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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters
International House
Riverside Church
Museum of the City of New York
The Asia Society
The Rockefeller University
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
United Nations
Greenacre Park
Museum of Modern Art
Rockefeller Center
Judson Memorial Church and Judson Hall
Chase Manhattan Plaza
26 Broadway, Former Headquarters of the Standard Oil Company
About the Authors
Rockefeller New York

A tour by Henry Hope Reed
Photographs by Esther Bubley

26 BROADWAY, FORMER HEADQUARTERS OF STANDARD OIL COMPANY

Bowling Green

Number 26 Broadway was once the most famous address in the world. John D. Rockefeller had his offices here and, when word got about that he was giving away money, he once received 15,000 letters in a week.

Up to 1883 the headquarters of the Standard Oil Trust was in Cleveland when it moved to New York and settled in at Number 26. During the transition, John D. lived for a while at the Buckingham Hotel, on the site of Saks Fifth Avenue, before moving to his newly purchased residence, 4 West 54th Street, in 1884. From there he would go to work riding the old Sixth Avenue El, which was owned by Jay Gould. It went down Sixth Avenue, turned east on 3rd Street, and then down West Broadway to link up with the Ninth Avenue El on Greenwich Street.

By the 1890s John D.'s business had been a triumphant success for several decades. Leaving the Standard Oil Trust to his partners he concentrated on his charitable work, while still maintaining an office at Number 26. Finally in 1897 he abandoned Number 26 and let much of the work devolve on John D. Jr., just out of Brown University. John D. Jr. was to have his office here until 1933 when he moved to the RCA Building.

In 1919 the original structure at Number 26 was replaced by the present one designed by Thomas Hastings who, along with John Merven Carrère, had designed the New York Public Library. (Harold Pratt, of the well-known Brooklyn family, was the vice-president of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey in charge of the building project.)

It is one of the finest classical office buildings in the city. The entrance is a high-arched bay with a keystone carrying a shield with letters S and 0. In the lobby, with walls of Kasota stone from Minnesota and pilasters of Italian Rosato, can be seen the names of the original members of the Standard Oil Trust. Along with John D. there are the names of his brother, William, of Charles Pratt, Jabez Bostwick, William Brewster (direct descendant of Deacon Brewster of the Plymouth Colony), Henry M. Flagler (developer of the Florida East Coast Railroad), John D. Archbold, and others. The empty niche on the lobby's north wall once held the bust of the senior Rockefeller by Jo Davidson; it is now at the Rockefeller University.

Of all the buildings met with on this tour it is safe to say that this one, by Thomas Hastings, is the finest.

One can examine the stone work at the ground level outside the building. It will be noted that it is given a tooled finish, that is to say it has narrow channeling which is vertical on the face and on the chamfered sides which form part of the rustication. Also, the size of the enrichment should be noted such as the egg-and-dart at the base of the pilasters at the sides of the bay entrance.

An even better impression is to view the building from the north end of Battery Park, near State Street. The main body of the building follows the curve of Broadway from Beaver Street.

As with most classical skyscrapers the facade has a base of several stories with a cornice, then a sparsely treated middle portion where quoining is the main enrichment. A third portion is set off at its base by a deep cornice while, at the top, is a two-story high attic with half-engaged Ionic columns, a wide entablature and a balustrade. Above the main body rises a tower with wings having obelisks. The tower itself is crowned with a terraced pyramid rising to a giant tripod which serves to conceal a steam outlet.

What is extraordinary about the Rockefeller imprint is that it has taken the shape of a variety of institutions and landmarks. We have a society for the cultures of Asian countries, a complex of office buildings, a museum devoted to the encouragement of modern art, a university specializing in medical research, an institution devoted to cancer patients, as well as several city parks. Equally astonishing is the architecture of the buildings, an encyclopedia of architectural styles. The classical, the modern, the Romanesque, and the Gothic are handsomely represented. Where else can we find so large a contribution by one family and a contribution so diverse?

The former Standard Oil Building at 26 Broadway, one of New York's great classical skyscrapers, designed by Thomas Hastings of Carrere & Hastings, architects of the New York Public Library.

Entrance hall of 26 Broadway.

Left: Clock resting on a keystone set in a broken pediment. Center: A carved vertical panel with classical detail at entrance to 26 Broadway. Right: Classical ornament in cast iron.


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