Kubrick

A couple of weeks ago, I was going through the MCNY digital archive for this post, and came across the Stanley Kubrick photo collection. It's awesome. I hadn't realized how much street photography he'd done prior to his film work. This image of a Columbia Professor messing with lights, taken in 1948, is especially good.

Image: MCNY

It reminded me of this shot of Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (imdb).

There's a 16 year gap between when the image and film were made, but the aesthetic seems on point.

Knox the Hatter

Hats and fascinators seem to be making a comeback, and not just for specific occasions. In 1800s New York, hatters and milliners were all over the place, and it remained a reliable trade until at least the 1960s-ish? President Kennedy stopped wearing hats around then, and so did everyone else, though I'm sure there were other influences.

The Knox Hat Company was founded in 1838 by Charles Knox, a few years after a major fire wiped out most of lower Manhattan. The first store was located on Fulton Street, a couple blocks away from Barnum's American Museum, which was destroyed by another major fire in 1865. Though the store remained intact, looters managed to lift a good portion of the stock (mostly Panama hats) during the fire's aftermath. The Hatter moved again, this time to 212 Broadway, next door to the National Park Bank. 

Knox Hatters at 216 Broadway in Lower Manhattan, 1895. Image: MCNY

Seeing retail make its move north, the Knox Hat Company set its sites on the SW corner of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue for the store's next location.

The SW corner of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue. Before the Knox building, it was occupied by the mansion of Lawrence Kipp, who died in 1899. Image: NYHS

The Knox Building was designed by City Architect John H. Duncan, whose work included Grant's Tomb in Manhattan. The stunning Beaux-Arts commercial building was built in 1901-1902.

From the LPC Report: "Knox retained ownership of the Knox Building until his death. In 1903 he had split the company into the Knox Manufacturing Company and the E.M. Knox Hat Retail Company. Offices for the company and main retail store were located in the building."

SW corner of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue, looking west on 40th Street, c. 1914. Image: NYHS

New construction was growing larger, taller, and more commercial throughout the early 1900s as retail moved north, and the city's  trains and trolleys brought increasing numbers of people into Manhattan for work and play.

In 1913, the Knox Hat Manufacturing Company was amalgamated with the E.M. Knox Retail Hat Company. The company Manufacturing building in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, still exists, though it's now residential.

Knox Hattery advertisement, 1913. Image: NYPL

Pre and post Empire State Building:

Same corner, looking south on Fifth Avenue, 1928 Image: MCNY

NYPL Fifth Avenue terrace, facing south towards 40th Street. Photo by Mike Roberts, 1960. Image: MCNY

The "Jaguar," popular throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1964, the Republic National Bank, then owners of the building, modified it to suit banking purposes (see LPC report for specifics, page 4), and in 1980, began construction of a neighboring tower.  (That bank was bought by HSBC in 1999.)

SW corner of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue, c. 1980. Image: BPC

The tower was completed in 1984 and the pair sort of give the impression of Sense and Sensibility meets Bonfire of the Vanities, architecturally speaking. . . .

SW corner of 40th and Fifth Avenue, 2013. Image: BPC, AK

Knox hats are still coveted by many on the interwebs, with many vintage men's and women's styles for sale on Ebay and Etsy.

Other Sources:
-Landmarks Designation Report, LP-1091
-NYT article on the development of 40th Street in the early 1900s.

Woolworth's on Fifth Avenue

Eleven years after B. Altman opened store at 34th and Fifth, the Woolworth's Board of Directors announced that the company would build a large store at the NE corner of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue. The new "Five and Ten Cent Store deluxe" Woolworth's opened in the Fall of 1917.

Parade route along Fifth Avenue -- most likely a WWI send-off parade. The parade is heading south; the view looking north. The Woolworth's store is on the far right, and brownstones where the future Arnold Constable building are to its right (north). Date, ca. 1917  Image: NYPL

Over ten years later, in 1930, the first supermarket was built in Jamaica, New York, making it possible for food shoppers to obtain most, if not all, of their groceries under one roof. That, along with the growth of the suburbs throughout the 1930s, popularized discount retailing. Discount retailers, such as Woolworth's, and in the 1950s, Korvette's and McCreery's, offered frequent sales, less individualized customer service, and savvy merchandising to attract a wide range of customers.

Window shopping on Fifth Avenue, ca. 1930. Image: MCNY

Throughout the 1930s, Woolworth's continued to grow and expand operations throughout the U.S. and in Canada. In 1937, the NYT announced that plans were filed to build the company's 1,000th store at 39th Street and Fifth Avenue, just one block south of the existing flagship store, and next door to the Arnold & Constable Co. store. It opened a year later, in 1938, sixty years after the the first  "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store" was opened in in Utica, New York. 

