Fuller Building

The Fuller Building is a

Christopher Gray wrote in The New York Times in 1995 that the building was "a jazz-age testament to the emerging commercial chic of 57th Street".^[15] The AIA Guide to New York City called it "the Brooks Brothers of Art Deco: black, gray and white."^[12]

Form

The six-story base occupies the entire lot, and the setbacks are largely restricted to the fifteen stories above the base.^[18] The limestone contains rounded corners at the setbacks, although these corners are generally too small to see from the street.^[15] The overall form was intended to be visualized in several vertical sections: a large base, a mass with setbacks, a narrow tower, and a crown.^[19][20] The base was intended for stores and galleries; the set-back midsection was for art dealers; and the narrow tower was for businesses. These differing uses were to be reflected by the differing materials used on the facade, as well as the setbacks themselves.^[16] Because of the proximity of other tall buildings, Paul Goldberger wrote for the Times in 1978 that "almost no one ever sees it" as having several vertical sections.^[19]

The outer sections of the southern elevation on 57th Street, and the southern section of the western elevation on Madison Avenue, contain setbacks on the 11th, 13th, and 15th floors, with black stone highlights at the tops of the setbacks. The eastern elevation has setbacks at the 10th, 13th, and 15th floors, which blend with the setbacks on the eastern section of the 57th Street elevation. The northern elevation contains no setbacks.^[21]

At the 16th through 21st stories on 57th Street, there are setbacks at every floor except the 18th. Along this elevation of the facade, the center two vertical bays project slightly from the 17th to 20th stories. Above the 20th story, the building rises as a continuous rectangular tower.^[22] At the 38th and 40th stories are setbacks with black stone bands. The roof of the building, above the 40th floor, also contains some setbacks for mechanical equipment.^[23]

Facade

Base

The lowest six stories of the Fuller Building are clad in black Swedish granite.^[20][18][24] Along the southern side, facing 57th Street, the facade consists of eight bays.^[18] The western side, on Madison Avenue, consists of four bays.^[23] There are two entrances at the base: the main entrance on 57th Street and the secondary one on Madison Avenue.^[18][25][26] In general, the Fuller Building's art galleries have tended to use the address 41 East 57th Street, while the offices have used the address 595 Madison Avenue.^[15]

The main entrance portal is in the fourth bay from west on 57th Street; it is three stories high and is flanked by granite-and-stone pilasters. There are four brass-framed glass doors at ground level, slightly recessed from the street. In front of and above the doors is a glass panel, which hangs from a bronze lintel with diamonds. At the center of the lintel is a glass-and-brass light fixture topped by an eagle. The second and third floors of the main entrance portal contain a grid of square windows framed by metal mullions. Atop the third story are stone-on-granite letters reading fuller building.^[27][28] Above this sign, at the fourth story, is a limestone sculptural group designed by Elie Nadelman.^[24][28] The sculptural group represents two construction workers flanking a clock, behind which is a carving of a skyline.^[24][29][30]

The secondary entrance is a single-story opening in the northernmost bay on Madison Avenue. The Madison Avenue entrance contains a brass service elevator door on the left and a brass-framed glass double door on the right. Atop these doors, but beneath the second story, is a sign with the stone letters fuller building. The rest of the base is designed similarly on both street facades.^[23] The ground level generally contains storefronts separated by vertical granite piers, which extend through the second to sixth floors.^[16][22] The second through fifth floor windows are separated horizontally by bronze spandrel panels with wave-and-inverted ziggurat designs.^[22][28] The fifth and sixth floors are separated horizontally by a granite band with a Greek key motif made of limestone. The window openings on each floor consist of large glass panes surrounded by smaller panes.^[22]

Upper stories

At the seventh floor, the design of the facade changes to a light-colored limestone cladding with black granite accenting. Centered above the 57th Street entrance, on the seventh through 16th floors, are five bays, each with four windows per floor, which correspond to openings at the base. Within these bays, each story is separated by horizontal bands that project slightly from the windows. Along 57th Street, the outer bays on the seventh through 16th floors consist of single-width windows with limestone piers.^[22] The center two bays on Madison Avenue have similar horizontal bands and four-window-wide bays as on 57th Street, while the outer bays contain narrower windows.^[23] On the first 17 floors, the northern and eastern facades are clad with two-tone brick and are largely unornamented.^[31] On the eastern facade, there are horizontal and vertical yellow brick bands contrasting with a darker background.^[23]

Above the 17th story, all of the facades contain single-width windows with limestone piers. Except for the northern facade, the 18th through 21st stories are clad with limestone on all sides. At the lintels above the 20th-story windows, there are black-stone geometric designs, and the piers between each bay are capped by stone slabs.^[21] The northern facade on these stories contains intermittent limestone cladding with brick.^[32]

Above the 20th story, the west, south, and east facades are designed identically and are each six bays wide.^[21] On these facades, the two center bays are flanked by wide piers and separated by a narrow pier, with recessed spandrels separating the windows on each floor. Within the four outer bays on each facade, the windows on different stories are separated by horizontal bands.^[22] In the center bays from the 36th to 39th stories, the piers contain horizontal bands. The spandrels beneath the 36th and 37th floors contain black vertical lines, and there are balconies on the 38th floor. At the 39th floor are black-and-white sunburst motifs flanking a round window in the center bays. The roof above the 40th floor contains friezes with black-and-white triangles and zigzag patterns.^[23] The northern facade is similar but has no windows in the center two bays. Additionally, there is no balcony on the 38th floor, and the 39th and 40th floors have dark geometric patterns without any windows.^[32]

Features

The Fuller Building had a rentable area of about 210,000 square feet (20,000 m²) when it was completed.

