NYU Brown Building (New York City, New York) | university, disaster site, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, interesting place, historic landmark, 1911_construction, Beaux-Arts (architecture)

 university, disaster site, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, interesting place, historic landmark, 1911_construction, Beaux-Arts (architecture)

11-story Beaux-Arts university building completed in 1901 as a factory building. Designed by John Wooley for Joseph Asch (the building was originally named the Asch Building). One of the early occupants of the building was the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the largest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York, causing the death of 148 garment workers who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths. It was the worst workplace disaster in New York City until September 11th, 2001. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers in that industry. The building survived and was named a National Historic Landmark.

In 1916, NYU leased the 8th floor. The entire building was donated to NYU by Frederick Brown in 1929, and renamed the Brown Building.

The Brown Building has a granite and limestone base and tan brick upper stories enriched with terra-cotta. There is a 2-story base, a 7-story midsection, and a 1-story top. The Washington Place facade is organized into twelve bays with windows grouped in a 3-1-2-2-1-3 pattern between heavy piers. On Greene Street the similarly decorated but somewhat less elaborate facade is arranged into a 3-1-1-1-1-3 pattern. Original cast-iron mullions survive at the second story and in the center bays at the 3rd through 9th floors of the Washington Place facade.

On both Washington Place and Greene Street, the entrances retain their original decorative terra-cotta and masonry surrounds and cast-iron mullions and transom bars but the infill in the entrance bays is non-historic. All of the original cast-iron storefronts have been removed and replaced with non-historic infill. On the easternmost pier of the Washington Place facade, two bronze plaques commemorate the building’s historic significance as the site of the Triangle fire.

Constructed in 1946-47, the stucco-covered masonry penthouse is set back from the roof line. The rooftop mechanical systems occupy most of the available space on the roof, with some equipment projecting up to thirty-five feet above the building. The exhaust ducts at the southwest and northeast corners of the roof are visible from across the street but the addition is screened from view by the prominent galvanized-iron crowning cornice above the 10th story.

On the Washington Place facade, the 2-story base is articulated by five massive piers that are treated as banded pilasters. These rest n high bases with polished granite facings, have shafts composed of painted limestone blocks and recessed polished granite bands, and are capped by terra-cotta capitals enriched with fleurs-de-lis and egg-and-dart moldings. On the 2nd floor each of the our major bays is divided into three window bays by cast-iron mullions. The terra-cotta cornice above the frieze capping the 2nd floor is ornamented with a fret pattern.

The 3rd floor is transitional. The corner pavilions are enriched with banded rustication and by terra-cotta cartouches. The cornice above the 3rd floor is ornamented with a leaf-and-dart molding. The windows in the center bays are separated by fluted Corinthian cast-iron columns. From the 4th to the 9th floor the tan brick facade is accented by stone sill and lintel courses. In the pavilions the spandrels beneath the windows are ornamented with recessed brick panels which are bordered by terra-cotta egg-and-dart moldings. This decorative motif is also employed in the center bays on the spandrels between the 5th and 6th and 7th and 8th floors. The windows in the center bays are separated by fluted Corinthian cast- iron columns. Capping the mid-section is a full entablature with paired scrolled brackets accenting the pavilions at the 9th floor.

The 10th-floor arcades are set off by molded archivolts and bracketed keystones with fluted Ionic pilasters and recessed spandrels edged with egg-and-dart moldings further enriching the outer bays. The 10th floor is surmounted by a strongly projecting bracketed galvanized-iron crowning cornice. The 11th-floor penthouse walls are supported by masonry buttresses.

The design of the Greene Street facade is similar to that of the Washington Place facade except that the middle section is treated as a series of single bays and the detailing is somewhat simpler. At the base, the facade is articulated by seven massive piers. The two piers at either end of the facade match the piers on Washington Place; the piers in the middle of the facade are brick.

www.census.gov/history/pdf/aschbuilding-nyc.pdf


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