Their Last Voyage

This post also appears on Fashion Herald.

Everybody is talking about the Titanic right now, and some are even just learning that yes, it DID actually happen.

One of three sister ships -- the other two being the RMS Olympic, (launched in 1910) and the RMS Britannic (launched in 1914) -- the Titanic was the largest passenger ship afloat. At the time of its maiden voyage from Southhampton England to New York City, US on April 10,1912, the RMS Titanic was guaranteed unsinkable.

Titanic launching from Southhampton. Photo: National Geographic

A few days later the ship collided with an iceberg, and on April 15 sank, taking with it 1,517 passengers and crew members. Among those were co-owner of Macy's department stores Isidor Straus, and his wife Ida, as well as John Jacob Astor IV and his pregnant (and much younger) wife Madeleine Talmadge Force Astor.

The "Macy's corner" at 34th Street and Broadway, [1910-1915]. By this time the store and neighborhood were bustling with activity.

When offered a spot in one of the ship's few lifeboats, Ida Straus said something to the effect of this: "We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go." Or maybe this: “I have lived with him for 50 years - I won’t leave him now." She stayed on board with her husband and they perished together. After their deaths, her fidelity and loyalty were celebrated in the press, as well as with several memorials and positive portrayals in plays, music, and movies. (Ha! You thought I was going to link to the James Cameron movie but I didn't!) Below is one of several piano pieces composed in 1912:

Isador and Ida Straus rendered on this commemorative piano piece from 1912. Image: NYPL

Macy's had a plaque made, dedicated, and placed in the store's entrance on 34th Street, just west of Broadway in 1913. Also, three years to the day after the ship sank, a monument was dedicated to the Strauses at Broadway and 106th Street near their former home in New York City, in a small park named after them one year earlier.  It's still there.

The Straus Memorial on its dedication day, April 15, 1915. Photo: Library of Congress

The Straus Memorial on its dedication day, April 15, 1915. Photo: Library of Congress

Designed by Augustus Lukeman, the monument's female figure was created in the likeness of statue model Audrey Munson, also known as "Miss Manhattan," and who deserves her own blog post, maybe with Evelyn Nesbit. (They're classier Lindsay Lohans of the early 1900s, except with possibly more affairs and less cocaine -- or maybe not!)

Audrey Munson with Buzzer the cat. Photo: Library of Congress

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the crash, and the tributes and books are still coming. The National Geographic has never-before seen photos of the shipwreck taken during a 2010 expedition to the wreckage site.

Bad screen shot from this Before and After slideshow. This image shows the Straus suite.

 Other sources:
-Titanic Historical Society
-Titanic Facts
-National Geographic has never-before seen photos of the wreckage. They are stunning.
-Isador Straus obituary.
-Straus Historical Society in Smithtown, New York 
- A nice little Macy's history slide show called Macy's Milestones and the very long, very detailed wikipedia entry on the department store.
-Macy's history on the department store's website
-New York Times

Big Retail Comes and Goes with Stern's

The photo below is one of the earliest I have on file of Bryant Park, and maybe one of the most interesting. It shows West 42nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, about where the W.R. Grace building is now, and a zillion benches lining paths inside the park. All of those buildings have been razed and replaced, and in many cases, their replacements replaced. It was taken in 1912, one year before the Stern brothers built a large flagship store in about the same place on the block.

Photo: BPC Archive

This postcard, most likely of the park between 1913 and 1917 (after Stern's was built, but before the Eagle Hut and Victory Garden), shows the same stretch of West 42nd Street, a pre-Chrysler building skyline, and offers further evidence of park bench enthusiasm.

 Postcard: Pisark's

The retailer had been growing steadily for several years by the time Stern's built the 42nd Street flagship store. It was founded in 1867 as the Stern Brothers Department Store in Buffalo, New york. Just one year later, the company operated out of a one room store on Sixth Avenue, As the store grew, they eventually moved from the Sixth Avenue location, and built built a six-story Renaissance Revival building on West 23rd Street in 1879. Here it is in 1899:

Image: NYPL Digital

And again in 1905, after a few renovations and additions:

Image: NYPL Digital

The building still stands, but now houses a Home Depot that only seems to stock house paint, potted plants, and light fixtures. (If you need actual tools or hardware, venture to the outer borough locations.) Still, it's a pleasure to shop in because of natural light afforded by the huge windows and open floor plan.

