41 Park Row, also 147 Nassau Street and formerly the New York Times Building, is an office building in the Financial District of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, across from

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

and the

Civic Center A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...

. It occupies a plot abutting Nassau Street to the east,

Spruce Street Spruce Street is a three-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. It starts at Park Row, near the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, and runs east to Gold Street, intersecting with Nassau Street. History Spru ...

to the north, and Park Row to the west. The building, originally the headquarters of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', is the oldest surviving structure of the former " Newspaper Row" and has been owned by

Pace University Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pace ...

since 1951. 41 Park Row contains a facade of

Maine granite Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

at its lowest two stories, above which are rusticated blocks of

Indiana limestone Indiana limestone — also known as Bedford limestone in the building trade — has long been an economically important building material, particularly for monumental public structures. Indiana limestone is a more common term for Salem Limestone, ...

. Vertical

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

on the facade highlight the building's vertical axis. The facade also contains details such as

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

s, moldings, and

colonette A colonnette is a small slender column, usually decorative, which supports a beam or lintel. Colonettes have also been used to refer to a feature of furnishings such as a dressing table and case clock, and even studied by archeologists in Roman ...

s. When completed, the building was 13 stories and contained a

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. Th ...

; the roof was removed as part of a later expansion that brought the building to 16 stories. The ''Times'' constructed the previous five-story building at 41 Park Row between 1857 and 1858 as its third headquarters. That building was replaced in 1889 as a

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

structure by George B. Post, which was erected while operations at the ''Times'' proceeded in the old quarters. 41 Park Row was the home of the ''Times'' until 1903, when it moved to

One Times Square One Times Square (also known as 1475 Broadway, the New York Times Building, the New York Times Tower, or simply as the Times Tower) is a 25-story, skyscraper on Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by ...

. The building was subsequently expanded by four stories between 1904 and 1905. The building was purchased by

in 1951 and has been used for classrooms and offices since then. 41 Park Row was designated a

New York City landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

in 1999. The building is also a contributing property to the

Fulton–Nassau Historic District The Fulton–Nassau Historic District is a federally designated historic area of New York City roughly bounded by Broadway and Park Row, Nassau, Dutch and William Streets, Ann and Spruce Streets, and Liberty Street, in lower Manhattan. It co ...

, a

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 ...

district created in 2005.

Site

The building is in the Financial District of

, just east of

New York City Hall New York City Hall is the seat of New York City government, located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street. Constructed from 1803 to 1812, the building i ...

and the

. It sits on a plot that abuts Nassau Street to the east,

to the north, and Park Row to the west.

150 Nassau Street 150 Nassau Street, also known as the Park Place Tower and the American Tract Society Building, is a 23-story, building in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is located at the southeast corner of Spruce Street and ...

is directly across Nassau Street to the east, while the Morse Building is across Nassau Street to the southeast. The

Potter Building The Potter Building is a building in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The building occupies a full block along Beekman Street with the addresses 38 Park Row to its west and 145 Nassau Street to its east. It was designed ...

is on the same block as 41 Park Row and

One Pace Plaza 1 Pace Plaza is the flagship building complex of Pace University in New York City, located directly across from the City Hall and adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge ramp in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan. The building houses the classroo ...

is across Spruce Street. The structure sits on a trapezoidal lot with a frontage of on Spruce Street, on Nassau Street, and on Park Row, with a

party wall A party wall (occasionally parti-wall or parting wall, also known as common wall or as a demising wall) is a dividing partition between two adjoining buildings that is shared by the occupants of each residence or business. Typically, the builder ...

adjoining the Potter Building. The building has alternate addresses of 40–43 Park Row and 147 Nassau Street. The triangle just north of 41 Park Row, bounded by Nassau and Spruce Streets and Park Row, was called Printing-House Square because of the area's status as New York City's " Newspaper Row" in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A bronze statue of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...

holding a copy of his ''

Pennsylvania Gazette ''The Pennsylvania Gazette'' was one of the United States' most prominent newspapers from 1728 until 1800. In the several years leading up to the American Revolution the paper served as a voice for colonial opposition to British colonial rule, ...

'' stands in the square. The statue was made by

Ernst Plassmann Ernst Plassmann (14 June 1823 – 28 November 1877; alternate spelling, Plassman) was a German-American sculptor and carver. Biography Born in Sondern, near Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Plassmann began to study art under Munstermann, then ...

and was dedicated in 1872.

Architecture

41 Park Row was originally designed by George B. Post and constructed between 1888 and 1889 in the

style. The structure was originally composed of 13 stories, including a

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...

above the 12th floor as well as a

covering the top floors.

