H. DOUGLAS IVES in the ARCHITECTURAL FORUM

 

Today, we examine a 1930 copy of The Architectural Forum, containing an article written about Tudor City by H. Douglas Ives. Ives was the company's architect, and the highlight of his career was the Fred F. French Building of 1927 (in conjunction with architects John Sloan and T. Markoe Robertson).

What follows are four pages with illustrations from No. 5 and The Woodstock.

A sampling of Ives:

The general arrangement of one-room apartments has become more or less standardized, in that door beds, kitchenettes and interior bathrooms are common to all. . .

Exterior bathrooms are of course a little more desirable, but it is not always possible to provide them without utilizing space which might better be used for increasing the sizes of the rooms. . .

The setbacks on the upper floors [of The Woodstock], which are required under zoning laws, can be utilized as terraces and are a renting feature which appeals to many. . .

As the apartment hotel is essentially a residential building occupied by permanent tenants, some effort should be made to introduce a domestic note into the furnishings. . . where this has been done, it has been appreciated by the tenants, who are tempted to linger.

MORE WPA/NYC Tax Dept SHOTS

This week, more photos from the WPA/NYC Tax Department's quest to photograph every building in the five boroughs for reasons unknown. Today's series is places inherent to Tudor City history.

The Church of the Covenant

We begin with this 1870 church, which has been through countless renovations over the century. The most significant change ‒ dropping the entrance a story to accommodate the widening of 42nd Street ‒ was a decade away. 

Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled

In place prior to Tudor City's arrival, the hospital would endure until it was razed and reborn as the Ford Foundation in 1968. 

Rowhouses, north side of 42nd Street

The view of the rowhouses is accompanied by a work in progress: something is being done by the Consolidated Edison Company of New York.   

Rowhouses, south side of 42nd Street

Soaring above this street view, No. 25 in all its glory.  

Prospect Hill Apartments and 337 E. 41st Street

Two properties that preceded Tudor City, they were declared landmarks given their placement in the heart of the community.

The end of 42nd Street

Finally, 42nd Street comes to an abrupt end in this picture. Still, the Bishops Crook lamppost suggests better times ahead.

SIGNS

Some 1940 photos recently came our way, a collaboration of the Works Progress Administration and the New York City Tax Department to compile a photographic record of all the buildings of the five boroughs. 

Looking at the neighborhood around Tudor City, we spotted TUDOR LUNCH. It brought to mind a past post about businesses that trade off the name ‒ like TUDOR HAIRDRESSING ‒ yet have no official affiliation with the complex. Here are the latest examples:

The first occurs near the corner of 43rd and 2nd. TUDOR LUNCH, it reads, plain and simple. 

In fact, there were two of them, the other one on 44th and 1st, TUDOR LUNCH BAR. This one also offered cocktails.

One also couldn't exclude traveling vehicles, as seen below: TUDOR CITY PAINT SUPPLY CO had an office on Second Avenue. 

Then there was the case of Haddon Hall Cigars, sitting on a corner of 44th and 2nd, while Haddon Hall, the Tudor City apartment house, lies three blocks away. Coincidence? Who knows? 

Finally, a sign of the French Company's design, HOTEL TUDOR with an arrow, below. This corner of 42nd and 1st was also home to the MURRAY HILL DINER, which "never closes."

More MISCELLANY

Welcome back to our never-ending supply of miscellaneous items that might not qualify as full-fledged posts, but still are too choice to let pass by. 

We begin with some snowy photos. The occasion was the blizzard of 1947, which dropped 25.8 inches of snow on the city on December 26th.

The Tudor City photos taken at the time were pre-UN renovation, thus they showed the 42nd Street tunnel, the ramps, and Whelan Drugs on the corner. None of them would make the cut in the coming years. 

Sledding on 41st Street.

 

The Manor and No. 45 as seen from No. 25.

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Governor of New York Kathy Hochul has a glass of wine in the Tudor City Steakhouse, joined by her spouse, William Hochul, and Mirso Lekic, the restaurant's owner.  

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This evocative portrait taken on the Tudor City Bridge features Ruby Lynn Reyner, a figure of Downtown New York in the '70s and '80s, who was famed as a performer with the Playhouse of the Ridiculous. She was on a photo shoot in Tudor City, date unknown.  

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It has come to our attention that the Manhattan Ventilation Building does have signage after all: on a fence outside it reads QUEENS-MIDTOWN TUNNEL, above. Which although true, it doesn't come close to explaining what the building does. For the answer, see our earlier post.

