Summary 35-story,equipment Art Deco skyscraper opefloors haveThis mechanical and the water ned in 1930 Club. A tank. The ideaasofthe an Downtown athletic clubAthletic in a skyscraper, membership businesswith differentassociation functions geared on eachtoward floor, has been men lawyers who worked in lower Manhattan, calledand “the apotheosis of the Skyscraper as instruthe Downtown Athletic was founded in 1926. ment of the Culture of Club Congestion.”18 This builBy had purchased this site next tofor the living, Hudding1927 wasit called the ultimate machine son River to desirable forms construct its own building. The high encouraging of human intercourse cost of land necessitated a tall building, andbuilding the reand the pursuit of bodily perfection. The latively small lot size dictated that theserves different is faced in mottled orange brick which as a functions facilities thedesigns of club, including swimfoil for theand varied colorsofand its neighbor ming pool, The gymnasium, miniature golf the course, to the north. fine brickwork, seen in corsquash, and tennis as well as dining rooms belling around the courts, entrances, the window recesses,
and living the open quarters, work be at accommodated the roof parapets on separate create an elegantThe floors. yetDowntown subtle design. Athletic Other Clubtextural became most variations areasformed famous the home by setting of thethe Heisman brick vertically Trophy, giin some sections ven every yearandtobythe stylized most columns outstanding (around college the main entrances)and football player, of named brick set after at angles John Heisman, to the plane the of the facade. club’s first athletic The director. brick is The relieved prolific by architectulight stone sillsfirm ral and of Starrett parapet caps & Van andVleck darkdesigned bronze spandrels the builwhoseThe ding. chevron same firm designs created were thea neighboring common jazz-age tower motif. Club at 21 West Street History John (a designated Heisman, New former Yorkcoach City of Georgia Tech’s “Golden Landmark), with which the Club Tornado” shares football its moderteam was the nistic style club’s andfirst skillfully athleticapplied director. brickwork. In 1935, club The member boxy shape Willard and variety Prince ofproposed setbacks in the the idea Downof a
town Athletic Club club-sponsored award Building for the demonstrate year’s outstanding the efcollege fects of football the 1916player, Building decided Zoneby Resolution, sports writers but and broadcasters, also give some indication with no influence of the various by thepurposes club or its members.different assigned to While the sections prize of was thefirst building. namedThe for the Downtown architects juxtaposed Athletic theClub, simple it was massing renamed of the in Heisman’swith stylized, building honor after theater-like his death inentrance 1936 andproshas developedoninto ceniums both facades a covetedandtrophy, a dextrous awarded use of every flat year. The and angledclub brick, needed creating to attract a dramatic a membership addition to of more than the city’s skyline. 5,000 The powerful to support its large chevron building motifsand in the many programs. rectangular areas Because overthe theclub entrances relied on andlawyers, in the spandrels bankers and between those involved the windows with ofdowntown the upperbusistories nesses, areits membership a variation of aand common prosperity design have theme reflecof
ted period, Wall Street‘s financial 1936,ofwith the reflective of the reversals. speed andIn energy the 3,500 members, the Downtown Athletic filed Jazz Age. 2 DESCRIPTION AND Club ANALYfor bankruptcy. As Area1 The a result of southernmost reorganization, SIS History of the tipthe of club lost control its building to part the General ReManhattan is the of oldest inhabited of the island. alty and was It was so Utilities densely Corporation. built up that The early building in the city‘s sold again 1947adjacent and repurchased in facing 1950. The history, the in areas to the shore the recession the toearly 1990sin to create also decreased the East Riverof began be filled more useclub‘s membership rolls side, considerably.19 able land.2 On the west this processIndid1977, not the change in club operations beginbiggest until 1835, when a devastating fireoccurred created when voted admit wothe needthe for membership a place to deposit the to resulting debris, men, both to reflect landowners the changingfrom population of causing prominent the area Wall Street the workers andhave to increase the extenoverall to petition city to West Street
membership numbers.20 Other changes the ded southward from Cedar Street to theover Battery. years been restricted to and moderThus have the entire block of Westupdating Street, from Battery nizing the interiors. An example a redesign of Place to Morris Street (where the was Downtown Aththe to include bar, after the in repeal leticmain Clubrestaurant is located), is built aupon landfill the of Prohibition.21 the dining room on the Hudson River; in In 1952, accordance with the terms of fifteenth storygrants made was extended forward to city.3 meetThe the certain water earlier by the front of the building on the West Street facaearliestwall occupants of this newly-created area constde. Although the Club has (houses, existed and ructed individual buildings storeproviand ded athletic facilities other services to its memdwellings, stables, or and tenements) on standard 25bers lots. for Over more the than 70 years, has oftencentufaced foot course of theitnineteenth financial difficulties. Currently, similarcommerreasons, ry, as lower Manhattan became aforstrictly plansarea, are underway for the upper floorsthe of the cial piers were built around rimbuilof
