962. In exchange for optioning out the air rights over Penn Station, the PRR was permitted a new station underneath the future site of MSG at no cost to the railroad company and a 25% stake in the new MSG sports complex. Destruction began on October 28, 1963. The following photos are housed at the Museum of the City of New York, and were taken by one of my favorite living photographers, and I'm fortunate to say, friend, Aaron Rose.

The demolition of Penn Station, 1964-1965. Photo: MCNY, Aaron Rose

The demolition of Penn Station, 1964-1965. Photo: MCNY, Aaron Rose

The public outcry against the destruction of Penn Station was significant, though not enough to save the building. It did however, help solidify and unify architectural preservation efforts, and led to founding of the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) in 1965. 

Additional sources:
The Late, Great Penn Station by Lorraine Diehl (My favorite book on Penn Station.)
Forgotten NY has a lot of digestible facts and pictures
Library of Congress digital photo archive

From the Archives: A Relic of Early Modernism in Midtown Manhattan

In this post, 34SP's archivist Anne Kumer shares some 34th Street retail history. This post also appears on NYC Circa, Anne's history blog about New York City and its public spaces and buildings. 

Recently, I went shopping with 34th Street fashion guru and Fashion Herald author Tricia, and she noticed the new Steve Madden store, along with a few guys talking in front of it who did not look like tourists, casual passersby, or purchasers of the 5-inch heels Madden is known for. (That last one is an unfair assumption. I have for sure seen many a gent rock a heel way better than I can in this city.) We accosted them, and after explaining what we do for the district, found out that one was the architect for the store. He then dragged us out into the street saying that we were right this minute across from one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. This one -- 22 West 34th Street.

Photo: A. Kumer, 34SP

I had noticed the building before, but never thought much past why is there would so much wall and so little window. Also, it's backed up against the Empire State Building on 34th Street, so it isn't as if there's nothing else to look at. He had such a glow in his eyes as he described the unusual modernness of this design for the time it was built, that I can only imagine he sees it like this instead.

Photo: NYPL digital collection

Designed by architecture firm De Young, Moscowitz & Rosenberg, and built in 1934, it's known in my trusty AIA Guide to New York City, and the above photo, as the Spear & Company building. Originally established in Pittsburgh in 1843, Spear's was a furniture store known for selling knockoffs of modern-style pieces. In addition to a whole lot of facade wall, the building was equipped with air conditioning, indirect lighting, and an auditorium, and cost about $300,000 to build.

In a 1938 New Yorker Skyline column, Lewis Mumford (also cited in Christopher Gray's 1995 Streetscape column) accused the building's designers of practicing fake functional with that small bank of windows facing east, and covered by the Spear's sign, which was yellow neon on a blue background.

By the early 1990s, many of the windows were painted over, Spears was long gone, and signage on the building looked like this:

Photo: N. Mintz, 34SP

A few years later, and a lot of work on behalf of the 34th Street Partnership, the wall sign is gone, though there is still a remnant of a vertical sign and masked windows.

Photo: 34SP

Now thankfully, (scroll all the way up for a refresher), the windows are unobstructed by vertical signage and paint. Mumford would be at least a bit more pleased.


Additional citation:
The Architectural Guidebook to New York City, by Francis Morrone and James Isla, p. 140