Emery Roth
Encyclopedia
Emery Roth was an American architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 who designed many of the definitive 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...

 hotels and apartment buildings of the 1920s and 30s, incorporating Beaux-Arts and Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

 details. His sons continued in the family enterprise, largely expanding the firm under the name Emery Roth & Sons.

Biography

Born in Sečovce
Secovce
Sečovce is a town in the Trebišov District in the Košice Region of south-eastern Slovakia.-History:The town was first mentioned in year 1255 in the list of king Béla IV of Hungary. In 1494 was built Roman Catholic church in Gothic architecture style. Since 15th century started gradual development...

, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 (now Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

) to a Hungarian Jewish family, he emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 at the age of 13 after his family fell into poverty upon his father's death. He began his architectural apprenticeship as a draftsman in the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 offices of Burnham & Root
Daniel Burnham
Daniel Hudson Burnham, FAIA was an American architect and urban planner. He was the Director of Works for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He took a leading role in the creation of master plans for the development of a number of cities, including Chicago and downtown Washington DC...

, working on the World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...

 of 1893. There he met Richard Morris Hunt
Richard Morris Hunt
Richard Morris Hunt was an American architect of the nineteenth century and a preeminent figure in the history of American architecture...

, who was impressed with his skills and invited Roth to work in his office in New York. Following Hunt's premature death in 1895, Roth moved to the office of Ogden Codman, Jr.
Ogden Codman, Jr.
Ogden Codman, Jr. was a noted American architect and interior decorator in the Beaux-Arts styles, and co-author with Edith Wharton of The Decoration of Houses , which became a standard in American interior design....

, a designer and decorator with a Newport
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

 clientele. In the interwar years
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....

, the firm of Emery Roth delivered some of the most influential examples of architecture for apartment houses in the at the time fashionable beaux art-style, especially in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

. In 1938, Roth included his sons Julian and Richard as partners.

Work by Emery Roth

  • Hotel Belleclaire, 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...

     (1903)
  • The Adath Jeshurun of Jassy synagogue, 58 Rivington Street (1903)
  • 601 West End Avenue (1915)
  • The First Hungarian Reformed Church
    First Hungarian Reformed Church of New York
    The First Hungarian Reformed Church of New York is located on East 69th Street in the Upper East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan...

     East 69th Street (1916)
  • 1000 Park Avenue,at the northwest corner of 84th St. (1916)
  • The Whitby
    The Whitby
    The Whitby is the name of the residential property at 325 W 45 Street in New York, NY. The Whitby was designed by famed architect Emery Roth and built by Bing & Bing general contractors. It was originally commissioned as a hotel by The Gresham Reality Company in 1924. The building was converted...

    , 325 West 45th Street (1924)
  • 110 West 86th Street (1924)
  • Chester Court at 201 West 89th Street (1924)
  • 243 West End Avenue (1925)
  • 221 West 82 Street (1925)
  • 930 Fifth Avenue
    930 Fifth Avenue
    930 Fifth Avenue is a luxury apartment building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The eighteen-story structure and penthouse was designed by noted architect Emery Roth and built in 1940...

     (1925)
  • Ritz Hotel
    Ritz Hotel
    The Ritz London is a luxury 5-star hotel located in Piccadilly and overlooking Green Park in London.- History :Swiss hotelier César Ritz, former manager of the Savoy Hotel, opened the hotel on 24 May 1906...

     Tower (1925); with Carrère and Hastings
    Carrère and Hastings
    Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings , located in New York City, was one of the outstanding Beaux-Arts architecture firms in the United States. The partnership operated from 1885 until 1911, when Carrère was killed in an automobile accident...

    . New York's first residential skyscraper
    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...

     introduced terraces at the setback levels.
  • 41 West 96th Street (1926)
  • 65 Central Park West (1926)
  • The Oliver Cromwell, West 72nd Street (1927)
  • Warwick Hotel
    Warwick New York Hotel
    The Warwick New York Hotel is a luxury hotel located at 65 West 54th Street, off the Avenue of Americas in Manhattan, New York City. It is across the street from the Museum of Modern Art, and near Broadway, Carnegie Hall and Central Park.-History:...

     (1927)
  • Hotel Benjamin (1927)
  • Manchester House, 145 West 79th Street (1928)
  • The Eldorado
    The Eldorado
    The Eldorado at 300 Central Park West, on the Upper West Side of New York City, is the northernmost of four twin-towered luxury housing cooperatives that face the west side of Central Park...

     (1929–31)
  • The Beresford
    The Beresford
    The Beresford, at 211 Central Park West, between 81st and 82nd Streets, is an upscale, 23-floor apartment building in New York City. The architect, Emery Roth, was famous for building luxury apartments and hotels throughout the city...

