Correspondence

Emily Post-It - her coop at 79th & Madison, plus Bruce Price freebie....

CAPS FOR CLARITY...

 

In a message dated 2/21/2005 11:13:32 AM Eastern Standard Time, LClar210@  writes:

1. How impressive a building project do you think the original Colony Club for women really was?     HOW IMPRESSIVE COMPARED TO WHAT?  I AM NOT SURE I WOULD USE THAT WORD AT ALL, AT LEAST ARCHITECTURALLY.

2. How impressive was Emily Post's coop building in the mid twenties: was it as unusual an arrangement as she claimed in later years?   I AM NOT SURE WHAT SHE CLAIMED.  IT WASN'T 'GROUNDBREAKING', IF THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE GOING, IN THE SENSE THAT IT BRILLIANTLY ARRIVED AT SOMETHING NEW.  INDEED, IF I RECALL CORRECTLY, IT WAS ONE OF THE LAST OF ITS KIND.    IT WAS, HOWEVER,  DISCREET, INGENIOUS AND SUAVE.   

 

3. How can I find out what an architect like Bruce Price would have earned from, say, the American Surety building? ( I enclose below a note in the NY TImes re a charge related to his building in 1901, I think it was.)

 

THE NOTE ABOVE (AS I SEE IT) DOES NOT RELATE TO HIS FEE, BUT RATHER THE TOTAL COST.  ARCHITECTS ALMOST ALWAYS CHARGED A PERCENTAGE FEE ON NEW CONSTRUCTION, INDEED SUCH FEES WERE TYPICALLY "SET" BY THE AIA, A GROUP WITH WHICH BRUCE PRICE WOULD CERTAINLY HAVE ALIGNED HIMSELF.  BECAUSE THIS PRACTICE WAS SUBJECT TO PUBLIC CRITICISM, I THINK THE DETAILS WOULD BE COVERED IN THE PUBLIC PRESS, EG. THE TIMES.  THERE IS EXTENSIVE COVERAGE OF THIS ISSUE IN THE ARCHITECTURAL TRADES, AS WELL, ALTHOUGH HARDER FOR A GENERALIST TO PIN DOWN - THE AVERY INDEX TO ARCHITECTURAL PERIODICALS WILL HELP.   THUS THE PERCENTAGE AS AGAINST THE TOTAL COST OF THE PROJECT YIELDS THE ARCHITECT'S FEE.   BUT ARCHITECTS ARE ALWAYS BARGAINED DOWN, AND THE "PROJECT" IS OF VARIABLE SIZE.  INTERIORS?  FURNISHINGS?  STRUCTURAL STEEL?  HVAC?    IN SHORT: YOU CAN MAKE AN INFORMED GUESS, BUT LORD KNOWS.

 

4. How best to get a sense of how good Price really was, in the panteon of great architects?(George Post was, of course, a relative to Emily Post by marriage, and it is hard not to compare the two artists.)

UMM. MATTER OF TASTE.  I VENTURE THAT YOUR TASTE, SINCE YOU ARE ON THE GROUND, IS SUPERIOR TO OTHERS'.   THERE IS VERY LITTLE CRITICAL/ COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ARCHITECTS' ABILITIES - MOST WRITING "BOOMS" EACH ARCHITECT, AND NEGATIVE REMARKS ARE HELD TO A MINIMUM.    I WOULD NEVER HAVE THOUGHT TO COMPARE PRICE, AN ARCHITECT WHO EMPHASIZED CONNOISSEURSHIP AND INDIVIDUALISM, WITH POST, AN ARCHITECT WHO (APPARENTLY) CONCENTRATED ON CREATING A LARGE ARCHITECTURAL OFFICE.    THEIR COMPARATIVE OBITS, ESP. IN THE ARCHITECTURAL TRADES, WOULD BE ONE WAY TO EVALUATE.

Thanks so much for any thoughts you can share on the above. All best, Laura Claridge

MY THOUGHTS OFTEN MUDDY THE WATERS. 

 

Best,

 

 

Christopher Gray

"Streetscapes" Columnist, Sunday Real Estate Section, The New York Times

Which war? Synagogues on the upper west side

In a message dated 3/14/2005 9:30:19 PM Eastern Standard Time, janerose7@  writes:

Thanks. I actually have a 3rd question. It appears that there are many prewar synagogues located on mid-block sites (such as Young Israel on W. 91st St. and Bnai Jeshurun on W. 89th St.) while most prewar churches appear to be  located on avenues. Is this just anecdotal observation?

Interesting, isn't it?   I think there is a "which war do you mean?" issue here: the early religious institutions on the upper west side were Christian, and took up the corner sites, when they were more widely available.   The synagogues arrived in the 1910's, when fewer corners were available.  I think that is likeliest.  But it's a hard thing to demonstrate. 

 

c

Survival of old Biltmore Hotel yellow brick road to underground garage...

In a message dated 4/3/2004 10:08:58 PM Eastern Standard Time, jferatetours@  writes:

There was no need to demolish the Biltmore Garage, so it is still there - complete with its cream-colored Guastavino tile ceilings and its yellow (Kreischer?) brick floors. I suspect the yellow brick is the same brick that was once used to pave the walkway up Park Avenue, but I have not researched that.

I haven't been to the site yet, but plan to go on Monday.  But could I ask if you have >>>constructive knowledge<<< that this was anything more than a freight entrance?  Is the "Parking" sign in period script or signage? Or do you have a basement floor plan, brochure or other document indicating a "garage".

 

In about 12,000 words published on the new Biltmore hotel in 1913-1915, and extensive coverage of its ice plant, telephone system, etc., there is no mention of a garage.  Indeed, with subsurface space being at a premium (with the railroad nearby, and with subsurface pedestrian access, and with the builders of the hotel themselves constructing and operating a garage designed in 1917, it seems unlikely that the owners would have given over basement space to a garage in a hotel with several thousand rooms.   Even a 200 place garage in the basement would have required a 36,000 square foot area just for the cars, not to mention the travel lanes.  

 

I have found a first floor plan - which shows the indentation on 44th Street, but does not identify the opening - but not (yet) a basement plan. 

 

Many buildings at this time were built with off-street loading and unloading docks - the Belnord, the Apthorp, Lord & Taylor, are among those.  

 

It is not dispositive that a garage in the Biltmore was not listed in period advertisements and yellow pages-type sources (since it might have been a "captive" operation), but I do note that a search in the Times for "Biltmore Hotel" AND "garage" yields no relevant results.   Ads for the Bank of America building reference only a "freight entrance", not parking, although of course that could have been just a later condition.

 

Best,  Christopher