CONTEMPORARY NY
Pict0132.jpg (129733 bytes) New York Architecture Images-Soho

36-57 White St. Landmark

architect

various architects, including John Kellum and Son.

location

36-57 White St. 

date

1861-5

style

Renaissance Revival

construction

Cast Iron Facade

type

 
  A superb street of neo-Venetian cast-iron factory warehouses.
 
 
 
  Wood's Mercantile Buildings
 
 
 

notes

White St. (namesake unknown). At 77 White St., East of Broadway, were the premises of the now defunct Mudd Club, one of the earliest downtown nightclubs (1978), which lured artists, new wavers, punk rockers, and people who enjoyed proximity to the avant-garde. The Club is gone but apparently lives on in the hearts of its devotees, for slogans such as "Long live Mudd" and "Punk's Not Dead" have been spray-painted on the facade of the building.

A block south, at the S.W. corner of Broadway and Franklin St., si the James White Building (1881-82; W. Wheeler Smith), a cast-iron palazzo which arrived late in a neighborhood mostly built up before the Civil War. High up on the south wall is a sign, faintly visible, advestizing Civil War photographer Mathew Brady's studio, located above a saloon at 359 Broadway before the war. Return to White St.

After the Civil War, many of the Greek Revival homes and shops that previously occupied this part of town were torn down in favor of larger industrial buildings, and, like SoHo to the north, Tribeca has substantial offerings of cast-iron architecture. On the south-west corner of Franklin Place stands 55 White St. (1861; James Kellum & Son), a building deemed sufficiently handsome by iron founder Daniel D. Bedger to display its facade in his 1865 catalogue. At the time the building had keystones crowning the tall arches, Corinthian capitals atop the columns, and faceted quoins on the pier at the corner of Church St. Early occupants were Samuel I. and Elliot Condict, who had a large saddlery here; in later years draper and textile firms tenanted the space.

The triangular pediment of 46-50 White St. (1865), identifies WOODS MERCANTILE BUILDINGS. Across the street at 49 White St. is the Civic Center Synagogue (1967; William N. Berger Ass.), an undulating expanse of marble hemmed by its rectilinear neighbors. The sculptures in front are by Alain Kirili.

contact

nyc-architecture.com

links