Manhattan ding to be converted island, and into ownership residential of this condominiblock of ums, leaving West Street the Club began towith change the lower fromfloors.22 Deindividuals scription Thirty-eight to realty and warehouse stories companies. high, the These Downtown new Athletic Club owners purchased Building numerous rises through small lots a series and assemof setbacks bled larger parcels to stand significantly to accommodate taller new, thanlarger its two inneighbors. dustrial and With two office buildings.4 main facades Thefacing lots on West which and Washington the Downtown Athletic Streets, the tops ClubofBuilding its northwas andconstsouth facades ructed were (with purchased fenestration by patterns the Whitehall similar Realty to the other Company sides)(a are large landholder also visible. The in the building area) in is faced 1909. with They mottled were resold orange to the brick Downtown and carries Athletic decorative Club metal in 1927, andfor glassits panels above headquarters.5 the two The main Downtown entries and on Club The Athletic the spandrels Downtown beneathAthletic many Club windows, was
founded in 1926 a membership association prowhich have steel,asdoublehung sash. The window viding facilities sills andconvenient parapet capsrecreational are of limestone, and for the men, builprimarily lawyers andbase. West businessmen who worked in ding sits on a granite Street Facade Base: lower Manhattan. Firstruns located in the BuilThe four-story base across theSinger full width ding 149 thecentral expanding clubis soon of theatlot. AnBroadway, over-scaled entrance forpurchased lots inband the middle of the block bricks south med by asixbroad of vertically-laid of Morris Street, facing West Washington which projects above the base andand is supported by Streets. 1928, according to clubcreated president and two setsBy of three stylized columns by profinancier, Schuyler Van Vechten Hoffman, club jecting bricks. These columns rise abovethe a high had 1,000 and was planning a 44-story granite basemembers which is ornamented on each side by which was to include (among faciabuilding, round bronze medallion with the clubother emblem. lities)ensemble a full, 18-hole firstentablature published The formsgolf course. a type of The grand
design by within which Starrett is the & Van largeVdoorway opening, leck showed a classicallywhich at the time detailed, pyramid-topped of designation, was tower blocked by similar to a constother ruction early work shed. byThe the opening firm.6 Less than is crowned a year by a flat later,methe tal marquee building hadwith beenstanding scaled back gold to letters 35 stories stating and the namethe took of the simplified, club and modernistic a non-historic form fabric of thecanoexispy extends ting building. At beneath the the opening marquee, of theacross clubhouse the full in width of the1930, September, sidewalk. the Downtown Above the Athletic marqueeClub and within the entablature, claimed 3,286 members,isincluding a large window 1,000 life opening, memdivided bers.7 The by metal club had mullions its own into manager, twelve athletic parts. Each disection displays rector, and boxing multi-toned instructor, brown and facilities glass in a in chevthe ron newpattern. Above building included a this window swimming are pool; several miniature rows of corbelled bricks golf course; racquet, leadingsquash, to a flatand stonetennis panel courts; which
bowling alleys; and billiard rooms; as well as 143 in turn, is also topped by brick corbelling. There sleeping several dining are two rooms bays toand each side of this rooms.8 Starrett grand entrance & Vansingle Vleck9 Goldwin (1874-1918) Ernest with windows thatStarrett are slightly recessed 6 and Allen Vleck (1875-1956) Goldwin Starrett was linkedVan vertically by plain brick piers. The windows one of second five brothers in construction and arat the story active have vertical metal casement chitecture. Born in Lawrence, Kansas, he grewsash. up sash and those above have double-hung metal in Chicago, attended school of Beneath theand second storythe engineering windows, the projecting the University of Michigan, 1894. bricks simulate columns whichgraduating rise from in the base Starrett the path of his bays twoand to older to the sillthen levelfollowed at the second and fourth brothers, architectural offices of D.H. the level entering of the the second story at the first and Burnham & Co.,the where hestory rose widows to become of fifth bays. Above third is aone broad Burnham’s assistants. brick, In 1898 Goldwin parapet facedprincipal with vertically-set capped with