     (1929), 211 Central Park West
    Central Park West
    Central Park West is an avenue that runs north-south in the New York City borough of Manhattan, in the United States....

  • 300 West 23rd Street (1929)
  • Hotel St. George
    Hotel St. George
    Hotel St. George, once the largest hotel in New York City, was located in the heart of scenic Brooklyn Heights. Today, it is a landmarked building in the first historically landmarked neighborhood in New York. Its various constituent buildings, mostly surviving, were built between 1885 and 1929,...

     (1930)
  • Hotel St. Moritz (1930)
  • The San Remo
    The San Remo
    The San Remo is a luxury, 27-floor, co-operative apartment building in New York City located between 74th and 75th streets, about 1/10 of a mile north of the Dakota building The San Remo is described by Glen Justice of the New York Times as "a dazzling two-tower building with captivating views...

    , Central Park West (1930). The first of the twin-towered residential skyscrapers.
  • The Ardsley (1931); Roth's outstanding Art Deco
    Art Deco
    Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

     residential skyscraper
  • 275 Central Park West (1930–1931)
  • 140 East 28th Street (1932); residential building
  • 880 Fifth Avenue
    880 Fifth Avenue
    880 Fifth Avenue is a luxury apartment building on Fifth Avenue at the northeast corner of 69th Street in New York City.It was the final building by architect Emery Roth. The developers were Harold Uris and Percy Uris...

     (1948)
  • 47 West 96th Street
  • 310 West End Avenue
    West End Avenue
    West End Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, not far from the Hudson River.West End Avenue originates at West 59th Street; the continuation of the street below 59th Street is called Eleventh Avenue. It runs from 59th Street to its...

  • The Normandy
    The Normandy
    The Normandy, at 140 Riverside Drive and 86th Street, is a luxury residential cooperative apartment building in Manhattan, New York City. It is one of the city's best Art Deco buildings, and the last of the great twin-towered apartment houses built by architect Emery Roth; it was in The Normandy...

    , 140 Riverside Drive
    Riverside Drive (Manhattan)
    Riverside Drive is a scenic north-south thoroughfare in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The boulevard runs on the west side of Manhattan, generally parallel to the Hudson River from 72nd Street to near the George Washington Bridge at 181st Street...

    . Last of the twin-towered residences, and Roth's choice for his retirement apartment.
  • 10 Sheridan Square (Shenandoah Apartments)
  • 888 Grand Concourse (1937) (Bronx)

Emery Roth & Sons

Despite the fact that Roth's sons, Julian and Richard, had joined the firm many years earlier, it was not until 1947 that the firm's name was changed to Emery Roth & Sons, approximately one year before Roth's death. Julian (1901–1992) specialized in construction costs and building materials and technology, while Richard (1904–1987) was named the firm's principal architect. In the 1950s and 1960s Emery Roth & Sons became the most influential architectural firm
Architectural firm
An architectural firm is a company which employs one or more licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture.- History :Architects have existed since early in recorded history. The earliest recorded architects include Imhotep and Senemut . No writings exist to describe how these...

 in New York and contributed substantially in changing the appearance of Midtown
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...

 and Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...

. In that particular period of time Emery Roth & Sons designed dozens of speculative office buildings, mostly with curtain wall
Curtain wall
A curtain wall is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, but merely keep out the weather. As the curtain wall is non-structural it can be made of a lightweight material reducing construction costs. When glass is used as the curtain wall, a great advantage is...

 facades, which soon became a ubiquitous feature of the city. Beginning in the mid-1960s, the firm was also hired as associate architects in large-scale projects like the Pan Am Building
MetLife Building
The MetLife Building, originally called the Pan Am Building, is a skyscraper located at 200 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.-History:...

 (1963), the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...

 (1966–1973) and the Citicorp Center
Citicorp Center
Citicorp Center can refer to several skyscrapers named after banking conglomerate Citigroup.* Citigroup Center , formerly Citicorp Center* Citigroup Center , formerly Citicorp Center...

 (1977). In the early 1960s, Richard Roth's son, Richard Roth, Jr. (b. 1933) became the third generation to join the firm, eventually rising to chief architect and shareholder. As the firm expanded and diversified over six decades, it remained a family business through the 1990s. Richard Roth was replaced as the company's CEO in 1993 by Robert Sobel, Roth's cousin. But only three years later, in 1996, the firm ceased to operate, apparently because of financial distress
Financial distress
Financial distress is a term in Corporate Finance used to indicate a condition when promises to creditors of a company are broken or honored with difficulty. Sometimes financial distress can lead to bankruptcy...

. Emery's great-grandson Richard Lee Roth is currently employed in the architectural profession and resides in South Florida.

