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Cable Building (New York City)
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Cable Building (New York City)
The Cable Building is located at 611 Broadway at the northwest corner with Houston Street in NoHo and Greenwich Village, in Manhattan, New York City. Since it spans a block, the Cable Building also has addresses of 2–18 West Houston Street and 178–188 Mercer Street.
The Cable Building was built in 1892–1894 to designs by Stanford White. It is a steel and iron frame structure with brick, stone, and terra-cotta facing. It has a limestone base with a two-story arcade featuring show windows graced by iron spandrels and elegant keystones. Furthermore, it also has a prominent copper cornice with lions' faces, egg-and-dart moldings, and surmounting acanthus. By May 1892, work was underway, though no contract had been awarded for the superstructure. When it was completed, the Real Estate Record and Builders Guide wrote that the Cable Building was "conspicuous among the modern buildings that are fast imparting a new and grander appearance to Broadway". Of special notice was the Broadway main entrance, which was flanked by two figures measuring 11 feet high; the figures were sculpted by the Scottish-American sculptor J. Massey Rhind.
The Cable Building was designed by Stanford White, a partner in McKim, Mead & White, the preeminent American architectural firm at the turn of the twentieth century. It is a nine-story Beaux-Arts structure, which impressively captures White's design principles of the "American Renaissance". This is the only McKim, Mead & White building in the NoHo Historic District. The building's detailing is similar to two of the firm's earlier designs: the 1887 building at 900 Broadway, and the long-gone 1890 Hotel Imperial at Broadway and 32nd Street. Stanford White was the partner in charge for both of these projects for the family and was a close friend. Of the twenty-nine American cities that built cable traction systems between 1870 and 1900 along with their accompanying cable powerhouses, this is the only powerhouse that was built by an architect of such stature.
The building's lot originally contained St Thomas church and cemetery, the church burned in 1851, was rebuilt, and subsequently sold and demolished to build the Cable Building.
St Thomas decided to utilize open ground behind the church for burial vaults. Here they built 58 vaults, each 9×11 feet, that were sold for $250 each. At least 36 of the vaults were purchased by families of St. Thomas. Among those who acquired a family vault was William Backhouse Astor, a member of St. Thomas’ original vestry. William B. Astor’s father John Jacob Astor, the wealthiest man in the country at that time, was interred in William’s private vault in St. Thomas’ churchyard when he died in 1848.
Removal of the burial vaults in the churchyard posed a difficulty in the sale of St. Thomas’ church property at Broadway and Houston. When the vestry originally sold the vault lots at the rear of the church, the deeds protected the rights of the vault owners for the duration of the church’s corporation.
The Cable Building was originally the headquarters and power station for the Metropolitan Traction Company, one of the city's cable car companies, founded in 1892. The MTC's original investment in the building was $750,000. The company spent $12 million on a cable car railway system to move cars on Broadway from Bowling Green to 36th Street, which started operations in 1893. This was the central power station; other stations were at 51st Street and Front Street.
The building's basement, which had been excavated 46' under the street surface, housed four 32-foot winding wheels that carried the cables that pulled the cable streetcars. They were powered by four Corliss steam engines 38" x 60", 1200 HP each, developed by the Dickson Manufacturing Company of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
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Cable Building (New York City)
The Cable Building is located at 611 Broadway at the northwest corner with Houston Street in NoHo and Greenwich Village, in Manhattan, New York City. Since it spans a block, the Cable Building also has addresses of 2–18 West Houston Street and 178–188 Mercer Street.
The Cable Building was built in 1892–1894 to designs by Stanford White. It is a steel and iron frame structure with brick, stone, and terra-cotta facing. It has a limestone base with a two-story arcade featuring show windows graced by iron spandrels and elegant keystones. Furthermore, it also has a prominent copper cornice with lions' faces, egg-and-dart moldings, and surmounting acanthus. By May 1892, work was underway, though no contract had been awarded for the superstructure. When it was completed, the Real Estate Record and Builders Guide wrote that the Cable Building was "conspicuous among the modern buildings that are fast imparting a new and grander appearance to Broadway". Of special notice was the Broadway main entrance, which was flanked by two figures measuring 11 feet high; the figures were sculpted by the Scottish-American sculptor J. Massey Rhind.
The Cable Building was designed by Stanford White, a partner in McKim, Mead & White, the preeminent American architectural firm at the turn of the twentieth century. It is a nine-story Beaux-Arts structure, which impressively captures White's design principles of the "American Renaissance". This is the only McKim, Mead & White building in the NoHo Historic District. The building's detailing is similar to two of the firm's earlier designs: the 1887 building at 900 Broadway, and the long-gone 1890 Hotel Imperial at Broadway and 32nd Street. Stanford White was the partner in charge for both of these projects for the family and was a close friend. Of the twenty-nine American cities that built cable traction systems between 1870 and 1900 along with their accompanying cable powerhouses, this is the only powerhouse that was built by an architect of such stature.
The building's lot originally contained St Thomas church and cemetery, the church burned in 1851, was rebuilt, and subsequently sold and demolished to build the Cable Building.
St Thomas decided to utilize open ground behind the church for burial vaults. Here they built 58 vaults, each 9×11 feet, that were sold for $250 each. At least 36 of the vaults were purchased by families of St. Thomas. Among those who acquired a family vault was William Backhouse Astor, a member of St. Thomas’ original vestry. William B. Astor’s father John Jacob Astor, the wealthiest man in the country at that time, was interred in William’s private vault in St. Thomas’ churchyard when he died in 1848.
Removal of the burial vaults in the churchyard posed a difficulty in the sale of St. Thomas’ church property at Broadway and Houston. When the vestry originally sold the vault lots at the rear of the church, the deeds protected the rights of the vault owners for the duration of the church’s corporation.
The Cable Building was originally the headquarters and power station for the Metropolitan Traction Company, one of the city's cable car companies, founded in 1892. The MTC's original investment in the building was $750,000. The company spent $12 million on a cable car railway system to move cars on Broadway from Bowling Green to 36th Street, which started operations in 1893. This was the central power station; other stations were at 51st Street and Front Street.
The building's basement, which had been excavated 46' under the street surface, housed four 32-foot winding wheels that carried the cables that pulled the cable streetcars. They were powered by four Corliss steam engines 38" x 60", 1200 HP each, developed by the Dickson Manufacturing Company of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
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