CONTEMPORARY NY
New York Architecture Images-Seaport and Civic Center

Tobacco Warehouse

architect

G. Curtis Gillespie

location

84-85 South St.   

date

1902

style

Romanesque Revival, with Art Nouveau touches.

construction

 

type

Warehouse

 

 

 

notes

A relatively late addition to the port, this commercial warehouse is one of more eclectic and inventive buildings in the area. Its design combines Romanesque Revival architectural elements with terra-cotta decoration reminiscent of Art Nouveau. Easy to manipulate and inexpensive to produce, terra-cotta allowed flexibility and creativity in ornamentation. The warehouse is decorated with tobacco plant and leaf motifs which reveals the commom turn-of-the-century practice of incorporating American motifs into a stylistic language imported from Europe. This decorative program announces the building's function in symbolic terms.

contact

nyc-architecture.com

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