Fifth Avenue looking north from 39th Street, ca. late 1930s / early 1940s. Image: Pisark

The new Woolworth's store was designed by architects Starrett & van Vleck, known for designing the flagships of several other department stores, including Lord & Taylor, on Fifth Avenue between 38th and 39th Streets (It's still there.).

Woolworth's shopper shot by Stanley Kubrick, 1947. Image: MCNY

Before Woolworth's the NE corner of 39th Street and Fifth Avenue was home to the Union League Clubhouse. The Union League Club was founded on February 6, 1863, and incorporated on February 16, 1865 as a group of political elites in support of the Union. Among others, Bryant Park's namesake William Cullen Bryant was a member.

Union League Clubhouse, c. 1909, at the NE corner of 39th Street and Fifth Avenue. Image: LOC

The building at 39th Street and Fifth Avenue was the club's third location, having moved first from 17th Street to Madison Avenue and 26th Street. The club moved to 39th Street on March 5, 1881 and stayed until 1931, at which time it moved to it's present location at 37th Street and Park Avenue.

View of 39th Street and Fifth Avenue, showing the Union League Clubhouse and Arnold Constable & Co. store, 1929. Image: MCNY

The F.W. Woolworth Company went defunct in 1997, and as of 2001 the company has been part of Foot Locker Inc.

There are two Foot Locker stores in the 34th Street area, each within blocks of the former Woolworth's store at 35th Street and Broadway.

Woolworth's at 35th Street and Broadway, c. 1927 Image: Pisark

Other Sources
Union League Club Landmarks Preservation Commission Report, LP-2389
This book.
Wikipedia

Arnold Constable & Company: The Best Mansard in NYC

Just south of the Flatiron building, on East Nineteenth Street, between Broadway and Fifth Avenue, sits the  Arnold Constable Company building. It has one of the largest and most impressive mansards in the city. I can't think of another that is this palatial. It also looks to be two high-ceiling-ed stories tall. I'm awed in ways I can't explain.

Arnold Constable & Co. building, Broadway facade, April 2013. Photo: Anne Kumer

The company was originally founded in 1825 as a small dry goods store in lower Manhattan. In 1857 the founders built a five-story white marble store on Canal and Mercer Streets, a bit north. Because of the store's success, the need to expand again came in less than ten years. In 1869, the company moved farther north, this time to a cast-iron building on Broadway and Nineteenth Street. Designed by Griffith Thomas, the Broadway facade was constructed of white marble. One of the store's founders,  Aaron Arnold felt it was ". . . the only material elegant enough for a prosperous emporium." The AC & Co. was definitely that -- it catered to the carriage trade before the term even came into being, and is credited as being the city's first department store. Arnold died a year before the store's expansion along Nineteenth Street, straight to Fifth Avenue in 1876.

It looked (and looks) something like this:

The Arnold Constable & Co. building showing the Fifth Avenue facade looking east, 1877. Image: archiseek

In 1914, the NYT reported another move uptown to an undisclosed location. That location turned out to be the corner of West 40th Street and Fifth Avenue, directly across from the main NYPL building (built in 1911), near Bryant Park, and just one block south of this. The company traded in its cast iron and mansard glory for a much less decorative structure. French Second Empire be damned.

After the move to West 40th and Fifth Avenue, 1915. Image: MCNY

Around 1925, the store became part of A.T. Stewart Company -- a name in retail history that you can't swing a dead cat without encountering a million times -- and in the late 1930s, several branches of the store were built by then president, Isaac Liberman. In 1975 was forced to close its doors, 150 years after they originally opened in 1825.

This location is now the home of the NYPL Mid-Manhattan branch, but might not be for too long, though this could delay the progress some. The Mansard-ed up Broadway building is still home to a large retailer though: ABC Carpet & Home.

Other Sources:
Ladies' Mile Historic District designation report
Hendrickson, Robert. The Grand Emporiums, p. 154-155

Saks and Gimbels on Sixth

This post also appears on Fashion Herald.

A few years before the ground broke for Penn Station, construction was underway in Herald Square for a retailer new to the city: Saks. The company, founded by Baltimore merchant Andrew Saks, chose Herald Square as the location for its first New York store in part, because of its proximity to the Sixth Avenue elevated train and rumored Penn Station. Along with Macy's and a little later, Gimbels, these major stores would soon redefine Herald Square as a retail hub of the city.

View from Greeley Square, looking north at Herald Square, around 34th Street and Broadway, 1901. Image: MCNY

The Saks building, designed by architecture firm Buchman & Fox, the same firm that would later design the World's Tower building on West 40th Street. Though Saks and Macy's were more or less neck and neck with their store construction and opening announcements, Saks still managed to open its doors just five weeks before Macy's in 1902. Unlike Macy's, a store composed of several departments, Saks in the early 1900s sold only clothing, making it not quite a true department store. Around the same time, one avenue over, Benjamin Altman was purchasing lots on Fifth and 34th to build his new store B. Altman & Co.

