54e. Fulton-Nassau Historic District
Location: Roughly bounded by Broadway, Park Row, and Nassau, Dutch, William, Ann, Spruce, and Liberty Streets
Built: Multiple dates, mainly around 1860-1930
Architect: Multiple
National Register Number: 05000988
Listed: September 7, 2005
Visited: December 1, 2007; January 6, February 28, and March 2, 2008
The Bennett Building
(Arthur D. Gilman, 1872-73; additions, James M. Farnsworth, 1890-92)
We'll discuss cast-iron architecture at length once we snake our way up Manhattan a bit more, but for now it should suffice to say that, yes, it's a cast-iron building; that is, the faces of the building were made of an iron alloy heated until molten, poured into molds shaped into arches and cornices, and cooled.
Originally the Bennett was a six-story building done in the Second Empire style, complete with mansard roof. By the early 1890s, with the Bennett needing upgrades to its mechanical systems, and the Potter and the New York Times buildings only just erected down the street, a new owner decided to modernize the building by tearing off the roof (sucka) and adding several floors that closely replicated the ones below. It pushed the building away from the familiars of Second Empire architecture into...something else. Something machine-like, an example of repetition barely relieved by variation--a look conceptually appropriate for a structure partly the fruit of mass production; something so richly attired it seems as if the windows on the top floors are occluded by all the pilasters and arches. As a statement, it feels a bit extreme, and thrillingly so.
Back when I worked at the World Trade Center, strolling through the nabe on my lunch hour (and resigning myself to Teriyaki Boy), the Bennett was the most obvious indication that the neighborhood had any kind of history beyond the fly-by-night discount stores of dubious provenance. But it looked like shit, in poor condition, painted in smarmy Victorian pastels. Today, it's in an neutral cream that lets the texture of the building speak for itself: light casts deep shadows into its crevasses, while highlights glisten in the sun.
Built: Multiple dates, mainly around 1860-1930
Architect: Multiple
National Register Number: 05000988
Listed: September 7, 2005
Visited: December 1, 2007; January 6, February 28, and March 2, 2008
The Bennett Building
(Arthur D. Gilman, 1872-73; additions, James M. Farnsworth, 1890-92)
We'll discuss cast-iron architecture at length once we snake our way up Manhattan a bit more, but for now it should suffice to say that, yes, it's a cast-iron building; that is, the faces of the building were made of an iron alloy heated until molten, poured into molds shaped into arches and cornices, and cooled.
Originally the Bennett was a six-story building done in the Second Empire style, complete with mansard roof. By the early 1890s, with the Bennett needing upgrades to its mechanical systems, and the Potter and the New York Times buildings only just erected down the street, a new owner decided to modernize the building by tearing off the roof (sucka) and adding several floors that closely replicated the ones below. It pushed the building away from the familiars of Second Empire architecture into...something else. Something machine-like, an example of repetition barely relieved by variation--a look conceptually appropriate for a structure partly the fruit of mass production; something so richly attired it seems as if the windows on the top floors are occluded by all the pilasters and arches. As a statement, it feels a bit extreme, and thrillingly so.
Back when I worked at the World Trade Center, strolling through the nabe on my lunch hour (and resigning myself to Teriyaki Boy), the Bennett was the most obvious indication that the neighborhood had any kind of history beyond the fly-by-night discount stores of dubious provenance. But it looked like shit, in poor condition, painted in smarmy Victorian pastels. Today, it's in an neutral cream that lets the texture of the building speak for itself: light casts deep shadows into its crevasses, while highlights glisten in the sun.
posted by Michael at
12:11 AM
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