Starrett limestone. A joined granite his brother cornerstone Theodore is located at theinNew the York southernmost corner firm of George A. ofFuller this facade, Construction Comengraved with pany, the dateas1929. Mid-section: superintendent The and building assistantsetsmanaback ger. Goldwin, above the fourth along story withtobrothers the fifteenth Theodore, story.RalThe ph, northern and bay of this William section A., is distinct formed from the rest the Thompson-Starrett of this facade and continues Construction straightCompany through the in 1901. fifteenth Hestory, was with the architect a series of forsmall, several plain buildings paired constructed windows which by this have firm, including slightly recessed the Algonquin spandrels Hotel and are(1902, linked a designated vertically from New York the fourth City Landstory mark), mezzanine and through the Hahne the Department fifteenth story. Store (There in Neare wark, no windows New Jersey. at theGoldwin Starrett sixth-story mezzanine spent four and yethe ars fifteenth-story with the windows E. B. Ellis do not have Granite recessed Company spanin
Vermont, drels.) Thesupplying rest of thethis facade fineofwhite this section stone is toevensuch ly divided into important buildings five bays. as There the Woolworth are no windows Building on the fourth,a sixth (1910-13, designated and sixth Newstory mezzanine York City Landmark) levels. At the and Union fifth story Station each in Washington. bay contains aD.C. grated In ope1907 ning Ernestformed Allen Van in brick. Vleck At joined the seventh through Starrett to form the thirteenth firm of Starrett stories & Van the Vleck. windows A native are inset slightly of Bell Creek, in the Nebraska, brick and Van linked Vleck vertically received an by architectural decorative metal despandrel gree frompanels Cornell bearing University a chevron in 1897, followed motif. There are by plain a traveling brickfellowship spandrels in at Europe. the fourteenth Van Vleckand contififteenth nued the stories, firm under and the thefifteenth same name story after Goldwin has a nonhistoric Starrett‘sgreenhouse death in 1918. which In his wasobituary added to Van Vleck enclose the was balcony credited outside with the thisdesign level. The of the building firm‘s sets la-
ter 1908,at the Orrinsixteenth Rice wasstory, adbackbuildings.10 About again from West Street mitted to the mechanical equipment architectural partnership, from which houses andand has three 1913 1918, William A. Starrett This was also a partner small towindows for ventilation. section goes in thethe firm. At this to time it was known as Starrett from sixteenth the twenty-sixth story, with&a Van Vleck and (although notsouth exclusismaller block onspecialized each side. (That on the side vely) in commercial buildings and mezzanine schools. In New extends through the eighteenth story York, theonfirm retail buildings and that the also 3 created north through large the twentieth story.) for of the bays city‘s on finest stores, including the Thesome four central floors seventeen through Lord & Taylor store (1914),verticallythe Saks twenty-five are department comprised of recessed, Fifth department store (1922-24, a designalinkedAvenue windows with decorative spandrels. A parated York twenty-sixth City Landmark), a major pet New at the floor has expansion limestone of Bloomingdales department store (1930), and the caps. The upper section of the building is indicated
Abraham by anotherand setback Strauss at department the twenty-sixth store floor. in downThe four recessed, town Brooklyn vertically-linked (1929). Starrettwindow & Van Vleck desigbays continue numerous ned from the office twenty-sixth buildings,through many ofthe which are thirtyfourthextant, still story. The decorative including a new spandrels facade continue for the on this section, Curb (now American with a slight Stock) variation Exchange of motif Building between the (1930), the Equitable twenty-eighth Life Assurance and twenty-ninth Society Builstories. Top: ding (1922-23, 393 The thirty-fifth Seventhstory Avenue), caps the the Canadian building. A narrow Pacific Building on brick bandMadison distinguishes Avenue this (1919-20), floor, which and also has the Royal decorative Insurance brickBuilding chevronson on the Canal piersStreet between each (1927), as well of the as apartment four bays. The houses parapet at 820 above and this 817 Fifth floor Avenue (located has alternating sections within the of solid Upperand East angled Side Historic brick andDistrict), the is topped by Everett limestone Building caps.(1908, A smaller a de-
