This
ornate building at 105 Hudson Street is one of the most impressive in
TriBeCa.
It
was erected in 1892 and was designed by Carrere & Hastings,
which
would later design the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue at 42nd
Street and The Frick Collection on Fifth Avenue at 70th Street.
The 11-story building is also known as 168-174 Franklin Street and as
the Powell Building.
Its retail
space is occupied by Nobu, the famous sushi restaurant.
In his June 25, 2000 “Streetscapes” column in The New York Times,
Christopher Gray described the building as “an uncommonly noble work
for an industrial district,” noting that it was then undergoing a
comprehensive exterior restoration by Bone Levine Architects.
“In 1868,” Mr. Gray wrote, “a large rail terminal was built at Hudson
and Beach Streets, and the neighborhood now known as TriBeCa quickly
developed from an area of polite brick houses to one of lofts and
warehouses with access to both rail and river transport. Larger and
larger commercial buildings went up, most with a strictly industrial
look. But in 1890 Henry L. Pierce, head of the Walter Baker Chocolate
Company in Dorchester, Mass., hired Carrere & Hastings to
design a radically different type of building for the area. Pierce had
taken over the Walter Baker concern in 1854. The company is listed in
directories as having offices in New York City in the 1880's -- and
even at that time their Baker's chocolate cooking product was one of
the staples of the company, which is now part of Kraft Foods. Pierce
was also active outside the firm, serving in the 1860's and 70's as an
alderman, mayor of Boston and congressman from Massachusetts. He gave
the new building his own name; although the Baker company had offices
there, it appears that 105 Hudson Street was his personal investment.”
The Pierce building had been designed as a 10-story building, but was
only built 7 stories high in cream colored terra cotta and light orange
brick. “The French neo-classic style, deeply rusticated ground-floor
marble and giant engaged columns made it appear more like a Paris
office building or a London bank,” according to Mr. Gray, who added
that “an 1892 article in the Real
Estate Record & Guide said it was leased to food
firms. Most of what is now Nobu was used to display the Baker company's
chocolate products. The upper floors were divided into smaller offices
of 300 to 500 square feet. How Pierce got in touch with Carrere
& Hastings is not clear but in the same year the Pierce
building was finished he called them back to design a fanciful
temple-like display pavilion for the company for the 1893 Chicago
world's fair. Pierce died in 1896, and in 1903 his estate sold the
building to Alexander Powell, a candy manufacturer. In 1905 Powell had
his architect, Henri Fouchaux, enlarge the Pierce building to 11
stories, and also expanded it north on an additional lot on Hudson
Street; bronze lettering high up on the Hudson Street front reading
''Powell Building'' was installed at that time.”
Mr. Gray wrote that “Fouchaux mimicked the original design, although
its startling elegance was somewhat diluted by the addition.”
“In the mid-1970's,” he continued, “the developer Joseph Cazana bought
105 Hudson Street and converted it to a co-op, but with a twist. Only
floors five and above were residential; the second through fourth
floors were sold as offices. The upper floors were generally gutted,
and a typical loft apartment on the ninth floor is expensively
finished, with the heavy columns of the old office plan rising in
unexpected locations. A few of the offices were left intact, with their
original doors, for use as bedrooms.
The building’s lower two floors are rusticated with large arched
windows on the first floor and two oculi on the second floor.
The building also has arched windows on its fifth and top floors and
its facades are enlivened by many pilasters and pediments and
bandcourses. The bandcourse above the sixth floor repeats the
in-and-out design of the building’s strong cornice.
The building, which is more imposing than the city’s best known
imitation of a Medici palace – the University Club, has 24 offices and
16 cooperative apartments.
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