The Puck Building (New York City, New York)
USA /
New Jersey /
Hoboken /
New York City, New York /
Lafayette Street, 295-307
World
/ USA
/ New Jersey
/ Hoboken
World / United States / New York
office building, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, historical building
The 8-story Puck Building occupies the block bounded by Lafayette, Houston, Mulberry and Jersey Streets in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, USA. This example of Romanesque Revival architecture, designed by Albert and Herman Wagner, was constructed in 1885 and expanded in 1893. The building features two gilded figures of Shakespeare's character Puck as part of the façade. The first floor holds one of New York City's largest ballrooms, with room for 1000 people.
A matching addition on the south end of the block was completed in 1893. The building was originally five bays and 117 feet wide on Houston Street, but was cut back on the west for the widening of Lafayette Street in 1898, leaving it only three bays and 72 feet wide. A new western facade was built, with a new main entrance. The original building portion is seven stories high, and the addition nine, but otherwise they are practically identical in design and material.
The original section now comprises four bays on Lafayette Street, three bay on East Houston, and six bays on Mulberry, where they are defined by large red brick piers that run the full height of the building. Each pier is actually in two sections: a wider pier at the 1st & 2nd floors, and a narrower pier above. Each has a small brownstone base and rests on a 5-foot-high block of polished grey granite; each is banded in projecting brick. Within each bay at the lower two floors is a double-story brick arch, with projecting brick edges. Within the arch, each bay consists of an upper arched lunette and a lower rectangle, separated by a cast-iron transom. The bottom two floors are set off from those above by a brownstone string course, beneath which is a band of corbelling.
The 2nd section of pier, running from the 3rd-7th floor, is narrower. Each is banded and adorned with an elegant ornamental iron tie rod at the 4th floor, and a smaller one at the top. At the 3rd & 4th floors each bay comprises a pair of 2-story arches, each half the width of the arches below. They rest on small brick piers with patterned brick "capitals". The 4th floor is topped by corbelling and a brownstone sill course above.
At the 5th, 6th & 7th floors, each bay comprises three 3-story arches, each a third the width of the large arches on the first two floors. Each also rests on narrower brick piers. At the 7th floor, each pier is capped by a corbelled "capital" which rises to the cornice. The cornice is actually a course of elaborate patterned brickwork and corbelling, topped by a brownstone course and a shallow parapet. A green wrought-iron fire escape projects the length of the 3rd bay on Mulberry Street.
The East Houston and Lafayette elevations repeat the bay motifs of the Mulberry Street elevation. Each of the four corners of the present structure is chamfered. In the corner formed by the East Houston and Mulberry elevations, there is a 2-story round brick column, with brick banding, topped by a brownstone globe. On a block supported by the globe stands the large gold statue of Puck, wearing a top hat, and holding a mirror, pen and a book.
The 1892 addition comprises six bays along Lafayette Street and five on Mulberry, plus the largely unadorned facade on Jersey Street, a service alley. The bays replicate those on the original portion, but rising nine floors. The two extra stories are arranged as 2-story bays, with three arches in each bay. Above the 9th floor, each pier projects above the cornice, ending in a squat pier segment flanked on either side by shorter pier segments. On Mulberry, another green wrought-iron fire escape projects over the 2nd & 3rd bays north of Jersey Street.
The primary entrance is in the first bay of the addition on Lafayette. It is set off by a portico formed by paired Doric columns, backed by paired pilasters, on tall blocks. The capitals of the columns take the form of wreaths. The columns support an architrave, inscribed "PUCK BUILDING", with rosettes on either side of the inscription, and a lion's head at either end. A carved console bracket connects the center of the architrave with the apex of the entrance arch beneath, where there is a smaller gold statue of Puck.
Once the printing facility of Puck Magazine, which ceased publication in 1918, the building now contains office space as well as ballrooms for large events on both the ground floor and the top floor. In the 1980s it was the home of Spy Magazine, whose editors informally dubbed it "The Spy Building". In the early 2000s, the building housed the Manhattan Center of Pratt Institute. Since 2004, the Puck Building has been home to New York University's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. An exterior shot of the Puck Building is often seen on the popular American television sitcom Will & Grace, as the building where the title character Grace Adler (played by Debra Messing) works. Strings of lights for Little Italy's annual Feast of St. Anthony are strung from the building's walls. An office stationery company, S. Novick & Son, once occupied the second floor. Notable amongst the firms' salesmen was Alger Hiss, the former assistant Secretary of State who was brought down in a spy scandal in the 1950's.
The building once housed numerous independent printing firms and related printing services such as type setters and a printing ink company, Superior Printing Ink. The odor of printing ink permeated the building for many years.
