Bennett Building

 office building  Add category

10-story Second-Empire/Baroque-style office building originally completed in 1873 with six floors. Designed by Arthur D. Gilman, it was commissioned as a real estate investment by James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the publisher of the New York Herald newspaper. Later acquired by John Pettit, it was expanded between 1892 and 1894 by architect James M. Farnsworth to ten floors, making it the tallest building in the world with a cast-iron facade. Farnsworth replicated Gilman's richly textured, ornate design, including the distinctive curving corners linking the three facades.

The Bennett Building is located on a slightly irregular L-shaped lot between Fulton, Nassau and Ann Streets. A narrow light court rises above the first floor on the west side of the building. The ground floor was originally treated as a high basement with rusticated cast-iron piers separating the bays filled with shopfronts. In the 1980s the storefronts on Nassau and Fulton were brought forward about two feet and the original piers were enclosed. On Ann Street the original storefront has been replaced and the piers and lintels are completely concealed with facing materials. The main entrance was moved in the 1980s to the 3rd bay from the west on Fulton Street; the freight entrance is in the 3rd bay from the west on Ann Street.

Above the commercial base, the facades are articulated with paneled pilasters, molded cornices, and arched window and door frames. The original entrances were at the 2nd-floor level, accessed by stairs. None of these entrance doors remain; the former-entrance bays are framed by columns and entablatures. Large paneled pilasters and projecting cornices accent the rounded corners of the building. The segmental-arched window frames on the upper floors are are framed by paneled pilasters with boldly molded consoles and paneled dosserets used in place of conventional capitals. The building is crowned by a dentiled entablature surmounted by a openwork parapet.

The cast-iron facade of the 3-bay-wide 1894 extension along Ann Street is almost identical to the older portions of the building except that the 2nd-story windows are trabeated, the molded brackets incorporate floral motifs which extend as pendants onto the paneled pilasters, and escutcheon-shaped tie bolts are used in place of projecting cornices on the corner piers. The exposed western wall is clad in brick painted a cream color, and incorporates the light court.

Pettit lost the building in foreclosure, and it was acquired in 1906 by George B. Wilson, whose family continued to own it through the 1940s, by which time it was being used for manufacturing as well as offices and stores. In 1951 the Dorlen Realty Company bought the building, and sold it in 1983 to Haddad & Sons Ltd. Since 1995, it has been owned by ENT International Realty. The ground floor is occupied by Elf Studio makeup, Designer Promise boutique, Tansey Tang cultured pearls, NYC Check Express/Western Union, Perfect Eyes Threading Salon, Ciao coffeehouse, Pisillo Italian Panini, Quynh's Vietnamese restaurant, Express Lane Pharmacy, Uriel Shoe Shine & Repair, Solomon Cleaners, and Majestic Beauty Salon.