AD CAMPAIGN, 1934

This latest installment in our continuing series of advertising campaigns is this one, which ran in November, 1934. There were only three ads in the campaign, but it was the Depression, after all.      

Why buck the subway crowds when an apartment in Tudor City enables you to walk leisurely to work each morning. . . to relax a bit before dinner each evening. . . and to enjoy the added comfort of maid, valet and laundry service.    

Fall days are shopping days, and if you're planning a winter's wardrobe, you'll find that Tudor City offers close proximity to the smart shops of the town ‒ in addition to sunny apartments, delightful restaurants, extra services. Then, too, you are within easy walking distance of your office.  

No need to spend every evening at home when you live in Tudor City; for theaters, movies, concerts are only a few blocks away. Even your office is near enough to permit an extra hour's doze every morning. Stop by today and see what a delightful apartment you can secure for a modest rental. 

FRIGIDAIRE and the TUDOR CITY SIGN

This post was inspired by the advertisement above which ran in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram on October 21, 1927. It concerned Frigidaire sales in Tudor City.

Here we picture a section of Tudor City ‒ one of the world's largest and most famous dwelling projects. A magnificent development covering several New York squares.

Into Tudor City go one hundred thousand dollars' worth of Frigidaires!

Why was Frigidaire the choice of the Fred F. French Company, Tudor City builders, over the many other makes of electric refrigerators?

Not by chance. An investment of one hundred thousand dollars is not made lightly. Competing makes were tested and compared. Intensive research was conducted by leading engineers.  Laboratory methods of investigation were employed.

All proved Frigidaire superior to the others. Its absolute dependability. Its longer life. Its lower operating cost. 

FRED F. FRENCH CO AND OTHERS INVESTIGATE FOR YOU

Your problem, in proportion to investment, is no different than the Tudor City problem. When you buy a single electric refrigerator, you want the greatest value for the least expenditure ‒ and the Fred F. French Company did when they bought one hundred thousand dollars' worth of Frigidaires.   

Then the copy segues into another area that the reader would be interested in, the cost of a single Frigidaire ‒ $198, completely installed. 

But something else had caught our attention.   

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And that was the Tudor City Sign, above. It's pictured in the papers three weeks after the building opens, and somehow seems that it has been there from the start. 

For further reading about Frigidaire and Tudor City, see here. 

AD CAMPAIGN, 1931

Hello today from August, 1931, when the following newspaper ad campaign ran. 

 

A Seat in the Shade Three Blocks from Grand Central

Here it is ‒ waiting for you ‒ a shady seat, just three blocks from one of the hottest, busiest parts of New York. It's in a Tudor City park, inviting you now. So walk across town today; feel the temperature drop as the breeze from Tudor City's parks blows about you. Low thermometer, reasonable prices. What more can you ask? . . .

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Fresh Green Leaves Untouched by City Grime

Tudor City's two blocks of private parks are far enough away from the grime and dust of metropolitan traffic to stay continually fresh and green. Just as Tudor City, itself, while only three blocks from Grand Central, has an air of restfulness and peace hard to find in New York today. Come to Tudor City ‒  look at our apartments, our parks, our restaurants ‒ see how living is made easy for you in this unique community. . .

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Privet Hedges-Flowering Shrubs Bring Suburban Atmosphere to 42nd Street

At Tudor City's doorstep are two blocks of the most delightful parks in all New York ‒ parks where you'll find only your kind of people ‒ for they are private parks, the property of Tudor City. Its parks are only one of the characteristics which make Tudor City unique. . . 

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Fluttering in a River Breeze Which Cools All Tudor City

When the rest of New York is breathless in midsummer, there's a breeze in Tudor City. A breeze that comes from the river, refreshing every apartment with its cooling breath. The minute you step inside one of Tudor City's apartments, you'll notice the coolness, the freshness of the air. . . 