Robert Maynicke Robert Maynicke (1849-1913) was an American architect. At his death, the ''New York Times'' called him "a pioneer in the building of modern loft buildings." designed its four-story expansion in 1904–1905. During the expansion, the mezzanine was converted to a full 13th story and three more stories were added. Following the expansion, 41 Park Row was tall with 16 stories. The building is the last remaining former newspaper headquarters on Printing House Square.

Facade

New York Times Building 41 Park Row from west

41 Park Row contains a facade of Maine

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

on its lowest two stories, rusticated blocks of

on the 3rd through 14th stories, and

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terra ...

on the 15th and 16th stories. As originally constructed, the northern, western, and eastern facades of 41 Park Row were arranged into three horizontal sections. These consisted of the five-story base, a six-story midsection of two stories above four, and the two-story mansard roof with

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...

windows. The horizontal lines of these facades were less prominent, with two

courses Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...

above the 5th and 11th stories dividing the three horizontal sections. The arrangement of these facades after its expansion remained largely unchanged except in the upper stories. The southern facade, which faces the Potter Building, is made of red brick with a chimney. Vertical

on the facade highlight the building's vertical axis. The piers split the Nassau Street and Park Row facades into four vertical

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...

and the Spruce Street facade into three bays. The stories were split into horizontal groups using brackets and moldings. The Nassau Street and Park Row facades generally contained several superimposed arches in each bay, similarly to Post's previous commission of the

New York Produce Exchange The New York Produce Exchange was a commodities exchange headquartered in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It served a network of produce and commodities dealers across the United States. Founded in 1861 as the New Y ...

. The arches contain aluminum-and-glass window infill. The articulation of the Spruce Street facade is similar to that the northernmost bays on Park Row and Nassau Street, except at the first story. The northernmost bays on Park Row and Nassau Street, as well as all the bays on Spruce Street, are also narrower than the other bays on the facade; the remaining bays on Park Row and Nassau Street are the wider bays. The first story contains large display windows in each bay, with granite piers separating the bays. There are entrances on all three facades, with the main entrance on Spruce Street; prior to 2019, the main entrance was on Park Row, where there was a double-door entrance between the two center bays. A streetlight, which is a

New York City designated landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

, is affixed to the Nassau Street facade. On the narrow bays between the 3rd and 5th floors, there is one double-wide arch in each bay that extends over the 3rd and 4th floors, a balustrade on the 3rd floor, and a pair of arched windows in each fifth floor bay. The wide bays contain a triple-wide arch extending from the 3rd to 5th floors, with a balustrade on the 3rd floor and carved motifs on the arches'

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

s. The 6th through 9th floors are designed with a single arch extending over the narrow bays and a pair of arches in the wider bays. There are three sets of two-story arcades at the top of the building, formed by the 10th and 11th, the 12th and 13th, and the 15th and 16th floors. These arcades contain two double-height arches in the narrow bays and three in the wide bays, with elaborate motifs upon each of the arcades. The 14th story, designed as a "transitional story", contains rectangular window openings with two windows in each narrow bay and three in each wide bay. A terracotta parapet runs above the 16th floor.

Foundation

41 Park Row's strong foundations, which include several foundations from the previous building on the site, allowed the outer walls to be relatively lightweight. The layer of sand underneath the building descends . The brick piers under the building are deep and are connected by inverted brick arches, whose maximum depth is . The foundational piers from the previous building on the site, which dated from 1858, are wrapped with masonry to allow them to handle the current building's greater load. When the current building was erected, new foundations were appended to the old piers. The original foundations consisted of twenty-two piers—twelve on the perimeter and ten inside the lot line—and each of these piers were wide.

Features

New York Times Building 41 Park Row from north

41 Park Row has two basement levels. The basement and subbasement extend underneath the adjacent streets, projecting outward underneath Nassau Street and outward underneath Park Row. In addition, there is another basement with a footprint measuring underneath Spruce Street, with a ceiling tall. This space contained five printing presses when ''

'' was headquartered there and was later used by

as a gym. On the first floor was a publication office divided into compartments with marble-and-oak partitions, as well as two private administrative offices on the east and west ends. The first floor later became the Pace University bookstore and lobby and was converted to an art gallery and student commons between 2017 and 2019. The lowest five floors are at the same height as the original building's stories, as were the two basement levels. The internal structure of 41 Park Row was made of wrought iron below the 11th floor and lighter cast-iron above that floor; the cast-iron above the 11th floor was replaced in the 1904–1905 renovation. Above the second floor, on the Nassau Street and Park Row sides, the

load-bearing wall A load-bearing wall or bearing wall is a wall that is an active structural element of a building, which holds the weight of the elements above it, by conducting its weight to a foundation structure below it. Load-bearing walls are one of the ea ...