signated tower located over New York City the northern Landmark), part and ofnumerous the building houses school buildings mechanical in Newequipment York City and aitswater subtank. It is ornamented urbs. In their earlier work, by three such as recessed the Lord brick & Taypanelsand lor on each Saks stores of its four and the facades largeand office is capped buildings by similar such as that brickwork for theon its Equitable parapet. Washington Life Assurance Street SociFacade Base: ety, Starrett &The VanWashington Vleck used Street a moreentrance conservative, is similar Renaissance to but Revival less elaborate style, typical than the of entrance the popular on West designs Street. Centered of that period.within Beginning the four-story about 1929, basethe is a slightly style of theprojecting, firm’s workthree-story, changed radically, central exemplientrance bay. Abylarge doorway fied the Bloomingdale‘s with aaddition, revolvingthe door Brooklyn is topped by a metal marquee Abraham & Strauss store,and thea Curb non-historic Exchange, fabric 21 awning West Street, as on and the the West Downtown Street Athletic facade. Above Club.The the
work of this doorway at the period reflected second story, is the a three-section modernisticopedening containing signs seen in contemporary Art a metal grating fronted Deco skyscrapers, by a series of metal with an chevrons. emphasisThis section on finely executed is topped brickwork by a series of corbelled and structurally-derived bricks and flanked ornament. A by paired link between stylized these columns, two formed seemingly bydistinct angled styles bricks, can be resting found on ina the highNational granite base. Association A broad Building brick panel, (8 West effectively 40th Street, an entablature, demolished). crowns 11 the In whole 1920, entry critic area. The John Boyd Taylor sections to each called sidethis of recently-completed the doorway are simple, midblock structure two small windows „oneonofthe thefirst most story beautiful and a window business buildings in and a ventilating New York, grate at in the its tower-like second story aspect, on the exquisite south. On outlines, the northern fineness side of scale is a and garage beautifully entranblended color ce topped by an of opening light tan with brickbrick and limestone grating at dethe
tails that fuse like second story. A series a pattern of seven of tapestry small windows in the upper is at the third story,New portions.“12 with York three inArchitecture the central bay in and the two on each 1920s The years side. 1925 Continuous to 1931 were stonea sills timelink of trethe windows mendous building of each section. and growth Mid-section: in New York The builCity. ding During sets1925, backfifteen from the newfourth officestory skyscrapers throughwere the erected, sixteenthand during story, with 1926, a separate thirtybay more on the towers northern were side built.of1929 this facade and 1930 which continues were the peak in the years same for plathe ne through the construction of office twentieth buildings story. in Centered the ArtinDeco this side bayDespite style.13 at eachthe level crash (from of the the fifth stock to market, the ninethoteenth se buildings stories) which is a had single, been small previously window planned with a stonefinanced and sill. These went windows forward.areLarge skyscrapers joined vertically daby slightly-recessed ting to those yearsbrick included spandrels. the Empire State The larger part Builof
ding (1929-31, 350 Fifth a designated this section is faced with Avenue, a plain brick wall fromNew the York City Landmark), the stories, Chrysler Building fourth through the seventh interrupted (1928-30, 405brick Lexington Avenue, New only by five gratings at the a designated fifth story. BeginYork atCity theare Daily News ning the Landmark), seventh story,and there five bays of Builwinding (1929-30, 220 in East Street, a designated dows, slightly inset the42nd brick, and joined vertiNew Landmark) inspandrels midtown, through and the cally York by City ornamental Manhattan Company Building (1929-30, the fourteenth story. The fifteenth story is 40 Wall marked Street, a designated Newa York City Landmark), the by taller windows and continuous stone sill and City Bank-Farmers Trust Company thin stone cornice. The sixteenth story housesBuilmeding (1930-31, 20 Exchange Place, a designated chanical equipment and has five grated openings New York City Landmark) and the for ventilation in a plain wall. The nextIrving setbackTrust beBuilding 1 Wall Street) an downtown. Infgins at the(1929- 32, seventeenth story, with irregular glass
railing rastructure at theimprovements edge of the balcony. in various Fromparts the sevenof the teenth city spurred through new development. the twenty7 1. For The early demolition developof ment the Second patterns Avenue Elevated along the shoreline, pavedsee theAnn way L. forButTutenwieser, dor City onManhattan the east side, Water-Bound and the Brooklyn-Battery (New York: New Tunnel York in University lower Manhattan Press, 1987) madeand travel Helen between Worden, Manhattan Round and Brooklyn Manhattan’s easier Rim while(Indianapolis: eliminating Bobbs- Merrill much east-west Co., traffic 1934). 2. in lower This Manhattan, did not occur near at the site sameoftime this West Street on the city‘sbuilding. Art west side because Deco Stythe water le14 The there Artwas Deco much or modernistic deeper and style it was more of architecdifficult ture appeared to build piers in this in such country deepprimarily water. In from addition, the the mid-1920s through west side was more the 1930s developed and haswith beenhomes called and an “avant-garde traditionalist”15 businesses other than shipping. approach 3. “West to creaSt.