The extensive architectural records and papers of both Emery Roth and Emery Roth & Sons are now held in the Department of Drawings & Archives at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
The Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library is one of twenty-five libraries in the Columbia University Library System and is located in Avery Hall on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University in the City of New York. It is the largest architecture library in the world...

 at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

.

Work by Emery Roth & Sons

  • 300 East 57th Street
    300 East 57th Street
    300 East 57th Street is an apartment building on the corner of East 57th Street and Second Avenue in New York City. Designed by Emery Roth and completed in November 1947, it was one of the first new luxury buildings built in Manhattan during the housing boom following the end of World War II.In...

     (1947)
  • Paris Theater & Office Building (1948)
  • 715 Park Avenue (1949)
  • 945 Fifth Avenue Apartments (1949)
  • Look
    Look (American magazine)
    Look was a bi-weekly, general-interest magazine published in Des Moines, Iowa from 1937 to 1971, with more of an emphasis on photographs than articles...

     Building, 488 Madison Avenue (1949)
  • 40 Park Avenue (1950)
  • 45 East End Avenue Apartments (1950)
  • 85 East End Avenue, NE corner of E83rd St (1950)
  • 575 Madison Avenue (1950)
  • 2 Fifth Avenue (1952)
  • 380 Madison Avenue (1953)
  • 30 Park Avenue (1954)
  • 555 Fifth Avenue (1954)
  • 589 Fifth Avenue (1954)
  • National Distillers Building (1954)
  • 430 Park Avenue (Renovation) (1954)
  • Baruch Houses
    Baruch Houses
    Bernard M. Baruch Houses, or Baruch Houses, is a public housing development built by the New York City Housing Authority on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, at . The development is named after Bernard Baruch, a Wall Street trader, economic advisor during World War I and World War II, and...

     (1954–1959)
  • 460 Park Avenue (1955)
  • Bank of Montreal Building (1955)
  • Colgate-Palmolive Building (1955)
  • Davies Building (1955)
  • 156 William Street (1956)
  • 415 Madison Avenue (1956)
  • 485 Lexington Avenue (1956)
  • 1430 Broadway (1956)
  • 123 William Street (1957)
  • 630 Third Avenue (1958)
  • 750 Third Avenue (1958)
  • 400 Madison Avenue (1958)
  • General Reinsurance Building (1958)
  • 100 Church Street (1958)
  • 2 Broadway
    2 Broadway
    2 Broadway is an office building located on Broadway in New York City.- History :The plot is located next to the historic Bowling Green. The building that used to stand there was the Produce Exchange Building, which was a representative structure constructed out of brick with terracotta decorations...

     (1959)
  • 355 Lexington Avenue (1959)
  • Bronx High School of Science
    Bronx High School of Science
    The Bronx High School of Science is a specialized New York City public high school often considered the premier science magnet school in the United States. Founded in 1938, it is now located in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx...

     (1959)
  • Harriman National Bank Building (1959)
  • Lorillard Building (1959)
  • East Ohio Building (Cleveland, Ohio
    Cleveland, Ohio
    Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

    ) (1959)
  • 10 East 70th Street Apartments (1960)
  • 80 Pine Street (1960)
  • Mutual of America Building (1960)
  • 850 Third Avenue (1961)
  • Pfizer Building (1961)
  • Diamond National Building (1961)
  • 60 Broad Street (1962)
  • 215 East 68th Apartments (1962)
  • 1180 Sixth Avenue (1962)
  • Bankers Trust Building (1962)
  • Tower East Apartments (1962)
  • Hanover Bank Building (1962)
  • 1212 Sixth Avenue (1963)
  • 250 Broadway (1963)
  • 605 Third Avenue (f/k/a Burroughs Building) (1963)
  • 845 Third Avenue (1963)
  • AXA Financial Center (1963)
  • MetLife Building
    MetLife Building
    The MetLife Building, originally called the Pan Am Building, is a skyscraper located at 200 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.-History:...

     (Pan Am Building) (1963)
  • Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette
    Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette
    Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette or DLJ is a defunct U.S. investment bank founded by William H. Donaldson, Richard Jenrette and Dan Lufkin in 1959. Its businesses included securities underwriting; sales and trading; investment and merchant banking; financial advisory services; investment research;...

     Building (1963)
  • 277 Park Avenue (1964)
  • 641 Lexington Avenue (1964)
  • Harcourt, Brace & World Building (1964)
  • Sterling Drug Company Building (90 Park Avenue) (1964)
  • 600 Madison Avenue (1965)
  • Bankers Trust Annex Building (1965)
  • Xerox Building (1965)
  • MGM Building (1965)
  • Leverett Saltonstall Building (1965)
  • Financial Times Building (1965)
  • MacMillan Building (1966)
  • 299 Park Avenue
    299 Park Avenue
    299 Park Avenue is an office building in New York City located on Park Avenue between 48th and 49th streets. The building is home to the New York headquarters of UBS Investment Bank which occupies approximately two-thirds of the floors as well as MeadWestvaco and GE Capital; private equity firms...