Mattron flickr

In 1913 the company moved from this location to build a new flagship store on West 42nd Street, across from Bryant Park, where it would remain for many years. That building was nine stores tall, with a separate entrance for those wealthy enough to be in the know. The new building was a big enough deal for the Indiana Limestone Company to use it and the neighboring Aeolian building in a 1921 advertisement for their product.

Image: NYPL Digital

As one of the larger department stores in the city, Stern's had a vast inventory of goods. Here are some entertaining bits from the store's directory:

Subway / Basement Level - buying offices, and among other things, something called the Bryant Park Shops
Street Level - impulse buys for women (jewelry, cosmetics) and convenience for men (shoes, suits, etc.), and umbrellas, which have their own department
Street Floor Mezzanine - "surgical aids," cameras
2nd Floor - children's, lingere (These always on the same floor in most large department stores, and usually not too far from linens and bedding -- an entire female existence centered around sex.)
3rd floor -- fashion, fur, leather
4th Floor - domestics - drapes, bedding, and linens
5th Floor - fireplace shop (I know it's relevant for the early 1900s, but in today's context it's hilarious.)

The Department Store Museum has a complete listing, and other useful Stern's info.

By the late 1960s the sales in everything had declined significantly. The flagship store was moved to Bergen Mall in New Jersey, taking with it, West 42nd Street's status as a retail center. The building was sold and torn down to make room for the Grace Building, built by the W.R. Grace Chemical Company, and designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill Architects (SOM).

W.R. Grace Building, January 2012. Photo: A. Kumer

Construction started on the Grace building in 1971, and was completed in 1974. It is one of two buildings in the city to have a sloped facade. The other, also designed by Bunshaft is the Solow building. The design of the Grace building is rumored to come from the rejected sketches of the Solow building facade.

Though retail still exists on the ground floor of most of the buildings on this block, I doubt any have a fireplace department.

Other Sources:
Wikipedia
Emporius
To read more about The Stern Brothers' former locations, click here.

Climb High, Look Far

This post also appears on the Bryant Park blog.

In 1853 the Crystal Palace was built on the present site of Bryant Park. It was big, glass, extremely fancy, and modeled after the one erected in Hyde Park, London a few years before. Similar to the Hyde Park CP, the New York version housed a vast exhibition of the world's industrial innovations, consumer goods and artwork. The exhibits spilled out beyond the palace and onto bordering streets. Sideshows, food kiosks, makeshift zoos, and other attractions lined West 42nd and West 40th Streets. One of the most notable of these attractions was the Latting Observatory, a 315-foot tall iron and wood tower.

Image: NYPL digital

Built on West 43rd Street with an adjoining structure that went through to West 42nd Street, the Latting Observatory was anticipated to be one of  the "chief curiosities" in the city during the CP exhibition.

Image: BPC

Named after Warren Latting, and designed by architect William Naugle, the observatory afforded paying guests views to Staten Island, Queens, and New Jersey from three separate observation decks. The faux fish eye lithograph below shows the view from the tallest observation deck of the tower. In the foreground, along West 42nd Street, is the Crystal Palace on the right, near Sixth Ave., and the Croton Reservoir (later the site of the NYPL) bordered by Fifth Avenue.

Image: NYPL digital

The Latting Observatory was the tallest building in the city from the day it opened on July 1, 1853 until at least one year later, when the Crystal Palace exhibit closed in November 1854. After the closure, the observatory was bought by Hydeville Marble Works, who then removed the top 75 feet of the tower. Exactly one year after that, on August 30, 1856, it burned down in a fire started at a neighboring shop on 43rd Street.

Crosswalk in the Sky

This post also appears on Fashion Herald.

West 32nd Street is hectic to say the least. Since it isn't on my daily commute, I usually only go to buy some inexpensive stuff that I "need" at Jacks, eat something amazing in Koreatown, and also to stare at the Gimbels Traverse, sometimes also referred to as the Gimbels Skybridge, a relic of retail history and architecture that focused on aesthetics and function.

Photo: 34SP, A. Kumer

This Art Deco bridge, with its oxidized copper cladding make me happy as I try to navigate the insane pedestrian traffic on 32nd Street. In 1925 the retailer Gimbels bought the Cuyler building at 116 West 32nd Street to use primarily for their administrative offices. Built by the Cuyler Realty Co. in 1911, it sat across the street from the Gimbels flagship store (now Manhattan Mall) at 1275 Broadway. I've posted this picture before, but here is the Cuyler building a year after completion, and thirteen years before the Traverse.

