Bush Tower
Encyclopedia
Bush Tower, also called the Bush Terminal International Exhibit Building is an historic thirty-story skyscraper
located just east of Times Square
at 130-132 West 42nd Street
between Broadway
and Sixth Avenue
in Midtown Manhattan
, New York City
. It was built in 1916-18 for Irving T. Bush
's Bush Terminal Company, owners of Bush Terminal
in Sunset Park
, Brooklyn
. Bush Tower's unique original purpose as commercial display space and social space, its notable design that combined narrowness, height, and Neo-Gothic
architecture, and its role in the evolution of Times Square and of New York skyscrapers after the 1916 Zoning Resolution
all qualify it as an exceptional structure.
) the Bush Terminal Co. created Bush Tower to bring buyers, manufacturers, and designers together. As such, the company promoted a "vast centralized marketplace under one roof where complete lines of goods can be examined without loss of time."
The tower's lowest three floors were planned for the comfort and convenience of buyers visiting New York. These floors were modeled after a traditional large metropolitan private club
and housed the newly-created International Buyers Club, which contained "that mysterious element called 'atmosphere' and 'social standing,'" yet representatives of any "reputable" firm could join for free. The company wrote these floors were also designed to be "welcoming of women members."
The club offered conference rooms, multiple lounges (including "retiring rooms" for both ladies and gentlemen), offices, buffet service, and a large second-floor reading room staffed with trained librarian
s. The third-floor auditorium could host lectures, concerts, the viewing of manufacturers' own promotional motion pictures, or even "fashion parades" for "displaying gowns."
These lowest floors featured extensive oak panelling
, oriental carpets
and antique furniture; according to the company's published promotional literature, this "Old English" style gave one "the feeling of having entered a hundred-year-old tavern
."
The upper 27 stories held displays of manufacturers' goods, a concept explained as "the museum idea applied to commerce" by a writer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art
's Bulletin.
The Bush Terminal Company attempted a similar melding of commercial displays and social space at Bush House
in London
, built in three phases during the 1920s, but the concept was not fully carried through at that project.
."
The New York firm of Helmle and Corbett (also designers of Bush House in London and the George Washington Masonic National Memorial
(1922–1932) in Alexandria, Virginia)--and specifically, architect Harvey Wiley Corbett
--gave Bush Tower a Neo-Gothic
appearance, in some ways similar in style to New York's landmark Woolworth Building
, a skyscraper that had been completed just three years earlier.
Yet the thinness of the building and its function precluded the need for conventional skyscraper fenestration. The windows are concentrated on the north (42nd St.) and south facades. With the exception of a recessed mid-facade lightwell
on the east facade, the east and west walls were left largely blank. Instead, Trompe-l'œil brickwork creates vertical "ribs" with a false "shade" pattern to enhance the verticality. High pointed arched windows lighted the top double-height floor (the building is variously described as 29 or 30 floors). Even the water tower was hidden behind a mansard roof
at the tower's peak.
Bush Tower influenced subsequent skyscraper design. Architect Raymond Hood
credited the architects of this structure as an influence on his landmark American Radiator Building
of 1924. Written about in the Literary Digest
and Vanity Fair
, and by such critics as Lewis Mumford
in Architecture
, and the tallest building in Midtown Manhattan when completed, Bush Tower also signified the movement of the Manhattan business district to Midtown.
in 1931. After the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
foreclosed upon the tower in 1938 the upper floors were converted for regular office usage. By the early 1980s, the Times Square neighborhood and Bush Tower itself had deteriorated to the point where the owners considered demolishing the building. But it was instead renovated, with heating and electrical systems replaced throughout. The skyscraper was acquired in the 1980s by its present owners, by the Lebanese
Dalloul family.
In 2002, the owners made public their plans for a sister building immediately to the west of Bush Tower. In a design by the firm of Gruzen Samton, a 23-story glass tower would be separated by a six inch/15 cm gap—necessitated by earthquake codes—but connected on every floor to double the original building's space.
But in October 2006, Dubai
-based developer Istithmar
announced they were purchasing the properties at 136-140 West 42nd St., between Bush Tower and Istithmar-owned 6 Times Square (formerly the Knickerbocker Hotel
) Isithmar's plans to build a hotel/condominium building presumably signals an end for the office tower scheme, which had been developed through architectural working drawings.
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
located just east of Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
at 130-132 West 42nd Street
42nd Street (Manhattan)
42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the theater district near that intersection...
between Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
and Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)
Sixth Avenue – officially Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown"...
in Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. It was built in 1916-18 for Irving T. Bush
Irving T. Bush
Irving T. Bush was an American businessman. His father was the wealthy industrialist, oil refinery owner, and yachtsman Rufus T. Bush. As founder of the Bush Terminal Company, Irving T...
