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207 East 36th Street

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Coordinates: 40°44′49″N 73°58′35″W / 40.74694°N 73.97639°W / 40.74694; -73.97639
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207 East 36th Street
The building viewed from E. 36th St. in 2016
Map
General information
StatusCompleted
Town or cityNew York City
CountryUnited States
Coordinates40°44′49″N 73°58′35″W / 40.74694°N 73.97639°W / 40.74694; -73.97639
Year(s) built1906
Technical details
Floor count5
Floor area105,000 square feet (9,800 m2)[1]
Design and construction
Architecture firmTrowbridge & Livingston

207 East 36th Street is a five-story commercial building located between Second and Third avenues in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The building was constructed in 1906 and originally served as a stable, garage and warehouse for B. Altman and Company. It currently houses the Murray Hill Annex of the United States Postal Service.

History

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In 1905, Benjamin Altman acquired a plot of land near Third Avenue in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan that included 100 feet (30 m) of frontage on East 36th Street and 50 feet (15 m) of frontage on East 37th Street.[2] The following year, plans were prepared for a five-story brick and stone stable on the site.[3] The new structure was located near the B. Altman and Company Building, the company's flagship store that opened in 1906 at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street and was expanded through 1914 to occupy a full city block, extending east to Madison Avenue and north to 35th Street.[4][5]

Until 1906, B. Altman & Company's flagship store had been located on Sixth Avenue between West 18th and 19th streets, in an area containing other large department stores that is now designated as the Ladies' Mile Historic District.[5] A five-story stable located at 135 West 18th Street was used by horse drawn carriages to deliver items purchased by customers;[5][6][7] as of 2024 the structure still exists as the Altman Building and includes event space used by the adjacent Metropolitan Pavilion.[7][8] Some of the large department stores began switching to motorized trucks for deliveries at the turn of the century and B. Altman & Company's fleet of vehicles included electric trucks.[9] B. Altman & Company continued making deliveries in trucks operated by the company until 1931, when shipping was taken over by United Parcel Service.[10]

In 1918, Altman purchased five lots running from 215 to 223 East 36th Street to serve as an addition to the original stable. Overall, this new property measured 97.6 by 98.9 feet (29.7 by 30.1 m). Another lot was purchased adjacent to the north side of the building (No. 204), which increased the frontage on East 37th Street to 75 feet (23 m).[11][12][13] That same year, plans were filed for a five-story fireproof garage on the new property acquired on East 36th Street.[14] The new building was subsequently displaced by the construction of the exit plaza for the Queens–Midtown Tunnel, which opened in 1940 and included a new north–south street for exiting traffic between Second and Third avenues, running from East 34th to East 41st streets, with an underpass below East 36th Street.[13][15][16][17][18]

B. Altman and Company sold the original building in 1948, which at the time was being used as a warehouse for the company's furniture and mattress departments, and moved into a new warehouse located at 48–49 35th Avenue in Long Island City.[1][19][20][21] The building was subsequently used as a furniture warehouse and repair factory by John Stuart, Inc. and the United States Postal Service moved into the building by the 1960s, operating the facility as an annex that manually handled parcel post for its Grand Central Station at 450 Lexington Avenue.[1][22][23] The property was acquired by the federal government through eminent domain on June 29, 1987.[24]

Architecture

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The building was designed by Trowbridge & Livingston, the same architecture firm that designed the B. Altman and Company Building located on the block bounded by Fifth and Madison avenues and 34th and 35th streets.[3][4][5] The façade is made of brick and is five stories high. Brick arched entries are located at the ground level, which contain projecting keystones. The façade contains stone belt courses and window sills as well as recessed window bays with splayed brick lintels and projecting keystones. Brick corbelling is located on the fourth level and the fifth level has a modillioned cornice.[23]