The Puck Building is at the northwestern corner of Manhattan's NoLita neighborhood, bordered by SoHo and the NoHo section of Greenwich Village. It is owned by Kushner Properties, the company of Charles Kushner, a major donor to Democratic politicians in New Jersey, and his son Jared Kushner, the owner of The New York Observer.
www.thepuckbuilding.com/
architizer.com/projects/new-york-wagner/
A matching addition on the south end of the block was completed in 1893. The building was originally five bays and 117 feet wide on Houston Street, but was cut back on the west for the widening of Lafayette Street in 1898, leaving it only three bays and 72 feet wide. A new western facade was built, with a new main entrance. The original building portion is seven stories high, and the addition nine, but otherwise they are practically identical in design and material.
The original section now comprises four bays on Lafayette Street, three bay on East Houston, and six bays on Mulberry, where they are defined by large red brick piers that run the full height of the building. Each pier is actually in two sections: a wider pier at the 1st & 2nd floors, and a narrower pier above. Each has a small brownstone base and rests on a 5-foot-high block of polished grey granite; each is banded in projecting brick. Within each bay at the lower two floors is a double-story brick arch, with projecting brick edges. Within the arch, each bay consists of an upper arched lunette and a lower rectangle, separated by a cast-iron transom. The bottom two floors are set off from those above by a brownstone string course, beneath which is a band of corbelling.
The 2nd section of pier, running from the 3rd-7th floor, is narrower. Each is banded and adorned with an elegant ornamental iron tie rod at the 4th floor, and a smaller one at the top. At the 3rd & 4th floors each bay comprises a pair of 2-story arches, each half the width of the arches below. They rest on small brick piers with patterned brick "capitals". The 4th floor is topped by corbelling and a brownstone sill course above.
At the 5th, 6th & 7th floors, each bay comprises three 3-story arches, each a third the width of the large arches on the first two floors. Each also rests on narrower brick piers. At the 7th floor, each pier is capped by a corbelled "capital" which rises to the cornice. The cornice is actually a course of elaborate patterned brickwork and corbelling, topped by a brownstone course and a shallow parapet. A green wrought-iron fire escape projects the length of the 3rd bay on Mulberry Street.
The East Houston and Lafayette elevations repeat the bay motifs of the Mulberry Street elevation. Each of the four corners of the present structure is chamfered. In the corner formed by the East Houston and Mulberry elevations, there is a 2-story round brick column, with brick banding, topped by a brownstone globe. On a block supported by the globe stands the large gold statue of Puck, wearing a top hat, and holding a mirror, pen and a book.
The 1892 addition comprises six bays along Lafayette Street and five on Mulberry, plus the largely unadorned facade on Jersey Street, a service alley. The bays replicate those on the original portion, but rising nine floors. The two extra stories are arranged as 2-story bays, with three arches in each bay. Above the 9th floor, each pier projects above the cornice, ending in a squat pier segment flanked on either side by shorter pier segments. On Mulberry, another green wrought-iron fire escape projects over the 2nd & 3rd bays north of Jersey Street.
The primary entrance is in the first bay of the addition on Lafayette. It is set off by a portico formed by paired Doric columns, backed by paired pilasters, on tall blocks. The capitals of the columns take the form of wreaths. The columns support an architrave, inscribed "PUCK BUILDING", with rosettes on either side of the inscription, and a lion's head at either end. A carved console bracket connects the center of the architrave with the apex of the entrance arch beneath, where there is a smaller gold statue of Puck.
Once the printing facility of Puck Magazine, which ceased publication in 1918, the building now contains office space as well as ballrooms for large events on both the ground floor and the top floor. In the 1980s it was the home of Spy Magazine, whose editors informally dubbed it "The Spy Building". In the early 2000s, the building housed the Manhattan Center of Pratt Institute. Since 2004, the Puck Building has been home to New York University's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. An exterior shot of the Puck Building is often seen on the popular American television sitcom Will & Grace, as the building where the title character Grace Adler (played by Debra Messing) works. Strings of lights for Little Italy's annual Feast of St. Anthony are strung from the building's walls. An office stationery company, S. Novick & Son, once occupied the second floor. Notable amongst the firms' salesmen was Alger Hiss, the former assistant Secretary of State who was brought down in a spy scandal in the 1950's.
The building once housed numerous independent printing firms and related printing services such as type setters and a printing ink company, Superior Printing Ink. The odor of printing ink permeated the building for many years.
The Puck Building is at the northwestern corner of Manhattan's NoLita neighborhood, bordered by SoHo and the NoHo section of Greenwich Village. It is owned by Kushner Properties, the company of Charles Kushner, a major donor to Democratic politicians in New Jersey, and his son Jared Kushner, the owner of The New York Observer.
www.thepuckbuilding.com/
architizer.com/projects/new-york-wagner/
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puck_Building
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 40°43'28"N 73°59'43"W
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- Lower (Downtown) Manhattan 0.4 km
- SoHo 0.4 km
- NoHo 0.6 km
- Greenwich Village 1.2 km
- Hudson River Park 2.7 km
- Manhattan 6.6 km
- Hudson County, New Jersey 6.6 km
- Brooklyn 10 km
- Queens 13 km
- The Palisades 26 km