's Bush Terminal Company, owners of Bush Terminal
Bush Terminal
Bush Terminal now known as Industry City is a historic intermodal shipping, warehousing, and manufacturing complex on the waterfront in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City...
in Sunset Park
Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Sunset Park is a neighborhood in the western section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Greenwood Heights to the north, Borough Park to the east, Bay Ridge to the south, and Upper New York Bay to the west...
, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. Bush Tower's unique original purpose as commercial display space and social space, its notable design that combined narrowness, height, and Neo-Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
architecture, and its role in the evolution of Times Square and of New York skyscrapers after the 1916 Zoning Resolution
1916 Zoning Resolution
The New York City 1916 Zoning Resolution was a measure adopted primarily to stop massive buildings such as the Equitable Building from preventing light and air from reaching the streets below...
all qualify it as an exceptional structure.
Concept
Under Irving T. Bush (who has no relation to the Bush political familyBush family
The Bush family is a prominent American family. Along with many members who have been successful bankers and businessmen, across three generations the family includes two U.S. Senators, one Supreme Court Justice, two Governors, one Vice President and two Presidents...
) the Bush Terminal Co. created Bush Tower to bring buyers, manufacturers, and designers together. As such, the company promoted a "vast centralized marketplace under one roof where complete lines of goods can be examined without loss of time."
The tower's lowest three floors were planned for the comfort and convenience of buyers visiting New York. These floors were modeled after a traditional large metropolitan private club
Gentlemen's club
A gentlemen's club is a members-only private club of a type originally set up by and for British upper class men in the eighteenth century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late nineteenth century. Today, some are more open about the gender and social status of...
and housed the newly-created International Buyers Club, which contained "that mysterious element called 'atmosphere' and 'social standing,'" yet representatives of any "reputable" firm could join for free. The company wrote these floors were also designed to be "welcoming of women members."
The club offered conference rooms, multiple lounges (including "retiring rooms" for both ladies and gentlemen), offices, buffet service, and a large second-floor reading room staffed with trained librarian
Librarian
A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...
s. The third-floor auditorium could host lectures, concerts, the viewing of manufacturers' own promotional motion pictures, or even "fashion parades" for "displaying gowns."
These lowest floors featured extensive oak panelling
Panelling
Panelling is a wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials....
, oriental carpets
Oriental rug
An authentic oriental rug is a handmade carpet that is either knotted with pile or woven without pile.By definition - Oriental rugs are rugs that come from the orient...
and antique furniture; according to the company's published promotional literature, this "Old English" style gave one "the feeling of having entered a hundred-year-old tavern
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
."
The upper 27 stories held displays of manufacturers' goods, a concept explained as "the museum idea applied to commerce" by a writer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
's Bulletin.
The Bush Terminal Company attempted a similar melding of commercial displays and social space at Bush House
Bush House
Bush House is a building between Aldwych and The Strand in London at the southern end of Kingsway. The BBC World Service occupies the Centre Block, North East and South East wings. The North West wing was formerly occupied by BBC Online until they relocated to BBC Media Village in 2005, with some...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, built in three phases during the 1920s, but the concept was not fully carried through at that project.
Building Site and Style
The building site was only 50 feet wide and 90 feet deep (15 m x 27.5 m), yet the building rises over 433 feet (132 m) to its peak.http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=2249. The architects remarked that they wanted to make the building "a model for the tall, narrow building in the center of a city blockCity block
A city block, urban block or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest area that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, they form the basic unit of a city's urban fabric...
."
The New York firm of Helmle and Corbett (also designers of Bush House in London and the George Washington Masonic National Memorial
George Washington Masonic National Memorial
George Washington Masonic National Memorial is a Masonic building and memorial located in Alexandria, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C.. It is dedicated to the memory of George Washington, the first President of the United States and a Mason. The tower is fashioned after the ancient Lighthouse of...
(1922–1932) in Alexandria, Virginia)--and specifically, architect Harvey Wiley Corbett
Harvey Wiley Corbett
Harvey Wiley Corbett was an American architect primarily known for skyscraper and office building designs in New York and London, and his advocacy of tall buildings and modernism in architecture.-Early life and career:...
--gave Bush Tower a Neo-Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
appearance, in some ways similar in style to New York's landmark Woolworth Building
Woolworth Building
The Woolworth Building is one of the oldest skyscrapers in New York City. More than a century after the start of its construction, it remains, at 57 stories, one of the fifty tallest buildings in the United States as well as one of the twenty tallest buildings in New York City...
