More MISCELLANY

Another serving of items from times past and present.

First, there is this picture of the Tudor City neighborhood. The smokestacks of the ConEd plant were painted red, white and blue, how festive! 

     

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Made in in 1920s, this photo depicts the intersection of 42nd Street and 1st Avenue. Going north are three titans of meatpacking industry: New York Veal & Mutton, United Dressed Beef Company, and Wilson & Company. As for the building with the billboards, the main one advertises a Brake Specialist, while the others are indecipherable.   

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From the New York Times, March 24, 1927 [six months before opening].

The Tudor City businessman may commute for two months and still not travel as far as the average commuter does in a single day. For his commuting to the great midtown business district consists of a five-minute walk.

Tudor City has the dignity and repose of Park Avenue, but a more convenient ‒ quieter ‒ and with materially lower rentals.

Tudor City will be under the single management of the FRED F. FRENCH Companies, the guarantee of a most efficient service. . .

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Another item has turned up for the elusive Woodstock Tower Restaurant, this postcard of its interior.

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Finally, we have Missy Peregrym, one of the leads in the TV series FBI, photographed with the owner of the Tudor City Steakhouse, Mirso Lekic. 

Artifact: WOODSTOCK TOWER Floor Plans

Artifact of the day is this book of floor plans for Unit No. 7, Woodstock Tower. Oddly enough, there are not any other words of explanation to be found on the pages that follow, just floor plans. 

 

First up is the second floor, which is comprised of eighteen living rooms [now known as studios]. Of these, four units were billed as the one-room apartments of the future ‒ the corner units ‒ with 31-foot long living rooms lined with five windows.     

There was certainly no doubt about it, the apartment of the future (left) was nearly twice as big as the regular studio apartment (right).

From there, we move to the top of the building for the apartments on the 31st and 32nd floors. There are only two apartments available on these floors, a two-bedroom and a one-bedroom.

The two-bedroom in close-up. They even throw in a dining nook.

Its next-door neighbor, the one-bedroom unit. It comes complete with a very long closet.

The back page is blank, save for the Fred F. French monogram. 

Old Pictures Again

To celebrate our nation's 250th birthday, here are some long ago pictures of Tudor City and its environs.

First up is this moody portrait of the East River, which contrasts the scraggly, mostly industrial confines of Queens with Manhattan's more tony Crystal Office building and the Tudor City complex.

This picture was made of the corner of 40th St and 1st Ave before everything was demolished in preparation for the construction of No. 5, Windsor Tower. The sign on the right, regrettably cut off, says much the same.

Northeastern view from the 42nd St station platform of the 3rd Ave El; the Daily News building is at top, with vertical stripes along its window lines.

In this photo from 1929, ghostlike images of The Woodstock, No. 25 and No. 45 hover over the otherwise humdrum scene at 1st Ave and 39th St. The picture was taken by Percy Loomis Sperr, who recorded what was being torn down (and what replaced it) for the New York Public Library.

Lastly, there's this impressive aerial view of the complex ‒ and the nearby Daily News building ‒ in the 1930s.

More TUDOR CITY Suppliers

This entry is really a continuation of a recent post on Bigelow-Hartford Rugs and Carpets. There were other companies who supplied their merchandise exclusively to Tudor City ‒ only their product was not as glamorous as the stained glass or the Frigidaires that captured the public imagination. Here are some examples:  

First, a salute to Patterson Hot Water Heaters, which supplied heaters to Tudor City, "America's greatest hotel and apartment development." And, of course, it was "another great endorsement" for the Patterson-Kelley Company. 

The product named was named Anti-Hydro, and it was added to cement mortar to "protect brick against dampness and efflorescent stains." As a bonus, the "brick joints are made absolutely waterproof." 

 

Then there was the case of Wilson Diffuselite Blinds versus Columbia Venetian Blinds, which both ran ads claiming to supply Tudor City with their product. Which company it was is anyone's guess; the top ad is from May, 1929 and below, from November, 1929.

Finally, we conclude with a 1928 ad from Fenestra casement windows. "Sophisticated New York displays pardonable conceit in the possession of Tudor City, gigantic apartment development, overlooking the East River," the ad stated. It went on to say that over 9,000 casement windows went into Tudor City. That's a big order.

TUDOR CITY from the REAR

For the holiday weekend, we've selected a group of photographs featuring the many flags of the United Nations. And, not incidentally, all of the pictures feature the backsides of Tudor City buildings. Happy Memorial Day.   

Anatomy of a Drypoint Etching

This edition of Tudor City art features a return to Building a Babylon, a drypoint etching by Martin Lewis. Exhibited in his solo show of 1929, where he first made his name.

Herewith, the full image as seen from 1st Avenue and 41st Street. Below, the anatomy lesson.

The Woodstock stares out at No. 25 vacantly. At the time of this etching, there's not a single light on, indicating it's a building in progress. No. 25, by contrast, is alive with lights.

The building in the 41st Street cul-de-sac was apparently some kind of storage hut for the impending coming of No. 5. All of the lights are on here.

Pulled back to show it's a long way down.

Beneath, a labyrinth of shapes of all kinds.

The sole figure in the composition is at the lower left. 

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More about this artwork from our earlier post, here.

Even More MISCELLANY

Time again to clear off the desk and share some miscellaneous items.   

                           First is the shedding of the leaves of the London Plane trees along Tudor City Place, an annual occurrence that inaugurates the winter season. Mauricio Cegueda captures this colorful event on the Tudor City Facebook page, above.

A landscape made in early 1927, featuring no. 45, all by itself in a hazy fog. 

Dutch colonist David De Voor arrived in 1677 to oversee farm land that included Prospect Hill. No. 25 commemorated him with this stained glass window, one of the few windows bearing a name. Thanks to Sally Hill for the photo.

One of the tax record series, this depicts 39th Street and 2nd Avenue, looking north. The Woodstock takes top billing, backed up by No. 25, lurking in the shadows.

Last but not least is this Spiderman ad featuring the lead taking a brief nap, presumably dreaming about Tudor City. This too came via Sally Hill, nothing gets by her. Thanks Sally!

Anatomy of a Photo

Welcome back to Anatomy of a Photo, where we look at a photograph in close-up. 

Here is the photograph, made around 1938 by Percy Loomis Sperr, a staff photographer for the New York Public Library who specialized in pictures showing buildings about to be razed. The photo was made at 36th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues and looks north.

At upper right are the smokestacks from the Waterside Station of the New York Edison Company, against a hazy backdrop of the Queensboro Bridge.    

The trio of buildings ‒ Nos. 5, 25, and 45 ‒ on what was then called Prospect Place.   

The Woodstock.

The most prominent building in the photograph is St. Gabriel's School, pictured above on 36th Street. Along with its nearby namesake church, it would soon be demolished to make way for the Queens-Midtown tunnel entrance, a very sore subject among locals. 

Tenements south of Tudor City.

For more about Percy Loomis Sperr, see here.

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