     (a.k.a. Westvaco Building) (1967)
  • 909 Third Avenue (1967)
  • ITT-American Building (1967)
  • General Motors Building
    General Motors Building (New York)
    The General Motors Building is a 50-story, 705-foot office tower in Manhattan, New York City, facing Fifth Avenue at 59th Street . The building is one of the few structures in Manhattan that occupies a full city block...

     (1968)
  • 10 Hanover Square (1969)
  • 100 Wall Street (1969)
  • 345 Park Avenue
    345 Park Avenue
    345 Park Avenue is a 634ft tall skyscraper in New York City, New York. It was completed in 1969 and has 44 floors. Emery Roth & Sons designed the building, which is the 60th tallest in New York....

     (1969)
  • 1700 Broadway (1969)
  • Burlington House
    Burlington House (New York City)
    The Burlington House, the Alliance Capital Building, is a 625ft tall skyscraper in New York City, New York. The structure located on Sixth Avenue between 54th and 55th Streets, was completed in 1969 and has 50 floors. Emery Roth & Sons designed the building, which is the 68th tallest in New York...

     (1969)
  • Random House Building (1969)
  • Schroder Building (1969)
  • Emigrant Savings Bank Building (1969)
  • 77 Water Street (1970)
  • 1633 Broadway
    Paramount Plaza
    Paramount Plaza is a 48-story skyscraper on Broadway in New York City that houses two Broadway theatres. In 2007 it was listed as number 46 on the list of tallest buildings in New York City.-History:...

     (Paramount Plaza) (1970)
  • Interchem Building (1970)
  • 22 Cortland Street (1971)
  • 200 Water Street (a.k.a. 127 John Street) (1971)
  • 600 Third Avenue (1971)
  • 888 Seventh Avenue (1971)
  • Capitol-EMI Building (1971)
  • Park Lane Hotel (1971)
  • J.P. Stevens Company Tower (1971)
  • One Battery Park Plaza (1971)
  • 55 Water Street
    55 Water Street
    55 Water Street is a 687ft tall skyscraper in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It was completed in 1972 and has 53 floors. Emery Roth & Sons designed the building, which is tied with 277 Park Avenue as the 40th tallest building in New York City. When it was completed it was the largest office...

     (1972)
  • 747 Third Avenue (1972)
  • Harper & Row Building (1972)
  • One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (1972)
  • North American Plywood Building (1972)
  • Franklin National Bank Building (1972)
  • World Trade Center
    World Trade Center
    The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...

     (1972–1973)
  • Blue Cross Building (1973)
  • Merchandise Mart Building (1973)
  • Sovereign Apartments (1973)
  • Winstar Building and Addition (1974)
  • 100 William Street (1974)
  • Citigroup Center
    Citigroup Center
    The Citigroup Center is one of the ten tallest skyscrapers in New York City, United States, located at 53rd Street between Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue in midtown Manhattan...

     (1977)
  • Helmsley Palace Hotel
    The New York Helmsley Hotel
    The New York Helmsley Hotel is a modern, business-oriented hotel in New York City, New York. It is approximately two blocks west of the United Nations headquarters and a little more than one block east of Grand Central Terminal....

     (1981)
  • Crystal Pavilion (1982)
  • 575 Fifth Avenue (1983)
  • 900 Third Avenue (1983)
  • 1155 Avenue of the Americas (1984)
  • Manhattan Tower (1985)
  • Symphony House Apartments (1986)
  • Fifth Avenue Tower (1986)
  • 7 World Trade Center
    7 World Trade Center
    7 World Trade Center is a building in New York City located across from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. It is the second building to bear that name and address in that location. The original structure was completed in 1987 and was destroyed in the September 11 attacks...

     (1987)
  • Ellington Apartments (1987)
  • 17 State Street
    17 State Street
    17 State Street is a 42-story building in the Financial District of Manhattan. Completed in 1988, the building rises to 542 ft . It was designed by Emery Roth and Sons, and it is most noted for its distinct curved facade....

     (1988)
  • 1585 Broadway (1989)
  • 546 Fifth Avenue (1990)
  • Oxford Condominiums (1990)

Further reading

  • Steven Ruttenbaum Mansions in the Cloud: The Skyscraper Palazzi of Emery Roth (1986) ISBN 978-0917439094

External links

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