Demarest Building

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Demarest Building, May 2011

The Demarest Building is a multifunctional building at 339 Fifth Avenue in Borough Manhattan in New York City . It was built in 1890 by Aaron T. Demarest in the industrial park as a showroom and manufacture for his luxury carriages. The building was the first in the world to have an electric elevator.

location

The building is on the northeast corner of the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street . It was designed by James Renwick, Jr. of Renwick, Aspinwall & Russell . The electric elevator was from the Otis brothers . On the opposite side of the street was the William Waldorf Astor ’s Mansion, where the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was later built . Previously there were three town houses on the site that were bricked up in brownstone . Their addresses were 335, 337, 339 Fifth Avenue .

architecture

Demarest Building, pigment print , ca.1891.

The building is built in the style of Beaux Arts architecture and has an iron frame and four floors. It originally had stone cladding on the outside of the ground floor. The exposed brickwork is made of sand colored brick and carries Baudekorationen from terracotta - medallions and panels showing the facade structure. The window fronts extend over three floors and close up in arches. They are separated by brick pilasters at the front of the building. These arched windows were used to flood the exhibition rooms with light. The original windows, which spanned two stories, were made with wrought iron frames that were inserted into the arches. It is said that the building is reminiscent of Carnegie Hall .

history

La Grecque Underwear Co. moved into the building in 1921

In 1893 the building burned down and a large part of the carriages burned down. The fire caused a sensation , especially among the guests of the Hotel Waldorf . Later offices and factories were set up in the building.

In 1913, Dr. Friedrich Franz Friedmann , who claimed to sell a drug against tuberculosis . However, he did not get permission from the landlord to treat patients.

Other companies that have used the building over the years include Teitelbaum & De Marinis ( hat makers ), Harris Store (luxury clothing), Flapper Coats , La Grecque Underwear Company , Allied Steel and Supply Company , Hirschberg & Company (hat makers), and E. & J. Bass, Inc (glassware).

In 2015, the construction company Pi Capital Partners drafted plans to replace the building together with the adjacent buildings with a new residential tower .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Echoes of Carnegie Hall on Fifth Avenue. In: Christopher Gray, The New York Times , August 3, 2008.
  2. ^ Demarest Building . In: Las Cruces Sun-News , p. 11, September 18, 1972. "The Otis brothers installed the first electric elevator in New York's Demarest Building in 1889."
  3. ↑ a b c d The 1890 Demarest Building - Nos. 335-339 5th Avenue. In: Daytonian in Manhattan 2015 . "The Demarest Building could boast having the world's first electric-operated elevator. It was installed by the Otis Brothers firm as the structure neared completion in 1889."
  4. ↑ American Architect and Building News, # 305, Ticksor & Co. May 30, 1891 .
  5. ↑ Kane 1997, p. 97.
  6. ^ AT Demarest. COACHBUILT 2012.
  7. ↑ First Look: 339 Fifth Avenue. NEW YORK YIMBY, www.yimbynews.com, October 8, 2016, accessed April 4, 2017.

literature

  • Joseph Nathan Kane: Famous First Facts, Fifth Edition. The HW Wilson Company 1997. ISBN 0-8242-0930-3 .

Web links

Coordinates: 40 ° 44 ′ 51 ″  N , 73 ° 59 ′ 5 ″  W.