Photo: MCNY

Right after the purchase, Gimbels hired architects Richard Harold (R.H.) Shreve and William Lamb (later to become 2/3 of the Firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon) to design the three-story passageway with copper cladding to connect the two buildings. (For 34th Street district enthusiasts, this firm also designed the Empire State Building, built in 1930-1931, and 1250 Broadway, built in 1967-1968; in our sister BID, Bryant Park, they designed 500 Fifth Avenue, built in 1931.)

The photo below shows West 32nd Street in 1977, including the traverse, the vertical Willoughby's sign (now Jack's), a vertical Gimbels sign, and at the southwest corner The Donald, now The Continental.

Photo: 1977, Whiskeygonebad flickr

Here it is now from half a block further east.

Photo: 34SP, A. Kumer

Surprisingly, the bridge isn't landmarked. To nominate it (or any other building) for landmark status, fill out this form and send it in to the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Other sources:
NYT. "Cuyler Building Sold for $2,000,000 . . . " December 16, 1921
Bowery Boys

The Lost Generation Occupies Some City Green

This post also appears on the Bryant Park blog.

At this time of year, the life-sized bronze Gertrude Stein statue is somewhat buried behind the holiday shops in Bryant Park. She is one of ten made from a cast by friend and sculptor Jo Davidson in Paris, in 1922, and possibly the only one displayed outdoors year-round. Davidson had a long list of commissioned busts, including Charlie Chaplin, Hellen Keller, and Frank Sinatra. Many of them can be seen here. The photo below, taken by friend and surrealist photographer Man Ray, shows Davidson working in his Paris studio, with his subject Gertrude Stein looking on.

Photo: Man Ray, 1922, Getty Museum

Stein was connected to the ex-pat art and literary scene of the times, coining the term "lost generation," later used by Hemingway to refer to that generation of authors: "You are all a lost generation," epigraph, The Sun Also Rises. Though most well-known for her writing and personal relationships, Stein, along with several members of her family, amassed an impressive art  collection, on display at the Grand Palais now until mid-January.Time to use up those miles!

The Bryant Park statue was donated by Dr. Maury Leibovitz, psychologist and art dealer, and unveiled in a small ceremony on November 5, 1992. In addition to the sculpture, Mr. Leibovitz owned an estate formerly belonging to Jo Davidson. Davidson has another Bryant Park connection -- for a time, he worked out of a studio at the Bryant Park Studios, on the corner of 40th Street and Sixth Avenue. So it's fitting that she found a home in the park.

Photo: BPC, Marco Castro

As for the other nine statues, I tracked down a few of them: one at The Met (they also have a beautiful Picasso portrait of her), supposedly one each at The Whitney and The Carnegie Museum of Art, and possibly one at The Smithsonian (it was on view last Spring, but could have been on loan).
  
Other Sources:
**The Parks Department has a monuments catalog available online. You can read about most every statue you've ever seen in the park system until your eyes bleed.
**Now you can settle all of those arguments about when the Post Modern ends and Contemporary begins with this handy chart.

Cornices to Curtain Walls on 32nd Street

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.

Finding a Bargain under a Bridge

This post also appears on Fashion Herald.

I LOVE dollar stores, especially Jack's. It's chaotic for sure (I have to be in the mood for an adventure), but there are great deals on a huge variety of merchandise. The first Jack's was opened at 16 East 40th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues. In 1994 Jack opened a second store on the first floor of 110 West 32nd Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, and three years later, a closeout retail store called Jack's World, on the 2nd and 3rd floors in the same building. Here is 110 West 32nd Street in 1912 -- it's the middle building with the sexy cornice and Penn Station in the background to the west.

Photo: MCNY

The photo above was taken just after the completion of its neighbor to the west, known then as the Cuyler Building, and later as the Gimbels Administration Building, and even later, as one host to the Gimbels Traverse, or skybridge (more on that later). As for the "Jack's" building -- visible below to the left of the skybridge -- it was probably built in the early 1900s.

According to  Walter Grutchfield's extremely informative website on New York City wall signs, 14 to 42, the building was occupied by a company called Alliance Press from about 1907 to 1938, and Protective Ventilator Co. from 1910-1916.  In 1916, Willoughby's Camera Stores purchased the building, setting up a much-loved shop on the ground floor. The camera and photography store (one of NYC's oldest) was there until 1994, bringing us full circle to Jack's. Again, 14 to 42 gives a concise history of Willoughby's, so I'm not sure I need to.  I can, via the MCNY photo collection, contribute a Willoughby's window from 1945:

Photo: MCNY