s of the piers are reinforced with

Phoenix column The Phoenix Iron Works (1855: Phoenix Iron Company; 1949: Phoenix Iron & Steel Company; 1955: Phoenix Steel Corporation), located in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, was a manufacturer of iron and related products during the 19th century and early 20th ...

s, thus forming anchorages within the side walls. These anchorages are used to secure the iron cross-girders underneath each floor; the 3rd through 11th stories are also supported by beams with hollow-tile flat arches. Unlike its predecessor, the current building has no interior partition walls. The upper stories utilized lighter piers because they carried lighter loads. The original 13th floor, which was the top floor, had a ceiling of and contained the composing room and two other rooms, allowing the printers access to more natural light. There were two large skylights above the composing room. The present building's roof contains a wooden water tower, elevator penthouses, a dormer for the stairs, and mechanical equipment. Originally, the building was served by three elevators and a staircase on the south side of the building. A fourth elevator was added in the 1904–1905 expansion.

History

The 41 Park Row lot, and the adjoining lot immediately to its south (now the Potter Building site), was the site of the Old Brick Church of the Brick Presbyterian Church, built in 1767–1768 by John McComb Sr. Starting in the early 19th century and continuing through the 1920s, the surrounding area grew into the city's "Newspaper Row"; several newspaper headquarters were built on Park Row, including the Potter Building, the

Park Row Building The Park Row Building, also known as 15 Park Row, is a luxury apartment building and early skyscraper on Park Row in the Financial District of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The , 31-story building was designed by R. H. Robertson ...

, the New York Tribune Building, and the New York World Building. ''The New York Times'' and other newspapers would be among the first to construct

early skyscrapers The earliest stage of skyscraper design encompasses buildings built between 1884 and 1945, predominantly in the American cities of New York and Chicago. Cities in the United States were traditionally made up of low-rise buildings, but significa ...

for their headquarters, with the current building being one such development. Meanwhile, printing was centered around Beekman Street, less than one block south of 41 Park Row.

Previous buildings

The ''Times'', founded in 1851, was first housed in 113 Nassau Street, one block south of 41 Park Row; it moved to 138 Nassau Street, the site of the current Potter Building, in 1854. The ''Times'' grew quickly and, by 1856, it needed new quarters. The ''Times'' had become popular, with over twice the readership of the competing ''

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on th ...

'' by 1855 and was described in ''

Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...

'' as having "won a reputation for the and variety of its news". When Brick Presbyterian Church's congregation moved uptown to Murray Hill in 1857. ''Times'' cofounder Edward B. Wesley partnered with investors Frederick P. James and Henry Keep to buy the northern half of the church site for its third building. The newspaper's other cofounders,

Henry Jarvis Raymond Henry Jarvis Raymond (January 24, 1820 – June 18, 1869) was an American journalist, politician, and co-founder of ''The New York Times'', which he founded with George Jones. He was a member of the New York State Assembly, Lieutenant Governor o ...

and

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song " He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

, subsequently bought James's and Keep's shares. Thomas R. Jackson designed a five-story building in the

Romanesque Revival style Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

at the site, with the address 41 Park Row. Bill, Charles K

The third building's cornerstone was laid in May 1857. When the ''Times'' moved into the building in 1858, it became the first newspaper in New York City housed in a building erected specifically for its use. The 1851 building, dwarfing that of the ''Tribune'' just to the north, was described by the ''Times'' in 2001 as "a declaration that the newspaper regarded itself as a powerful institution in civic life". The structure had arched brick floors set within iron girders. The ''Times'' had printing presses and stereotype machines in the basement; publication offices on the first floor; its editorial department and reporters on the fourth floor; and a composing room on the first floor. Tenants rented space on the second and third floors. After Raymond died in 1869,

Edwin B. Morgan Edwin Barber Morgan (May 2, 1806 – October 13, 1881) was an entrepreneur and politician from the Finger Lakes region of western New York. He was the first president of Wells Fargo & Company, founder of the United States Express Company, and ...

, then a minority stakeholder, acquired Raymond's shares. Morgan had bought a neighboring building, owned by

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company cha ...