The completed Saks building at West 33rd Street with its competitor Macy's one block north at West 34th Street, 1902. Image: MCNY

Those two coexisted, offering consumers slightly different inventories -- Saks was an upscale clothing-based retailer, and Macy's catered to the general consumer with a large variety of merchandise-- until 1909, when another large retailer, Gimbels, joined the fray. Founded by Adam Gimbel in Vincennes, Indiana, Gimbels built its first large store in Philadelphia, PA, before constructing a New York branch just one block south of the Saks store, on Sixth Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Streets. Three large department stores in a row + public transportation = retail district.

Gimbels store at Sixth Avenue, between 32nd and 33rd Streets, 1912, thirteen years before the Gimbels Traverse was built. Image: MCNY

Model wearing a Gimbels dress, 1914. Image: LOC

Similar to Macy's, Gimbels was a large department store and family business.  Adam Gimbel had several sons, many of whom worked for the Gimbels Company: Isaac Gimbel became President in 1894, and was the driving force behind the store's expansion to the New York market; that same year, Ellis Gimbel took over Public Relations and advertising for the company. In 1921, he started the first Thanksgiving Parade in Philadelphia, PA, three years before Macy's began its iconic parade in New York City.

The company purchased Saks in 1923, and one year later, created the Saks Fifth Avenue brand, and opened its first store. The 34th Street location was kept open, and the Saks 34th brand was created. High end retail was moving farther north along Fifth Avenue, and the building's out-of-date construction (it didn't have escalators) were key factors in the decision to close the store in 1965.

Looking north from Greeley Square with the Gimbels and Saks buildings on the left, [1965]. Postcard: Anne

In 1967, discount retailer Korvette's moved into the Saks building. They "modernized" the facade, as seen below. Founded in 1947 by Eugene Ferkauf in a small store on Fifth Avenue and West 47th Street, Korvette's expanded quickly, with 2,684 stores in operation by the mid-1960s. This decade also saw a general rise in the national presence of discount retailers.

Same view as above, [1969]. Postcard: Anne

Gimbels stayed open until 1986. When it finally closed, it was cited as the store with the largest shoplifting rate of any in the country, largely because of the Gimbels Corridor. Originally built as a convenience to shoppers, the underground passageway connected the store to Penn Station a couple blocks away, and provided shoplifters with an easy escape. By the 1970s, the corridor had a horrible reputation and was the scene of more than a few gruesome crimes. This very opinionated description from a NY Post  article (are there any other kinds of NY Post articles?) pretty much sums it up: "In the midst of teeming Midtown, bare-bulb fixtures like those in mines marked a path through a Calcutta-like sprawl of diseased, predatory humanity."

After Gimbels closed, the building was renovated, and in 1989, reopened as A&S Plaza, and is now the home of JC Penney and the Manhattan Mall. Next door, the Saks building, now the Herald Center Mall, is slated for yet another makeover.

B. Altman's Palace of Trade Moves Uptown

This post also appears on Fashion Herald.

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

Plunging Horses and Vanishing Elephants at New York's Hippodrome Theater

In 1905, on the edge of Manhattan's theater district, a new, incredibly large theater was built -- the Hippodrome. Situated alongside the Sixth Avenue elevated train line on Sixth Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets, the Hippodrome was built  and managed by the creators of Coney Island's Luna Park, Frederic Thompson and Elmer Dundy.

The Hippodrome on Sixth Avenue in 1905. The Sixth Ave. elevated tracks are on the left. Image: LOC

The theater had a seating capacity of 5,300 and a giant stage that could accommodate 1,000 performers. It was also equipped with an 8,000 gallon clear glass water tank that could be raised and lowered onto the stage. The theater opened to a packed audience on April 12, 1905, and, in its early years, was known for featuring an equestrian ballet with "100 lady bareback riders" and 80 horses plunging into the tank.  Also, in 1913, the Victor Military Band performed, and the LOC has the recording.

The Hippodrome stage in the early 1900s shortly after its opening in 1905. Image: LOC

One of the more extravagant acts to hit the stage was magician Harry Houdini's Vanishing Elephant trick performed on January 7, 1918. With the help of the tank, Houdini made an elephant, "Jennie" and her trainer disappear in front of a captivated audience.

Houdini and Jenny on the Hippodrome stage, 1918. Image: LOC

In addition to stellar and strange bookings, the theater also had consistent money and management problems. Its astronomical operating costs ensured that the managers and bookers had to keep up with the public's fickle entertainment tastes: in 1923 performances included vaudeville acts, and in 1925 the theater began screening movies. Still, it couldn't be saved, and the Hippodrome closed its doors for good on August 16, 1939. The building was demolished and the lot used for parking. In the early 1950s, a parking garage was built on the parking lot.

The Hippodrome parking garage, November 27, 1954. Image: MCNY

The building there now bears the same name, though its purpose has changed, as the neighborhood has, to reflect its current status as a commercial center of the city.