The Orlando Potter construction is for me one of the best terra cotta realizations of New York City (and United States). This is a unique piece of art. Lay back, enjoy and take your time to observe all the details and complexity of its structure and keep in mind that it's 120 years old.
This is someone else great construction and location to sit and admire the beauties of New York City's Architecture. Once you sit down on a bench in the City Hall park you are surrounded by structure that made New York City history and don't forget your binoculars because there is a lot to see .The Orlando Potter construction is a real charm and has a lot of class, elegance and appeal, it's also surrounded by prestigious structure like the row park construction (1 block north) that was until 1903 the tallest construction in the world.
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There was a beautiful and huge four story Post Office, beaux-arts style (picture 1910) on the angle of Broadway and Park Row street that was demolished in 1938 because of a land-rights dispute between the city and federal authorities. The Post Office space was added to the city hall park for the 1939 World's Fair.
On the south of the Orlando Potter construction is the city hall; Architecture charm of it's own, The oldest City Hall in the nation that still houses its former governmental functions, New York's City Hall is one of the finest architectural achievements of its period (1803-1812). City Hall is a designated New York City landmark and its rotunda is a designated interior landmark as well. And of procedure right in front of the Orlando Potter construction is the Woolworth construction by Cass Gilbert, a world-class construction and part of New York City's glory and history. There is all around the City Hall Park great structure that are to be discovered. Keep in mind that like in all New York City, what you see today is not the same landscape that was there when the construction and surrounding structure were built, many changes were made and are still made today. For example the First known edifice on this site was a brick Presbyterian Church by the American Architect John McComb (1763 - 1853) also will known for the New York City Hall. When the Presbyterian Church decided to build a new edifice downtown in 1856, the lot was divided in two and a trio of friends that included Orlando B. Potter bought the south lot for over 0,000 (that would be about .500,000 in today's Dollars) As you can see New York City was already at the turn of the 20th century a healthy and important Real Estate city. The trio erected a five-story stone structure construction known as The Park Building.
The newspaper "The New York World founded in 1860-toke office in the Park construction and then was called the World Building. January 31, 1882 a terrible fire destroyed the construction fully and 12 habitancy lost their lives. Orlando B. Potter was very criticized for the materials used because of the intensity and quickness of the fire. Orlando Potter felt guilt for the habitancy that lost there lives in the tragedy and at the same time was a good businessmen and understood what needed to be done to turn the page on such an event he also lost over 0.000 above guarnatee and half of his income was lost. He focused on finding the permissible materials (fireproof) so such a dramatic event would not happen again. It also created a collective turn over about the way structure were built and with what type of materials. Remember that at the gilded age (end of the 19th century) an 11-story construction was carefully as a big construction and was as a matter of fact the starting of the skyscraper area based on engineering developments of the 1880 that had enabled construction of tall multi-story buildings. This definition was based on the steel skeleton--as opposed to constructions of load-bearing masonary. It's sad to say but history already proven use that out of tragedies come remedies and it's out of that tragedy that Orlando Potter found the materials to built a construction that would be for that period a major step forward fireproof construction; brick, terra cotta and steel. He also proved that you don't need marble or fine stones to make a masterpiece. The Potter construction is a masterpiece surrounded by the monsters in the neighborhood that attract habitancy like magnets and leave the Orlando Potter construction unknown but it has no infer to envy them because of its excellent Architectural concept, form and creation. Its rigorous details were finely crafted to originate a masterpiece,
The Orlando Potter construction construction began in April 1883 and was completed in 1886. Architectural Historians give the name "Potter" to this construction because Potter, Orlando Brunson, a Representative from New York; born in Charlemont, Franklin County, Mass., March 10, 1823; attended the district school, Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., and the Dane Law School, Cambridge, Mass.; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1848 and commenced convention in Boston, Mass.; in 1853 he moved to New York in 1853 and worked in the development of a sewing engine company (Grover & Baker Sewing engine Co.) were he was President until 1876; he was a foremost figure in the New York Democratic party but unsuccessful for choice in 1878 to the Forty-sixth Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-eighth
Congress (March 4, 1883-March 3, 1885); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1884; member of the Rapid Transit Commission of New York City 1890-1894; died in New York City, January 2, 1894; interment in Greenwood Cemetery. (Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present.)