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The east wall of the building contains a large billboard visible to motorists exiting the Queens–Midtown Tunnel that for many years contained advertisements by British Airways and was described as something that "became a part of New York culture" and "was impossible to miss for anyone arriving New York at their midtown location."[25][26]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Furniture Dealer Takes Warehouse; Former Altman Property Sold on 36th Street". The New York Times. June 8, 1949. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  2. ^ "In The Real Estate Field; Large Plot on Thirty-sixth Street, Near Third Avenue, Bought by B. Altman". The New York Times. May 19, 1905. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Building News". The American Architect and Building News. March 10, 1906. p. xv. Retrieved August 25, 2024 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ a b Goldberger, Paul (December 20, 1984). "Design Notebook; At B. Altman, an architecture of spaciousness". The New York Times. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d Gray, Christopher (January 28, 1990). "Streetscapes; B. Altman's; The Life and Death(?) Of a Palace for the Chic". The New York Times. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  6. ^ Cooke, Hope (September 30, 1990). "Undiscovered Manhattan". Daily News. New York. Retrieved October 8, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b Gray, Christopher (January 27, 2008). "Where Charming Buildings Housed Horses". The New York Times. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  8. ^ "History". The Altman Building. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  9. ^ Bryan, Ford R. (1995). Henry's Attic: Some Fascinating Gifts to Henry Ford and His Museum. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. p. 135. ISBN 9780814336175. Retrieved August 25, 2024 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ "The Life & Legacy of Benjamin Altman" (PDF). Altman Foundation. October 2013. p. 15. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  11. ^ Digital Collections, The New York Public Library. "(cartographic) Bounded by E. 37th Street, East River (Piers 80–87), E. 32nd Street, and Third Avenue, (1916)". The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  12. ^ "Real Estate Field; Large Addition Planned for Altman Stable on East Thirty-sixth Street". The New York Times. April 3, 1918. ProQuest 100035260.
  13. ^ a b Digital Collections, The New York Public Library. "(cartographic) Plate 23, Part of Section 3: [Bounded by E. 37th Street, First Avenue, E. 32nd Street and Third Avenue.], (1920)". The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  14. ^ "Plans Filed For New Construction Work". Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide. April 6, 1918. p. 175. Retrieved August 25, 2024 – via Google Books.
  15. ^ "Approaches Speeded for East River Tube; Two New Streets and Double Crosstown Plaza Being Built". The New York Times. June 2, 1940. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  16. ^ Stevens, H. Austin (August 11, 1940). "Automobile News—Motorists on the Road". The New York Times. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  17. ^ Borough of Manhattan Department of Borough Works (January 23, 1941). Map Showing A Change In The City Map In The Territory Bounded By First Avenue, East 34th Street, Lexington Avenue and East 41st Street By Changing The Lines And Grades For The Approaches To The Queens–Midtown Tunnel And Adjusting The Grades Of Adjoining Streets (Map).
  18. ^ Digital Collections, The New York Public Library. "(cartographic) Plate 62, Part of Section 3, (1955)". The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  19. ^ "Investor Acquires Penn Zone Offices; East Side Warehouse Sold by Altman's". The New York Times. November 29, 1948. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  20. ^ O'Kane, Lawrence (June 9, 1966). "News of Realty; Altman to Build". The New York Times. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  21. ^ Noto, Anthony (March 20, 2017). "Top N.Y.C. commercial real estate deals: B. Altman's old Long Island City warehouse". New York Business Journal. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  22. ^ Kaplan, Morris (March 8, 1966). "New Post Office Under Way Here". The New York Times. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  23. ^ a b Mackey, Linda (August 31, 2021). "Eligibility Evaluation for USN 06101.021852." New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
  24. ^ S & M Enterprises v. United States, 199 F.3d 1317 (Fed. Cir. 1999).
  25. ^ Nudd, Tim (January 3, 2012). "After 10 Years, Marquee Midtown Tunnel Billboard Gets a New Tenant". Adweek. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  26. ^ Goodman, Tom (November 2020). "A very unusual flight". Mach 2. No. 28. Retrieved August 25, 2024 – via Issuu.
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