KNICKERBOCKER VILLAGE

 

1934 pamphlet 

Tudor City was a tough act to follow: new construction in the city virtually stopped in 1930 after the stock market crash and the resultant Depression. Meanwhile, Fred French was slowly acquiring land in the Lower East Side in order to build apartments for people who worked in Wall Street.

The Depression put an end to that, but French had some good luck: the government announced it was underwriting lower-income housing. The fast-thinking French realized by substituting lower-income families for junior Wall Streeters, he could make it work. Thus the wheels for the first federally-funded apartment complex were set in motion.

Set between the Two Bridges in Chinatown, the two-city-block long property was bordered by Monroe Street, Market Street, Cherry Street and Catherine Street, and included the "lung block," infamous in New York because of its high tuberculosis mortality rate. 

French Company reference photo dated February 23, 1934.

Knickerbocker Village groundbreaking ceremony, October 11, 1933. Former Governor of New York Alfred E. Smith addresses a crowd that includes Fred French, holding a dark hat.

A year later, the complex is about to open, yet it's not by any means ready. French, in contrast to his instincts, opens it anyway ‒ his company is in desperate need of an influx of cash.

Postcard from the 1940s

From the first day, there were reports of walls unpainted, floors unfinished, refrigerators unconnected, elevators out-of-order, and on and on and on. French was abroad and the callers' complaints were recorded. It would be several years until all the complaints were addressed.

Due to French's poor actions as a landlord, the complex became known for its tenant organizing, which resulted in some early landlord-tenant laws and rent control regulations. The French Company finally sold the complex in the '70s, and several owners later, it was sold in May, 2024 to L+M Fund Management for $85 million.

We wish the new owners good luck, and look out, here come the tenants!

Knickerbocker Village from the air, 1936.

Anatomy of a Photo: PROSPECT PLACE

Welcome once again to Anatomy of a Photo where we attempt to coax just a little bit more from a picture.

Today's photo was made from the roof of The Manor, and depicts Prospect Place ‒ all three blocks of it.       

We begin with the North Park, which is neatly captured above. Known for its Lich Gate entrance, gravel-lined paths and privet-hedge fencing, it's a comforting retreat.

But one thing puzzles us: What is the woman saying to the child?

Further down the street is the Middle Park and the Tudor City Coffee House. The park is a hazy maze of fences leading to the staircase down to 42nd Street. Across the way, the windows of the Coffee House have been cranked open; it must have been a warm day.

Across Prospect Place, the Middle Park appears more polished looking, no doubt because it's entirely fenced in and admits no visitors. Across the street, the South Park has been transformed from a miniature golf course into a Tudor park complete with a Lich Gate and gazebos.

  

There is one thing 'wrong' about the photo, and that is the lack of The Sign, which seems to have vanished into thin air. It suggests a careful erasure by an adept retoucher ‒ or perhaps the letters just decided to take the day off, your call.

The Little Renting Cottage

 
Prospect Tower was just beginning to show progress in the spring of 1927 when the little renting cottage opened. It was just as modest as the name sounded, a tiny cottage built beside the hulking No. 45.     

It seems today an odd site, so close to No. 45 that the clanging of the construction and the occasional falling debris interrupted conversations. But people liked seeing their building being constructed, and before No. 45 opened, it had been totally rented out.

After Prospect Tower was built, the little renting cottage had to move and a place was found for it in the Middle Park. Here it's seen with the rising, almost-done No. 25 behind it.

Built in the same simple style as the original, the cottage promised sunny rooms and something more. The sign along the roofline, after all,  read FRED F. FRENCH INVESTING COMPANY.

Above, the cottage from Tudor City's point of view. There was something appealing about renting an apartment in Manhattan from an old-fashioned looking cottage.

Then on June 14, 1938, the rental offices moved into a rowhouse on 42nd Street. It was no longer a 'cottage,' but it had a great eleven-year run.

No. 332 E. 42nd Street sported a canopy over its entrance, suggesting a certain panache.

Left to right: Grace Kelly walks by No. 332 during her modeling days; inside the rental office, things look rather swank.

After World War II, the arrival of the UN to the neighborhood brought about many changes to Tudor City. The rowhouses lining 42nd Street were demolished, and the rental office moved to the former Coffee House in No. 25 in 1953. This office didn't have that much to do: Tudor City had been under rent control since 1942. Nobody moved.