, a skyscraper that had been completed just three years earlier.
Yet the thinness of the building and its function precluded the need for conventional skyscraper fenestration. The windows are concentrated on the north (42nd St.) and south facades. With the exception of a recessed mid-facade lightwell
Lightwell
In architecture a lightwell, light well or air shaft is an unroofed external space provided within the volume of a large building to allow light and air to reach what would otherwise be dark or unventilated area...
on the east facade, the east and west walls were left largely blank. Instead, Trompe-l'œil brickwork creates vertical "ribs" with a false "shade" pattern to enhance the verticality. High pointed arched windows lighted the top double-height floor (the building is variously described as 29 or 30 floors). Even the water tower was hidden behind a mansard roof
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
at the tower's peak.
Bush Tower influenced subsequent skyscraper design. Architect Raymond Hood
Raymond Hood
Raymond Mathewson Hood was an early-mid twentieth century architect who worked in the Art Deco style. He was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, educated at Brown University, MIT, and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. At the latter institution he met John Mead Howells, with whom Hood later partnered...
credited the architects of this structure as an influence on his landmark American Radiator Building
American Radiator Building
The American Radiator Building is a landmark skyscraper located at 40 West 40th Street, in midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was conceived by the architects John Howells and Raymond Hood in 1924 and built for the American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Company...
of 1924. Written about in the Literary Digest
Literary Digest
The Literary Digest was an influential general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, Public Opinion and Current Opinion.-History:...
and Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
, and by such critics as Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford was an American historian, philosopher of technology, and influential literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a writer...
in Architecture
Architecture (magazine)
Originally titled Journal of the American Institute of Architects from January 1944 through 1951, the magazine changed its name to The American Institute of Architects Journal. After publication of the AIA Journal ended in August 1976, then followed Architecture magazine...
, and the tallest building in Midtown Manhattan when completed, Bush Tower also signified the movement of the Manhattan business district to Midtown.
Subsequent History
The Buyers' Club on the lower floors was quickly replaced by a bank in the early 1920s, then by the Old London RestaurantOld London Inc.
Old London Inc. was the name of a proposed group of eating establishments begun by restaurant pioneer William Childs. Childs was deposed in 1929 as the head of the $37,000,000 Childs Restaurant chain. A 1930s undertaking, Childs' business eventually lost momentum during the Great Depression...
in 1931. After the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, or MetLife, for short, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, with 90 million customers in over 60 countries...
foreclosed upon the tower in 1938 the upper floors were converted for regular office usage. By the early 1980s, the Times Square neighborhood and Bush Tower itself had deteriorated to the point where the owners considered demolishing the building. But it was instead renovated, with heating and electrical systems replaced throughout. The skyscraper was acquired in the 1980s by its present owners, by the Lebanese
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
Dalloul family.
In 2002, the owners made public their plans for a sister building immediately to the west of Bush Tower. In a design by the firm of Gruzen Samton, a 23-story glass tower would be separated by a six inch/15 cm gap—necessitated by earthquake codes—but connected on every floor to double the original building's space.
But in October 2006, Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
-based developer Istithmar
Istithmar World
Istithmar World is an investment firm based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates . This company is a state-run business owned by Dubai World, a Dubai government-owned company, and was established in 2003...
announced they were purchasing the properties at 136-140 West 42nd St., between Bush Tower and Istithmar-owned 6 Times Square (formerly the Knickerbocker Hotel
Six Times Square
6 Times Square, also known as the Newsweek Building or Knickerbocker Building, is a building located at 1466 Broadway at the southeast corner of 42nd Street in New York City. This historic building opened in 1906 as the Knickerbocker Hotel, "Knickerbocker" being an iconic name for New York...
) Isithmar's plans to build a hotel/condominium building presumably signals an end for the office tower scheme, which had been developed through architectural working drawings.
External links
- Bush Terminal Company (1917). Bush Terminal International Exhibit Building & Buyers' Club. New York, Redfield-Kendrick-Odell Co. (Full-text.)
- The New York City Landmark Preservation Commission's 23-page report on Bush Tower and its designation as a landmark (1988)
- Many photos of Bush Tower, including historic views and exterior details, at nyc-architecture.com
- Bush Tower at skyscraperpage.com
- Historic image of Bush Tower from the New York Public Library Digital Gallery, showing how Bush Tower was one of the first skyscrapers in the Times Square/42nd St. area of Mid-Manhattan