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Ice Cold Melon Served at a Cool Corner Table

If you want to live in comfort, come to Tudor City. . . Every table in each of the three airy restaurants is pleasantly cool even on the hottest day. Come for dinner tonight – get an idea of the restfulness, the coolness, the relief from parched city streets that every Tudor City resident enjoys. Look at some apartments ‒ the same coolness, the same breeze that made your dinner a delight will greet you in every Tudor City room. . . 

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Old World Charm at the East End of 42nd Street

While it is modern as can be in arrangement and conveniences, Tudor City has an Old World charm not to be found elsewhere in New York. As with the manor houses of Old England, so with Tudor City ‒ well-tended lawns, clipped hedges, flowers and trees form a background for its beautiful buildings. And from this breezy setting, perched on Prospect Hill at the east end of 42nd Street, one gets magnificent views over river and city. . .

Dueling Billboards

The other day, a very intriguing photograph came our way:

It was a overhead shot of 43rd to 41st Streets, bordered by 1st Avenue and the East River, probably taken from a hallway window of No. 45. Of particular interest to us are the two billboards at center right.

The top banner urges the public to vote Democratic, a slate headed by its candidate for mayor, William O'Dwyer. Below this, an advertisement for 7up with the tagline "Here's What Guests Like." And, finally proof that the building rented out signs not only on their south wall, but the north one as well.

Skelly's Beer & Ale and Sutton Motors are the signs of the south wall at 42nd and 1st.

The First TUDOR CITY SIGN?

What might be the first Tudor City sign ever was the above billboard, posted at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street early in 1927. Simply stating it's a "7 minute walk directly east" to Tudor City, it helpfully includes an arrow pointing in that direction. The photos which follow were made by the photographers Drucker and Baltes, who were hired by advertisers to document their presence.

April 27, 1927. The signs, from top to bottom, promote Tudor City/Circuline/

Butterick Delineator.         

August 26, 1927. The signs are Tudor City/Nestle/Star Ham/Butterick Delineator.   

September 27, 1927. Three days later, Tudor City would officially open. The signs are Tudor City/Nestle/Colgate.

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Here is our annual list of buildings under repair. While it's certainly an improvement over last year, bear in mind that September 30, 2027 ‒ the date of our centennial ‒ is fast approaching. A scaffold-free Tudor City is our goal.

Has Scaffolding
No. 45
The 3Hs
The Woodstock

Scaffold-Free
The Cloister
Essex House
The Hermitage

Hotel Tudor
The Manor
No. 2
No. 5
No. 25

Finally, all the graffiti has been removed except for the 'artwork' on the back side of No. 25. What is the holdup, one wonders.

Miscellaneous Miscellany

Once again, it's time to clear the desk of some random Tudor Cityana. 

First up, a photo illustration from New York magazine about mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, who appears to be gazing at No. 5 and No. 25. The article dubs him the Power Breaker, which brought to mind the original Power Broker, Robert Moses. Moses is pictured, below, during the planning for the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair.

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This postcard suggests having your cocktail party at the Hotel Tudor Cocktail Lounge, pictured above. The "finest of liquors and moderate prices make for happy entertaining." Makes sense to us.     

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Photographer Lewis Hine's picture of a man on lunch break on the rising Empire State Building with the panoply of Manhattan behind him, including The Woodstock, extreme right.  

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Fenestra Casement windows ‒ fifteen hundred of them ‒ outfitted No. 45 and prompted the manufacturer to issue this ad in the Architectural Record in December, 1928.    

Thanks to David Reiff for the ad

AD CAMPAIGN, 1940

A look at an advertising campaign from 1940 in which bachelors fed up with doing their own housework, executives worn out with tedious commuting, business couples weary of hit-and-run housekeeping, newlyweds anxious to keep within the budget, and families tired of living away from city activities all find the answer to their problems is Tudor City.

