American Radiator Building
It was designed by Raymond Hood and André Fouilhoux in the Gothic and Art Deco styles for the American Radiator Company.Hood had intended for the original structure to be a standalone shaft, requiring the building to be set back from the lot line and reducing the maximum amount of space available.The annex operated as the Katharine Gibbs School from 2001 to 2009 and was converted into the City University of New York's Guttman Community College in 2012.Other nearby places include the New York Public Library Main Branch across 40th Street to the north, as well as the Lord & Taylor Building to the southeast.[4][5] The surrounding block of 40th Street had contained brownstone row houses through the 1920s, before they were replaced by the American Radiator Building and several other multi-story structures.[5][14] Rene Paul Chambellan, a frequent collaborator of Hood and his associate John Mead Howells, created the ornamentation and sculptures.[21] The American Radiator Building's massing is based on Eliel Saarinen's unbuilt competition entry for Chicago's Tribune Tower,[12][13] augmented by a strong use of color.[6][26] According to Architectural Forum magazine, the lower floors "form a projecting screen, back of which rises the towering bulk of the building".[27][31] The shaft-like form was not applied consistently; the rear conformed to the city's setback requirement for backyards, so the south facade of the base and tower are continuous.[35] It is not known who exactly suggested the black and gold colors, but architectural writer Walter Littlefield Creese says it may have been Hood's friend, architect Joseph Urban.[21][36] Hood used the black and gold palette because he believed that conventional office buildings, with their white-masonry facades and dark glass windows, were monotonous.[21][40] The "gold" was actually bronze powder placed on cast stone, a technique which was devised after a number of experiments by Hood and Fouilhoux's team.The fourth and fifth floors of the annex are slightly set back from the first three stories and contain a facade of black brick, with a gold cornice on top.[30] At night, the gold-leafed terracotta decorations of the American Radiator Building are illuminated; Hood intended for this to draw attention to the shaft.[46][52] When the Bryant Park Hotel was constructed, elevator shafts were installed to transport guests directly from the lobby to the top stories.Four interior columns, placed within the service core, rise the height of the tower, leaving the remainder of each floor as a column-free space.[59] Raymond Hood was a relatively obscure architect when, in 1921, he collaborated with John Mead Howells in an architectural design competition, submitting a successful proposal for the Tribune Tower.Hood drew plans for a tower that would be two and a half times the original building's height, with a black-and-gold facade topped by a pinnacle.[86] American Standard opposed the designation, stating that "the building has no historical significance at all"[87] and claiming that it was only meant to "last a commercial length of time".[97] Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger reportedly expressed interest in leasing the American Standard Building as his company's headquarters, but no deal was ever made.[100] Daiwa Real Estate originally committed to funding the hotel conversion but reneged when Pilevsky experienced financial issues with other projects in late 1998.[55] The city-landmark status required that the renovation architects be particularly careful about the restoration of the facade; the designation prohibited some proposed changes such as bigger guestroom windows.[106] By mid-2020, Pilevsky, along with hotel co-owners Raymond Gindi and Joseph Chehebar, had hired Philips International to advertise all 122,000 sq ft (11,300 m2) in the main building as office space.[109] Afterward, the City University of New York (CUNY) indicated its intent to sign a lease for the American Radiator annex, which would house a new community college.[21] Architecture and Building, for instance, said the design "is unusual, but not therefore unnecessarily ugly", and therefore effective as an advertisement for the American Radiator Company.[21][40] Orrick Johns of The New York Times said that the building "has broken through the color line", saying: "It certainly is something new and tremendous but, like jazz and the Ku Klux, hard to place.In 1987, architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee named the American Standard Building as having one of the city's most distinctive roofs.[117] An article published in Architecture magazine during 1925 said that the facade design "shocked and offended some of our good friends from the Middle West who saw it for the first time recently".[74][119] Similarly, George Harold Edgell said the design's "effect is theatrical to a degree that opens it to the charge of vulgarity", questioning whether a radiator company required such a prominent edifice.[41] These artworks included Georgia O'Keeffe's 1927 painting Radiator Building – Night, New York,[15][123][124] as well as nighttime photographs by Samuel Gottscho.
GothicArt DecoCoordinatesCity University of New YorkRaymond HoodAndré FouilhouxU.S. National Register of Historic PlacesNew York State Register of Historic PlacesNew York City Landmark40 West 40th StreetManhattanNew York Cityearly skyscraperBryant ParkMidtown ManhattanAmerican Radiator CompanyfacadesetbacksStandard Sanitary Manufacturing CompanyAmerican Radiator and Standard Sanitary CorporationKatharine Gibbs SchoolGuttman Community CollegeNew York City designated landmarkNational Register of Historic Places40th Streetland lotfrontageSixth AvenuesEngineers' Club BuildingThe Bryant452 Fifth AvenueEngineering Societies' BuildingBryant Park StudiosNew York Public Library Main BranchLord & Taylor BuildingJ. André FouilhouxGothic RevivalRene Paul ChambellanJohn Mead HowellsBush TowerWoolworth BuildingmassingEliel Saarinen's unbuilt competition entryChicagoTribune TowerCandler BuildingArchitectural Forum1916 Zoning ResolutionbeveledJoseph UrbanBrusselsmullionsVeronacornicecorbelsmodillionsNew York Herald Tribunegrotesquesspandrelpilastersgold leaftuberculosis managementNew York City Department of City Planninggross floor areafoundationwater tablecantileveredgusset platesI-beamslive loadsarchitectural design competitionBeaux-ArtsA.D. JuilliardGreat DepressionBowery Savings BankSixth Avenue ElevatedNorth Star Woolen MillMosler Safe CompanyNew York City Landmarks Preservation CommissionFlatiron BuildingManhattan Municipal BuildingBeverly Moss SpattNew York City Board of EstimateBlack+DeckerChristopher GrayThe New York TimesChelsea PiersTommy HilfigerDavid ChipperfieldMadonnaRihannaNew York Fashion WeekCOVID-19 pandemic in New York CityHarvey Wiley CorbettHugh FerrissArchitectureRadiator Building – Night, New YorkGeorgia O'KeeffeThe VillagerTalbot HamlinNew York Daily NewsMcGraw-Hill BuildingDaily News BuildingBeaux-Arts ApartmentsPhilip JohnsonJohn BurgeeHerbert CrolyGeorge Harold EdgellSamuel GottschoCrystal Bridges Museum of American ArtArt Deco architecture of New York CityList of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th StreetsNational Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan from 14th to 59th StreetsLibrary of CongressNew York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic PreservationWhite, NorvalAIA Guide to New York CityProQuestPrestel PublishingArchitecture in Texas, 1895–1945Federal Writers' ProjectJackson, Kenneth T.The Encyclopedia of New York CityYale University PressNational Park ServiceMidtown (30th–42nd Sts)