Building ting a contemporary Has No Basement,” idiom The for buildings New Yorkof Times that (Dec. 7,As 1930), Sec. II, 18:2. 4. For example, the masperiod. in other selfconsciously modern periods, designers sive Whitehall and critics expressed Building, developed the need by the forWhitea new style hall Realty which Company would be asappropriate a speculative office for the „Jazz builAge,“ ding onand theall southern its accompanying end of the block, technological was builtdein velopments. two stages, beginning Much of inthe 1902-03, architecture with a known nineteenas story Deco, section facingwas Battery designedstanby Art however, based Place on accepted, dard Henryforms J. Hardenbergh. and construction The architectural techniques,firm which of were Clinton given & Russell a modern then cast designed through the a thirty-one use of a story characteristic addition, built ornament in 1909-11. and a According variety of materials, to Sarah Bradford and Carl Condit of way. the some newLandau and some simply used in Rise a new Most New York of the Skyscraper architects(New activeHaven: in thisYale style received University
Press, 1996),Beaux-Arts p. 329, seventeen older structures were traditional training emphasizing the demolished to makeasway of the plan and elevations the for firstthis andsection most imporbuilding. 5. York County of the tant phases New in the design of aOffice building. ToRegisthese ter, Liber Deeds Conveyances, Liber 3603, painitial steps wereandadded design and ornamental ges 353, “Downtown Athletic Club, New York ideas which evolved from numerous influences inCity,” Architecture 63 (Jan., 1931), p. 5. cluding: the Paris and 1925Building Exposition International 354,Arts and 352, June 24,the well-publicized 1927. 6.The New York Times des Decoratifs, designs of (March 25,Secessionists and 1928), 3:2. 7. Walter L. Conwell, presithe Vienna the Wiener Werkstatte, dent of the Safety Car Heating and as Lighting Comthe German Expressionists, as well American arpany wassuch clubas Frank president at the time. 8.and In Louis a contemchitects Lloyd Wright Sulporary magazine article, “Downtown Athletic livan, contemporary theatrical set designs, and MaClub, New York City,” Architecture and Building yan and other Native American forms. The overall
63 (Jan., 1931), p. 5, the interior decorations shape of tall buildings of this period came aboutand as furnishings were compared rooms on a steama result of the 1916 BuildingtoZone Resolution of ship to besetbacks the finest high style of Newand considered York which decreed at various levels the period. They specially designed by interito allow light andwere air to reach the lower stories of or designers and Barnet Phillipsarin buildings in Duncan Hunter an increasingly dense city. In 1922, achitect variety of treatments color schemes all and critic and Harvey Wiley which Corbett “blended intoand a single esthetic.” The interiors of (1873- 1954) architectural renderer Hugh Ferthis building are notexplored under consideration forof landriss (1889- 4 1962) the possibilities the mark 9. The information this seczoningdesignation. law in a series of drawings whichinillustrated tion comes stages of primarilydesign from the research of the progressive based on thefiles law’s reLandmarks Preservation Commission, Starrett in & strictions. These dramatic renderings, published Van Vleck; and(1923) and LPC, TheinEverett Building DesigPencil Points Metropolis of Tomor-
row nation (1929), Report significantly influenced (LP-1540) (NY: City contemporary of New York, 1988). 10. The „E. A. Van Vleck, An laws Architect,“NYT architects. drawings and the from which they (Aug.came 8, 1956). 11. directedUnder the architects’ attention the entry for „Goldwin to the Starrett“ building asinathe whole National rather Cyclopedia than to a single of American facade of Biography, the structure, Starrett thus altering is given credit the whole design for the design proof this cess.building. By visualizing It notes, buildings „On the “from completion every possible of this building William R.was Mead (q.v.) of McKim, Mead angle” the architect transformed from a desig& nerWhite, of facades remarked: into a‚He “sculptor has beaten in building masses.” us all in office building 16 The design.‘ zoning „ eighth law provided stories, the architects buildingwith has four a sound, baysrational of vertical rows basis for of thewindows, form of the capped skyscraby a stone at theasparapet per as well a new of the sourcetwenty-ninth of creativity; story. The historical final styles setback did not seem goes tofrom express thethis twenty-ninth modern sensibisto-