January 14, 1940

January 21, 1940

January 28, 1940

February 11, 1940

February 15, 1940

Tudor City Store

Say hello to a new shop in the colony, the appropriately named Tudor City Store, a virtual store online that never closes. And just in time ‒ Christmas is seven weeks away.

For us, the most outstanding item offered is this cap, featuring the community slogan from long ago.
 

The cap also works with more outré styling. 

A series inspired by a 1936 ad campaign. Above, as a pillow.

Tee shirts in assorted colors.   

Blown up on this shower curtain.

That's just the start of things at this new online store. Check it out here.      

More Miscellany

Another grab bag of miscellanea, do with it what you may.

 

An addition to the North Park is this new library, a celebration of technology both old (stained-glass door) and new (integrated solar lighting.) It was made and donated by Charlie Jackson; thanks to Tudor City Greens for the picture.    

The Second Avenue El is being disassembled in this 1942 photograph by Percy Loomis Sperr. Rising above it all, The Woodstock.     

The Terrace had a gimmick ‒ it was the closest bar/restaurant to the United Nations ‒ and for a time in the 50s and 60s, it hosted a happening after work scene. Its matchbook depicted both buildings.   

A photograph from 1929 rendered as a postcard. The community was not yet complete; Hotel Tudor was soon to follow in 1930, and in 1956, Tudor Gardens opened. Thanks to David Reiff for the tip.

This last photo depicts the rowhouses on 43rd Street, and there are parts of The Woodstock and The Hermitage rising above them. But the real surprise is the lamp post in the park, below, famed as the oldest piece of park furniture still standing. More about it here.

Tudor City Goes to the Theatre

Again, we turn to "Tudor City Goes to the Theatre," a pitch about the problems of theatergoing made by the ad agency, Huber Hoge Inc.

Huber Hoge got straight to the point. "In a theatre-goer's mind the chasm between the play and a vacant apartment is colossal. He buys an apartment only once in two or three years. To bludgeon his wandering attention, we have tried to show him himself; his difficulties in reaching and leaving the theatre, the bother he causes others by arriving late and leaving early. Unless, of course, he lives in the center of town, preferably Tudor City. This series is part of our avowed purpose to remind a forgetful public that Tudor City not only has apartments at $65 a month but that, as a community, it is an interesting, clever place to live."

Following, some sample ads were included in the pitch. We've included some highlights from the text as well.   

"They should have been at the theatre. But here they are somewhere on Long Island, struggling with a flat tire. They are sorry now that they didn't take the train. And sorrier still they don't live in Tudor City so that they could walk to the theatre without trouble or fatigue. . ."

"The missing buttons on a coat. Torn off in the struggle. The haggard appearance. The bedraggled air. The limp ‒ that hack on the shin was obviously painful. All mark the man who lives in some distant inaccessible place and travels by subway. How different the man who lives in Tudor City. His spruce appearance proclaims that he has enjoyed the brisk walk to his office this morning. He will get home as easily in the evening. . . "

"The commuter executive let his wife pack his bag. One cuff link. One shoe. An unmistakable footprint on his shirt front! And a dinner date waiting! Spend the winter season in Tudor City and dress comfortably, with more time to make a good job of it. . . "  

"An office dresser is always spotted. Those creases in a coat  once nicely pressed ‒ before it was jammed into a suit case. The crumpled collar ‒ he had murdered the only one at hand. The wrong cuff links ‒ a penalty of hurried packing. All mark him out from the man who has dressed comfortably at home. . ."

"He parked it in a forbidden area while he had dinner. Along came Commissioner Whalen's collection crew and now it will cost him $10.00 to get it from the station. And all because he lives in Brooklyn and has to drive in whenever he wants to go to a theatre. .  ."

 

AD CAMPAIGN, 1933

This ad campaign ran in May and June of 1933, and was straightforward in approach. Presented in three cartoon panels, the first set up the problem, the second one provided a solution, and the third showed what occured afterward.