The building is constructed with a steel superstructure.^[25] The steel structure contains wind bracing to minimize movement due to wind.^[33][34] When the Fuller Building was completed, it contained a then-novel vertical fire alarm system, with direct lines to the New York City Fire Department at every other floor, as well as tanks and standpipes throughout the height of the building.^[35][36]

Lobby

The lobby is T-shaped in plan,

The Madison Avenue hallway contains nine elevators at the intersection with the 57th Street hallway. The south wall of the lobby has three elevators: a freight elevator west of the 57th Street hallway and two passenger elevators east of the elevators. The north wall contains six passenger elevators.^[25][38] Each elevator contains a double-leaf bronze door with eight hexagonal bronze reliefs depicting the process of construction, as well as Art Deco-style decorative molding.^[28][38] There is a staircase on the far eastern end of the Madison Avenue hallway, on the south wall.^[25] In addition, the service elevator next to the Madison Avenue entrance contains a 10-by-15-foot (3.0 by 4.6 m) cab.^[43] In total, the Fuller Building has ten elevators, of which eight are for passengers and two are for freight.^[26]

Shops, galleries, and offices

The lowest six stories were reserved for shops or art galleries.

The 7th to 15th stories were designed as spaces for interior decorators and art dealers to sell merchandise. The 16th to 40th stories were designed as offices.[3]^[14] The Fuller offices on the 16th through 19th stories were trimmed extensively in teakwood and had private elevator service.^[55][56] At the roof, Walker and Gillette designed an eleven-room penthouse apartment for J. H. Carpenter, president of the Fuller Construction Company at the time of the building's completion.^[3] The offices were built with cement floors, white plaster walls, and steel-and-glass partitions, while the corridors had marble and terrazzo floors.^[25]

History

Architect George A. Fuller had founded the George A. Fuller Company in 1882.^[57][58] Unlike other architecture firms of the time, Fuller's firm intended to handle all aspects of building construction except for the design, similar to the modern general contractor.^[59][60] Following Fuller's death in 1900, his son-in-law Harry S. Black took over as president of the Fuller Company and made it a subsidiary of the new United States Realty and Construction Company.^[60][61] Shortly after Fuller's death, Black constructed what is now the Flatiron Building at Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street for the company's headquarters.^[62] That structure was supposed to be called the "Fuller Building" in honor of the late Fuller, but its triangular flatiron shape led to the popular name "Flatiron Building" instead.^[60][63] By the 1920s, the center of business in Manhattan had moved northward to Midtown.^[3][60]

Development

In May 1928, the Fuller Company purchased the Central Church at Madison Avenue and 57th Street for $3 million.

To fund the construction, United States Realty sold $5 million in bonds and $3 million from debentures in January 1929.^[66][67][68] The Fuller Company planned to name the new structure "Fuller Building", transferring the name from the Flatiron Building.^[4][69] The Fuller Company labeled both entrances of its new building prominently, likely in an attempt to prevent the structure from being mislabeled like its predecessor had been.^[69] In June 1929, twenty-four mechanics received craftsmanship awards for their work on the Fuller Building.^[70][71] The building was completed on September 7, 1929.^[25] Two days later, the Fuller Company moved its offices to the 16th through 19th floors of the building, becoming its first tenant.^[55][56]

1930s to 1980s

In the building's first two decades, its commercial tenants included Kaskel and Kaskel, a

By the late 20th century, the Fuller Building had become a center for art galleries. Not only was 57th Street still an artistic hub, but also, building management was willing to accommodate each gallery's specific needs, such as large doorways, minimal window space, and heavy floor slabs.[43] Accordingly, by the 1970s, much of the showroom space on the lowest six floors was used mostly by galleries. The building's retail space also remained popular despite being split across multiple levels. As Carter B. Horsley wrote for The New York Times in 1978, the building was one of the few in the city "that have been successful in maintaining more than two retail floors", aside from specialty buildings.^[92] The Fuller Company continued to occupy the building until the early 1980s. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the exterior and lobby interior as city landmarks in 1986.^[15]

1990s to present

Cushman & Wakefield took over management of the building in 1990. While the Fuller Building contained over twenty art galleries at the time, several gallery tenants expressed frustration that rents at the building were much higher compared to other buildings.^[47] By the beginning of 1994, the Fuller Building was more than 25 percent vacant. Within the same year, the office space remained vacant but much of the available gallery space was occupied.^[93] The mortgage holder L&B Group retook the building in December 1994 and subsequently started renovating the building. The changes included replacement windows, a facade cleaning, and upgrading the interior to modern standards. By then, the Fuller Building had been overshadowed by the construction of the much taller Four Seasons Hotel on the adjacent lot, which had been completed in 1993.^[15]

In August 1999, Vornado Realty Trust arranged to purchase the Fuller Building for approximately $125 million;

• Art Deco architecture of New York City
• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets

References

Citations