ry through lity and consequently, the thirty-fifth a new story.“skyscraper The vertical style” rows of windows continue Major through the thirty-fourth emerged in the 1920s. characteristics of the new style, as generated story, stopped by a horizontal in partbrick by the band. Top: zoningThe restrictions, thirty-fifthwere sculpted story carries massing, the samebold patterns and setbacks, and orornament nament as subordinated on the West Street to thefacade. overallThe narrow mass. The dramatic rendering tower for the mechanical style of equipment Ferriss and and others water toartiwer is visible on modernist this side ofaesthetic. the building. North culated this new In addition, an emphasis Facade: Moston the of this verticality facade is plain of thebrick tall building and not came from visible because Eliel Saarinen‘s of the building influential to the second-prize north at winning competition 21 West Street. Above entry this neighboring for the Chicago structure, Tribu-a few windows are visible,the andsame the time, waterthe tower disne Building in 1923. At surfaces of these plays the new buildings same ornament wereastreated on thewith other minimal faca-
des. South depth, literally Facade: as a skin Thearound lower floors the framework. of this facade This are by architects the 1960s of addition to the idea now cameobscured from the the Chicago Whitehall Building. School, which in turn Where can the be traced Downtown back Athleto the tic writings Club Building of German risesarchitect over its neighbor, GottfriedtheSemper fenestration (1803-1879). patterns In anare essay similar he included to the asother one offacathe des. This four basic35-story, components Art Deco of architecture skyscraperthe opened „encloin 1930 as Downtown Club.orA any membersure of the textiles, animal Athletic skins, wattle other ship filler association hung from the geared frame toward or placed businessmen between and the lawyers supporting who poles.“17 workedThis in led lower to the Manhattan, idea of walls the Downtown Athletic being treated like woven Club fabric, was founded a technique in 1926. used By 1927 it had purchased site next to thethis Hudson on several buildings in this New York during period, including River to construct its the Filmown Center building. Building by The high Ely cost Jac-
ques Kahn (1928-29, a 630 Avenue, of land necessitated tallNinth building, anda designathe related New City Interior Landmark). tively small lotYork size dictated that the different funcNew materials such alloys wereswimming used, but tions and facilities of as themetal club, including brick and terra cottaminiature were favorites their pool, gymnasium, golf because course, of squash, widetennis range of colorasand possibilities.and Builand courts, welltextural as dining rooms lidingsquarters, were conceived as stage sets for daily floors. living ving be accommodated on separate and were treated such, with on The Downtown as Athletic Clubentrances became taking most fathe form and function theHeisman proscenium, a treatmous as the home of ofthe Trophy, gimentevery reinforced by the the most fabric-like appearance of ven year to outstanding college the walls. Ornament, usually in low and confootball player, and named after Johnrelief Heisman, the centrated primarily on the took the club’s first athletic director. Theentrances, prolific architectuform of angular, geometric shapes such as the ziggurats ral firm of Starrett & Van Vleck designed buil-
ding. and zigzags, The same firm or simplified createdand the stylized neighboring floraltower patat 21 parts West of Street (a or designated New Yorkshapes. City terns, circles, faceted crystalline Landmark), Reaching itswith zenith which in the Club popularity shares between its moder1928 nistic and 1931 stylein and Newskillfully York City, applied this new architectural brickwork. The boxy style was shape used andmainly varietyforofskyscrapers. By setbacks in thethe Downtime town of its Athletic critical reassessment Club Building in the demonstrate 1960s andthe ef1970s fects of the 1916 Building Resolution, but this „modernistic“ style hadZone achieved the popular also give name of Art someDeco indication after the of the 1925various Paris Expositipurposes assigned to on. Design of different the Downtown sections ofClub the building. Building The The architects Downtownjuxtaposed Athletic Club the building, simple massing like its neighof the building theater-like prosbor at 21with stylized, West Street, was a productentrance of Starrett & ceniums Van Vleck‘s on both facades modernistic, Art and Deco a dextrous period. Desiguse of flat