, two years earlier. Both buildings were given to the ''Times'' stock association in 1881 following Morgan's death. The old Times Building's publication office was expanded in 1873. Following the burning of the old ''New York World'' building to the south in 1882 (later to be occupied by the Potter Building), the ''Times'' temporarily relocated to an office on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

. By the mid-1880s, the ''Times'' operations had grown significantly and the rental market in the neighborhood was strong. The ''Real Estate Record and Guide'' stated in 1882 that the Tribune, Times, Morse, and Temple Court buildings were close to the courts of the Civic Center, making these buildings ideal for lawyers. Because of the demand for office space, Jones and the ''Times'' other owners proposed erecting a taller building on the site of the ''Times'' headquarters, rather than look for another site in Lower Manhattan, where available land was scarce. Furthermore, it would be extremely difficult to move the ''Times'' printing presses to a temporary location, so such a building would have to be constructed while the existing structure kept operating.

Construction

Architect George B. Post was commissioned to design a larger structure at 41 Park Row in 1887, and David H. King Jr. was hired as the main builder. Post's new Romanesque building was constructed around the core of the 1858 building, and the printing presses were kept in place. Some 300 people were working in the old building at the time of the project's announcement. Work commenced in January 1888, and foundational work began the next month, though the ceremonial

cornerstone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...

was not laid until that June. The new building required additional foundations; in some places, these were fused to the existing foundations, while in others, entirely new foundations were added. The office tenants remained in the building until foundation work was completed in May 1888. Afterward, they were evicted and a wooden bridge was erected around the lot's perimeter. The stone walls of the old building were demolished gradually. A passerby was injured during the demolition process when a stone slab fell from the building's facade. The existing floors were then shored up with wood; the old building's structural stability was retained because its floors rested on a

with the Potter Building to the south and on the Spruce Street wall to the north, as well as upon internal partitions. The Spruce Street wall was demolished only after additional floor beams had been installed. Subsequently, holes were cut into the floors so that the columns could be installed and, when enough columns were installed, new iron girders were bolted to these pillars and to the old floors. The new walls were then constructed. Finally, the wooden beams used to shore up the old building were taken away. Work proceeded nearly constantly, including during the night and weekends, with two 12-hour shifts six days a week, for nine months. To allow the ''Times'' staff to continue working throughout construction, the fourth and fifth floors were covered with a temporary enclosure made of wood and tar-paper. During construction, the ''Times'' offices relocated in November 1888 and in March 1889 to allow builders to finish portions of the new building. The ''Times'' reported in April 1889 that it had occupied the new building spaces. By the next month, the facade of the building was completed. 41 Park Row contained 13 floors, excluding a mezzanine level. The ''Times'' announced that the new building was taller than the Potter Building. Floor utilization in the new building was similar to that in the old building: the composing room was in the 13th floor, the building's highest, while the editorial offices and city rooms were on the 12th floor.

Expansion

Jones, who died in 1891, had believed the Times Building to be a monument to himself, having spent large sums on the project.

Charles Ransom Miller Charles Ransom Miller (January 17, 1849 – July 18, 1922) was an editor-in-chief of ''The New York Times''. He was born in Hanover, New Hampshire to Elijah and Chastina Hoyt Miller. Miller attended Dartmouth College and graduated in 1872. After wo ...

and other ''New York Times'' editors raised $1 million (equivalent to $ million in ) to buy the ''Times'' and print it under

The New York Times Company The New York Times Company is an American mass media company that publishes ''The New York Times''. Its headquarters are in Manhattan, New York City. History The company was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones in New York City. ...

. The ''Times'' Association gave ownership of 41 Park Row to a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

called the Park Company, from which the New York Times Publishing Company would lease the building. In the aftermath of a financial crisis caused by the

Panic of 1893 The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the political realignment of 1896 and the pres ...

, the paper was purchased by

Adolph Ochs Adolph Simon Ochs (March 12, 1858 – April 8, 1935) was an American newspaper publisher and former owner of ''The New York Times'' and ''The Chattanooga Times'' (now the '' Chattanooga Times Free Press''). Early life and career Ochs was born ...

in 1896, and ''The New York Times'' expanded greatly under Ochs's leadership. This prompted Ochs to acquire land for a new headquarters in Longacre Square (shortly thereafter renamed

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

) in 1901. In November 1902, two men were killed in a fire in 41 Park Row's basement. The fire had originated at a wooden partition erected for the construction of the first line of the city's subway system, which ran adjacent to the building's basement under Park Row. Sometime in 1903, plans for alterations were filed but not carried out. By late 1903, architect