Orlando Potter didn't only find the material he wanted to use but also the right Architect for the job Norris G. Starkweather. Norris Garshom Starkweather, who signed his name N. G. Starkweather, was born Garshon Norris Starkweather in Windham County, Vt in 1818. In 1830 we was an apprenticed to a constructor and became a undertaker of a package deal on his own in 1845. Norris started his career as an Architect in Philadelphia in 1852 with Joseph C. Hoxie and became a full partner in 1854 but the partnership did not last and was dissolved the same year. Norris G. Starkweather started his own convention and was very active with church design. In 1855 he designed the First Presbyterian Church in Norristown, Pa, The first Baptist Church in Camden, Nj (Camden is a town in New Jersey just on the other side of Philadelphia) and the first Presbyterian Church in Baltimore. Norris left Philadelphia of Baltimore in 1856 because of the Baltimore Presbyterian Church to supervise the construction that lasted 5 years. In Baltimore Norris was noticed and secured other commissions with villas and the remodeling of the Barnum's City Hotel in Baltimore. In 1860 he appears in Washington D.C with an office. While the civil war period Norris is enrolled in the Sixth Regiment of Maryland Infantry, company F. He is mustered August 27, 1862 and mustered out May 24, 1864. In 1868 he his back in Washington in partnership with a Philadelphia constructor named Thomas M. Plowman. The partnership lasted until 1871 and from that date until 1881 Starkweather is listed by himself. between that period some projects were terminated like the Cooke's Row, the remodeling of St. John's Church in Georgetown, the Academy construction for the Convent of the Visitation.
In 1881 Norris G. Starkweather leaves Washington D.C for New York, opens an office with a young Architect named Charles E. Gibbs. They had there first office at 37 Park Row, moved to 822 Broadway from 1882 till 1884 and at 132 Nassau street from 1884 - 1886 but in 1885 the partnership dissolved and Norris moved in at 325W 23rd Street. The major commission of the firm was the Orlando Potter Building.
Norris G. Starkweather died on December 18, 1885 prior to the completion of the Potter construction and was buried in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
The Orlando Potter construction Is smaller than it's prestigious neighbors but has an request for retrial of it's own. With only 11 stories high it as a matter of fact attracts the eye. The massive (black bottom) red brick and terra cotta colored brownstone makes the construction looks like an intrusion in the landscape because of its black bottom, red color and Architectural styles. I put styles with a "s" because of the different styles that were used; some architectural historians call it the "Queen Ann style" but it is more a beautiful mix of Renaissance Revival, Colonial Revival and even Neo-Grec It is a great example of the Brick and Terra Cotta durability, for over a century it has withstood New York's greatest weather cycles and still required no rehabilitation for 100 years. The black lowest is a cast iron structure covered with bitumen to avoid premature rusting. The construction sits on a half block and two corners from Park Row Street, Beekman street and Nassau Street. It has on the ground level stores all around and a total of 59 apartments with the entrance at 145 Nassau Street. The front façade that was and is made to be seen from Park Row street is a considerable piece of art and detail work. The construction looks quite uncomplicated but the more you observe it (with binoculars) more you realize its complexity with different fenestration patterns at each floor, a lot of brick patterns of all shapes that give a sense of complicity
The materials used were:
Cast Iron and Iron: the two first floors are covered of cast iron that matches the upper style. The Ironwork for the façade and construction was performed by five suppliers: J.M. Duclos - Co (New York City). The company's logo is stamped on the Iron Work on the lowest angle of Beekman street and Park Row Street; J.M. Duclos Co that terminated the façade and H.W. Adams. Jackson Architectural Iron work and Lehigh Iron Co. That worked on the interior structure. The floor beams and roof beams are of rolled iron and the floors (except the basement) are iron girders. The interior framing is in iron with interior hollow cast-iron structural columns that are encased in wire netting covered with fire brick and plaster and flanged wrought-iron joists, set thru the brick walls, carry wrought-iron beams.
Take you binocular and look at the face bricks in detail and you will see an tremendous variety of brick shapes that you won't see elsewhere. It is a real piece of art.
Common brick: common brick, also known as backing brick or bonding brick, is a less costly and less terminated brick intended for interior usage in thick brick load-bearing walls or on the less-visible portions of buildings. It is often found on the sidewalls that abutted the walls of neighboring structure in closely packed urban blocks.
Face Brick: Face brick is a kiln-burned brick with a smooth surface, intended for the graphic portions of buildings. You will see a lot of shaped face bricks from radial, angular, hinge, coping, conical...
Engineering brick: Engineering brick is a strong, dense brick used for heavy construction such as sewers and foundations.