ned angled shortlybrick, before 21 West Street, the arand creating a dramatic addition to chitects clearly considered the effect of these the city’s skyline. The powerful chevron motifstwo in towers on each areas otherover as well as on the and skyline of the rectangular the entrances in the lower Manhattan. buildingsofextend through spandrels between Both the windows the upper stothe block from West Washington Streets, ries are a variation of atocommon design themealtof hough the athletic club sits speed and back farther fromofboth the period, reflective of the energy the street lines creating limited exposures for Jazz Age. The southernmost southern tip of Manhattan is the the office building TheItbrick colors are oldest inhabited partnext door. of the island. was so densely not the each other the as doareas the built up same that but complement early in the city‘s history, setback heights, and the juxtaposition of the less adjacent to the shore facing the East River began complicated the useable Downtown to be filled in design to createofmore land.2Athletic On the Club side, Building with thedid greater varietyuntil of angles west this process not begin 1835,
and lines at the 21 West Street the Building when a devastating fire created need forcreates a placea dynamic of the modernist to depositstatement the resulting debris, causingaesthetic. At prominent 35 stories, the Athletic Clubto is petition the tallest structure landowners from the area the city to on the blockfront, and its height is emphasized by have West Street extended southward from Cedar the continuous piersThus formed between theofvertiStreet to the Battery. the entire block West cally-grouped windows by the Street series (where of setStreet, from Battery Placeand to Morris backsDowntown creating taller andClub narrower building secthe Athletic is located), is built tions. The variety functions in the building is upon landfill in theofHudson River; in accordance reflected in the of different created by the setwith the terms certain blocks water grants made earlier backs. stories are closest to newlythe lot by theThe city.3four lowest The earliest occupants of this line, with broad doorways and awnings providing created area constructed individual buildings (hou-a welcome. On the interior at this level public recepses, store and dwellings, stables, or tenements) on
standard 25-foot the were course of the ninetion rooms and lots. club Over offices located, with teenth century, lower Manhattan game and billiard as rooms at the third story.became Immedi-a strictly commercial piers were around ately above this, the area, building sets backbuilt to form its the rim of Manhattan island,most of and ownership of this largest block, which houses the athletic fablock of West four Streetthrough began to from indivicilities: floors thechange twelfth mezzanine duals to realty and warehouse companies. originally had handball and squash courts, a These bownew owners purchased smalla pool, valots and ling alley, a miniature golfnumerous course, a gym, assembled larger parcels accommodate new,melarrious locker and dressingto rooms, and related ger industrial and officeSome buildings.4 lots on chanical equipment. floors,Thesuch as which the Downtown Athletic Club no Building was those with the squash courts, have windows. constructed were purchased by the Whitehall ReThe windows that exist on other floors are slightly alty Company large landholder in the creating area) in inset, with dark,(adecorative metal spandrels
1909. Theylink were to the Downtown Athletic a vertical andresold continuous brick piers between Club in 1927, its headquarters. Thefifteenth Downtown them. On the for thirteenth through the stoAthletic a memberries the Club grill, was the founded kitchens in and1926 theasmain dining ship providing convenientwas recreational roomassociation were placed, and a greenhouse construcfacilities for outdoor balcony men, primarily lawyers and businessted over the at the fifteenth story. men who the worked in lower back Manhattan. First floors locaAlthough building sets above this, ted in the Singer Building at 149 Broadway, the 16 through 19 housed mechanical equipment, expanding soon purchased sixOn lotsfloors in the lounges andclub private dining 5 rooms. 20 middle thethere blockwere south of Morrishotel-type Street, facing throughof35, individual beWest andindicated Washington drooms, by Streets. smaller, evenly spaced windows on the facade. A service stairway is in the northeast corner of the building and the top three
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