Robert Maynicke Robert Maynicke (1849-1913) was an American architect. At his death, the ''New York Times'' called him "a pioneer in the building of modern loft buildings." The work was to be done on behalf of the Park Company and was conducted between 1904 and 1905. Loft and Company, candy manufacturers, hired D'Oench, Yost and Thouvard to reconfigure the basement and corner store for $25,000. During the expansion, the facade was demolished above the 11th floor. The original 13th floor was demolished, the 13th-floor mezzanine became a full 13th floor, and three new floors were added. The 12th and 13th floors, and the 15th and 16th floors, were modeled with double-height triple arches, similar to the 10th and 11th floors. Because the lightweight iron columns above the 11th floor could not support the extra stories, they were replaced with steel pillars. Several accidents occurred during the renovation process. In July 1904, a heavy stone was dropped, injuring five people, and that November, a passerby was killed by a falling beam. On January 1, 1905, the ''Times'' moved to the newly completed

. Afterward, four show windows were installed at the first floor, where the ''Times'' publication offices had formerly been located. The expansion was completed by 1905.

Later use and university conversion

Several modifications were made to 41 Park Row after its expansion. The foundations under the party wall with the Potter Building were reinforced in 1915, and fireproofing work occurred the next year, including the installation of a wooden water tower on the roof. 41 Park Row housed a high number of tenants in the paper industry, with 38 such tenants in 1935. Businesses in other sectors also took space at the building. Minor modifications were also made to the ground-level storefronts in 1919, 1928, 1938, and 1941.

had rented space in 41 Park Row by 1948, and purchased the building three years later. The above-ground stories were turned into classrooms and offices, while the basement was turned into a gym. Edward J. Hurley performed minor modifications to the building's basement levels and first floor between 1956 and 1957, and a rooftop cooling tower was installed in 1962 for an air-conditioning system on the 12th to 15th floors. Pace also installed a plaque outside the building in 1959 to honor the ''Times'' usage of the building. A newer campus building, 1 Pace Plaza, was opened immediately to the north in 1970, though 41 Park Row still housed Pace University's graduate school. 41 Park Row also became known as Pace Plaza during the late 20th century. The building underwent further renovations starting in 1982, when the interior was restored in several phases of two floors each. The

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

(LPC) designated 41 Park Row as a city landmark on March 16, 1999. On September 7, 2005, the New York Times Building was designated as a contributing property to the

, a

district. Pace University announced in February 2017 that it would extensively renovate 41 Park Row as part of a master plan for the university campus. Due to 41 Park Row's landmark status, Pace sought and obtained approval from the LPC. The renovations, designed by FXFowle, included restoring the lower floors and adding an entrance on Spruce Street, which had been removed in the 1950s renovations. Work was completed in January 2019. Other phases of the expansion plan entail moving administrative offices from 41 Park Row.

Critical reception

(King1893NYC) pg625 The New-York Times Building

In January 1889, when the new building was near completion, the ''Real Estate Record and Guide'' called the new structure "the finest commercial building in New York". The first use of the word "skyscraper" by the ''Times'' itself was in an article published on June 13, 1888, in describing the expansion of 41 Park Row. Moses King's ''Handbook of New York'', published in 1893, described the then-new building as "a masterpiece of the Romanesque style" and "the ''New-York Times'' expressed in stone". When the Union Trust Building on Broadway was erected the year after the Times Building's completion, the ''Real Estate Record and Guide'' described the arched facade of the Union Trust structure as an improvement over the Times Building's facade. According to architectural writers Sarah Landau and Carl Condit, contemporary observers said that the building's style had been inspired by the works of

Henry Hobson Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...

. The facade, with granite on the lower stories and limestone above, was one such detail likely inspired by Richardson's designs. The rusticated stone facade, large arcades, mansard roof, small

balustrades, and roll moldings were also similar to Richardson's work. Architecture critic Montgomery Schuyler lauded the arches as "impressive features" that were detailed, yet not "exaggerated in the Richardsonian manner". Art critic Russell Sturgis objected to the horizontal groupings of floors and to the size of the original mansard roof, which he felt was too small compared to the building's height, though he praised the vertical piers.

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * *

External links

* {{Authority control 1889 establishments in New York (state) 1905 establishments in New York City Buildings and structures completed in 1889 Buildings and structures completed in 1905 Civic Center, Manhattan Historic district contributing properties in Manhattan Financial District, Manhattan New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan Newspaper headquarters in the United States Pace University Skyscraper office buildings in Manhattan The New York Times