The Nipper Building is a colloquial name for ''The Victor'' condominiums, and formerly, Building 17,

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

Company, Camden Plant. The structure is a historical building located in Cooper Grant neighborhood of Camden, Camden County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States. Since 1901, Camden was the headquarters of the

Victor Talking Machine Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidia ...

, later

. Originally a

Victrola The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidia ...

cabinet factory, the building was converted into luxury apartments and retail space in 2004.

History

The Nipper Building, now known as 'The Victor', was originally constructed during 1909-1916, by the architectural and engineering firm of Ballinger & Perrot. RCA Nipper Camden NJ B

Francis Barraud Francis James Barraud (16 June 1856 – 29 August 1924) was an English painter. He is best known for his work ''His Master's Voice'', one of the most famous commercial logos in the world, having inspired a music industry trademark used by corpora ...

, an unknown British artist, painted a picture of his brother's dog, "

Nipper Nipper (1884 – September 1895) was a dog from Bristol, England, who served as the model for an 1898 painting by Francis Barraud titled ''His Master's Voice''. This image became one of the world's best known trademarks, the famous dog-and-gra ...

", sitting attentively in front of a

gramophone A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

. Nipper, a mixed-breed dog with probable terrier ancestry, became the best known dog in the world. The painting, called ''

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...

'', was sold to the British

Gramophone Company The Gramophone Company Limited (The Gramophone Co. Ltd.), based in the United Kingdom and founded by Emil Berliner, was one of the early record company, recording companies, the parent organisation for the ''His Master's Voice (HMV)'' label, a ...

Ltd. and eventually became the trademarks of both the Gramophone Company and its new American affiliate, the

in 1901. In 1929, the

Radio Corporation of America The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westin ...

purchased the Victor Company and the acquisition included the Camden manufacturing plant and the "His Master's Voice" trademark. The four

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows in the buildings tower depicting the Nipper trademark were manufactured by D'Ascenzo Studios in Philadelphia and originally installed in 1915. The windows were illuminated at night and could be seen for several miles. In 1968, RCA introduced a new corporate logo and virtually retired both the "Victor" and Nipper trademarks. The windows were removed from the tower in 1969 and replaced with RCA's new logo painted on large sheets of plywood. Beginning in 1976, partly in response to public demand, the Nipper trademark was reinstated to RCA record labels and other products and used widely again in RCA advertising. Several newspaper articles and news reports about Nipper's return, appeared at the time. April 10, 1979 was proclaimed "Nipper Day" in New Jersey by Governor

Brendan Byrne Brendan Thomas Byrne (April 1, 1924 – January 4, 2018) was an American politician, statesman, and prosecutor, serving as the 47th governor of New Jersey from 1974 to 1982. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrne started his career as a privat ...

, and RCA held a ceremony in Camden dedicating four new stained glass windows, identical to the originals, which had been reinstalled in the tower. These windows were damaged by neglect and vandals after

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energy ...

, which had absorbed RCA in 1986, vacated the building in the 1990s. The broken windows were replaced after the building was acquired by Dranoff Properties and converted into loft apartments. During the 1970s and 1980s, some parts of the building were used by the RCA Government Communications Systems Division, for the development of computer systems for the U.S. intelligence community. The Nipper Building is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

The Victor

After GE vacated the building in 1992, it deteriorated, was vandalized and became a general eyesore to the surrounding area and was in danger of demolition. All but a few of the dozens of other old RCA Victor buildings at the Camden site had already been razed. In 1997, the building was listed on Preservation New Jersey's ''Ten Most Endangered sites list''. Utilizing the

Investment Tax Credit A tax credit is a tax incentive which allows certain taxpayers to subtract the amount of the credit they have accrued from the total they owe the state. It may also be a credit granted in recognition of taxes already paid or a form of state "disc ...

, the structure was converted into a complex featuring a mix of 341 upscale loft apartments with outstanding views of the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

skyline. The restoration was completed in August 2003 at a cost of $65 million. under the guidance of BLT Architects. Approximately 80% of the project's funding came from private sources, namely through Dranoff Properties,

Fleet Bank FleetBoston Financial was a Boston, Massachusetts-based bank created in 1999 by the merger of Fleet Financial Group and BankBoston. In 2004 it merged with Bank of America; all of its banks and branches were converted to Bank of America. Histor ...

and Related Capital. Remaining funding came from various public sources including the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, the New Jersey Redevelopment Authority and the

Delaware River Port Authority The Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA), officially the Delaware River Port Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is a bi-state agency instrumentality created by a congressionally approved interstate compact between the governments of Penn ...

References

External links

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About RCA - Nipper and ChipperDranoff Properties profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nipper Building Buildings and structures in Camden, New Jersey National Historic Landmarks in New Jersey Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey Neoclassical architecture in New Jersey Commercial buildings completed in 1916 National Register of Historic Places in Camden County, New Jersey Apartment buildings in New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places Residential skyscrapers in New Jersey Skyscrapers in New Jersey Victor Records

History

The Victor

See also

References

External links