Brownstone colored Terra Cotta: baked clay of any shape (in molds) Terra cotta is hard, semi fired, waterproof ceramic clay used in construction construction. Used in general for wall exterior and garnish as it can be fired in molds. Oftentimes, white or colored glaze is applied on the face of the brick. Terra cotta is widely used in the attractive arts, especially as an architectural material, either in its natural red-brown color, or painted, or with a baked glaze. Architectural terra cotta became very favorite at the turn of the 19th - 20th century. From 1900 to 1912 the Us output of terra cotta quadrupled. Atlantic Terra Cotta company was one of the foremost producers and its output accounted for 40% for of the terra cotta shop in New York City. By 1908 Atlantic Terra Cotta Co. Was the largest producer of Architectural terra cotta in the world with four plant including Rochy Hill, New Jersey; Staten Island, New York; Eastpoint, Georgia; and especially Perth Amboy, New Jersey that was paramount for its exquisite texture for development terra cotta.
In the case of the Orlando Potter Building, Norris G. Starkweather used brownstone terra cotta from The Boston Terra Cotta Co. That was in company from 1980 till 1893, they were one of the first terra cotta clubs on the east cost mostly serving Boston, Chicago and New York City. The Boston Terra Cotta company used the Orlando Potter construction in its 1885 inventory to promote their work, demonstrating the load bearing vigor in which the terra cotta was integrated into the exterior brick bearing walls. A total of 540 tons was used (over 1,000,000 pounds) The Boston Terra Cotta Co superintendent James Taylor (1839-1898) that was carefully as "the father of the American Terra Cotta." His work as of today is carefully as masterpieces of Terra Cotta.
In his hands the lowly terra cotta was worth its weight in gold. James Taylor was often in New York supervising the work preparation of the terra cotta for Orlando Potter's construction and had a lot of opportunities to meet Potter himself who all the time followed the construction of his buildings. Potter and Taylor got along well together and finding the rising needs and query for terra cotta in New York City Potter decided to originate his own Terra Cotta company "The New York Architectural Terra Cotta Company." that was created in January of 1886 with Walter Geer and Asahel Clarke Geer. James Taylor was hired as superintendent and worked for the New York Architectural Terra Cotta Co until his resignation in 1893. The team was exquisite to originate the finest in terra cotta in the United States. The New York Architectural Terra Cotta Co. Was the only major architectural terra cotta company in New York City and it grow to be one of the biggest in the United States but all things have an end and the query for terra cotta started to decline in the end of the 20's and the company went bankrupt in 1932 because of the lost of interest in terra cotta, a convert in style and in materials.
Description of the Orlando Potter Building.
The first impression depends on how far you are from the construction and the time you want to spend finding at it. If you're far from it the first thing that surprises you is its red color that contrasts with its neighbor, it's also small compared to the well-known structure surrounding it. Once you start getting closer to it; forms start appearing, start growing from its facades, the construction starts to show you it's ornamentals terra cotta that first looks fused in the brick patterns (and they do make fusion with the mass). The first-rate coming is from Row Park (street) right in front of City Hall Park. From there you see 2 faces of the construction (Row Park - Beekman Street) with the third underground in the back (Nassau Street) from there it looks like a angle construction and not a half block building. Take benefit of the City Hall Park, chose a nice bench in front of the Potter construction and observe lowest to top. It is an eleven- story construction with two basement stories. On Park Row the façade is 115 feet long, on Beekman street it is 150 feet and on the Nassau street side it is of 89 feet. The Beekman and Nassau is a 90-degree angular angle and Park Row and Beekman is a 60-degree angular corner.
The black ground level (base) and first floor is the cast iron façade floor. The black is anti-rust to safe the iron from premature rusting. It matches very nicely the upper styles. It is a very nice work that diminishes the coldness and impersonality of the iron. It give an impression that the iron was molded to an under structure. It is one of the rare survivors of the cast iron facades that you can still see in the United States (Not only rare but complex). The former ground level was shop fronts but was altered some times over the years. Originally the shop fronts were framed with thin cast iron colonnettes with a display window. The entrance to the elevator lobby was on Park Row north; it had duplicate doors, shallow steps and columns supporting a heavy broken scroll pediment. It was removed in 1941 and a shop was installed using a part of the elevator lobby. On the center façade of Beekman street was also an entrance with a triple arched portico with a projecting pediment supported by bracketed columns. In 1912 this entrance was altered and converted into a shop. On Nassau street the north end was the former entrance of the elevator lobby that is now entrance of the residential apartments. At the construction of the construction there were about two hundred offices on the upper levels. Today there are a total of 59 Apartments.
Above the cast iron lowest section starts the body section with it's six stories. If you take a good look at the construction there is a very nice harmony and progressive complexity in the attractive terra cotta and brick patterns.
The body section the piers between the duplicate windows has a nice brick pattern with hinge bricks on the angle pier and hinge bricks in the middle of the columns on the two first floors. The piers also are bearing members and include flues to exhaust the fumes of the furnaces, on the top of each piers - flue is a chimney terminated in terra cotta attractive motifs. If you look at the window perimeters and you will also consideration cove bricks. As you start observing you observe all this brick patterns that give a nice request for retrial and a determined research of complexity. Each windowsill is in cast iron, between each window the brick column lays on a terra cotta block. At each floor the window pattern is different to give it an invisible growth in complexity. The lintel of each window is in attractive terra cotta with motifs of different style at each floor; the brownstone color matches very nicely the brick color and give an impression of unity. On each floor you will observe brickwork that makes this construction so unique. Just look over the first brick floor lintel, a nice brickwork that progresses and modifies floor by floor with a research of "simple" complexity. I like to call it uncomplicated because you need to observe and pay attention or you will not see and consideration all the construction has to offer.
The Trio Norris G. Starkweather (the Architect), with the help of Orlando B. Potter (the owner) and James Taylor (Boston Terra Cotta Company) did some intense research in the brick patterns and attractive terra cotta that makes this construction a real masterpiece.
In 1992-93 An exterior rehabilitation and cleaning was performed by Siri & Marsik (architects) and Henry rehabilitation who did an broad repointing, patching of terra cotta and some brick replacement. Roughly 15 years passed by and it looks like the rehabilitation was done yesterday. The worst enemy for terra cotta and bricks are the pollution. The pollution erodes and darkens all type of materials and is a concern for our Architectural patrimony in many large urban center
On the fourth floor (2nd brick face floor) over the lintel is a nice attractive terra cotta arch. On the same level (height) of the arch, on the pier you can see a very nice attractive terra cotta with a flower motif, If you have binoculars look at the motif you can see small dots in the terra cotta that recite the stems - nervure of the flower. If you don't have binoculars look at the picture on page 7. Once again it shows the ability of the work. On the fifth floor over the pier window the terra cotta is a dragon with nice details. (See picture page 8) from they're until the eighth floor, nice brick patterns and terra cotta and this all around the three facades (Park Row, Beekman street and Nassau St.) On Beekman street there is a U shape light court in the center of its façade that starts from the third floor to the top of the building, this was a common convention at that time to get a maximum day light in the construction and offices. Remember that the construction was build in 1883 and that the galvanic incandescent light bulb was perfected (by Thomas Edison) in 1880 just 3 years before the construction was built. But gas lighting was a mature, well-established industry. The gas infrastructure was in place, franchises had been granted, and manufacturing facilities for both gas and equipment were in profitable operation. Perhaps as important, habitancy had grown accustomed to the idea of lighting with gas.
The two last stories:
Are very worked in the brick patterns with a lot of different brick shapes and terra cotta. It was done with a lot of proportions. The former three quarter round angle column (corner of Park Row and Beekman street) has a foremost pinnacle. Right behind the angle column in the dead angle is a flue from lowest to top that was made to exhaust the furnace gases to chimneys concealed by terra cotta finials. The piers of the eighth story have stylized terra cotta composite capitals (see picture bellow) with the Park Row and Beekman angle one very impressive in the details and quality, complexity of molding with an eagle in the centerpiece (see picture above). This structural setup gives an impression the last upper floors are resting on the piers and capitals wit the top window arches development liaison between the capitals. Above the ninth floor are corbels surmounted of a terra cotta cornice that give an impression of supporting the two last floors. The last floor is the only floor with arched windows. In the middle section of the eleventh floor, little alternate bays are surmounted by pediments. Two attractive pinnacles erect from the mid section on each façade. On the roofline are terra cotta broken scroll pediments and urns.
The Orlando Potter construction was completed at a cost of .2 million (about million in today's dollars.)
At the time the construction was completed some newspapers severely criticized Orlando Potter and the Architect Norris Starkweather. The record & Guide was probably the most aggressive stating, "All the good work that has been done in new architecture has been thrown away on the designer of the Potter construction which is coarse, pretentious, overloaded and intensely vulgar"
It is a fact that fine Architecture and Architects are like painting masters, and most of them die even before being recognized and going into prosperity.
The Orlando Potter construction is and will be one of the finest brick-terra cotta realizations of the 19th century.
Thanks To : todays world news headlines
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