Hotel Martinique, 1260 Broadway, Aka 1260-1268 Broadway, 49-51 West 32Nd Street, and 54- 58 West 33Rd Street, Manhattan
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Landmarks Preservation Commission May 5, 1998, Designation List 292 LP-1983 Hotel Martinique, 1260 Broadway, aka 1260-1268 Broadway, 49-51 West 32nd Street, and 54- 58 West 33rd Street, Manhattan. Built 1897-98, 1901-03, 1909-11; architect, Henry J. Hardenbergh. Landmark Site: Borough of Manhattan Tax Map Block 834, Lot 11. On February 10, 1998, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed designation of the Hotel Martinique (Item No. 2) . The hearing was duly advertised according to the provisions of law. There were two speakers in favor of designation and the representative of the owner stated that they were not opposed to designation. Summary The Hotel Martinique, a major work of the prominent designer Henry J. Hardenbergh, was constructed in three phases, in 1897-98, 1901-03, and 1909- 11. Developer William R. H. Martin, who had invested heavily in real estate in this area of the city, built and expanded the hotel in response to the growth of entertainment, shopping, and transportation activities in this busy midtown section. Martin hired the distinguished architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, who had acquired a reputation for his luxury hotel designs, including the original Waldorf and Astoria Hotels, as well as the Plaza. In his hotel and apartment house designs, Hardenbergh created picturesque compositions based on Beaux-Arts precedents, giving special care to interior planning and appointments. For the sixteen-story, French Renaissance inspired style Hotel Martinique, the architect capitalized on the openness made possible by Greeley Square, to show off the building's boldly-scaled mansard roof, with its towers, and ornate dormers. The glazed brick, terra cotta, and limestone clad structure also features rusticated stonework, balconies and prominent cartouches on all three of its main facades: Broadway, 32nd Street and 33rd Street. Despite having been created in three sections, the building maintains a harmonious street presence on all three facades . DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS William R. H. Martin (1842-1912) 1 theater and related activities in the early 1850s, with The owner of this property and the developer of the establishment of Niblo's Garden, near Prince the hotel was William R.H. Martin, a large Street and Broadway. By the 1860s, the most landowner in Manhattan at the turn of the century fashionable playhouses and the Academy of Music and a founding member of the clothing firm of were located near Union Square. The construction Rogers, Peet & Company. Martin was born in St. of Madison Square Garden edged New York's rialto Louis and lived in Brooklyn as a child. He entered up to 23rd Street, along with the fashionable the clothing business with his father John T. Martin, shopping establishments of the Ladies Mile, with the who had been a large army contractor during the accompanying hotels and restaurants which catered Civil War. Later the Martins fonned a wholesale to those in this busy area. By the 1880s Broadway, clothing business with Marvin Rogers; it was known between 23rd and 42nd Street became New York's by several different names before becoming Rogers, glittering "Great White Way" (because of all the Peet & Co. Martin served as head of the company electric lights along this section of the street). This from 1877, but had retired from active involvement section of Broadway and vicinity was soon lined with it several years before his death in 1912. with theaters and elegant department stores. Martin used his wealth to invest heavily in Restaurants and luxurious hotels followed, serving Manhattan real estate, and at the time of his death the many visitors who flocked to this part of town. his holdings were valued at more than $10,000,000.2 The Metropolitan Opera House, located at Broadway These investments included such properties as the and 39th Street opened in 1883, and sparked a Marbridge Building (an office building located on theatrical move uptown. The Casino Theater, the the northeast corner of Broadway and 34th Street3), Manhattan Opera House, and Harrigan's (later the as well as the Martinique Hotel which he named for Herald Square Theater) were all soon located himself, and nearby property at Broadway and 31st nearby. In 1893 the Empire Theatre opened at Street. 4 Martin also built and supported the Broadway and West 41st Street, sparking further Trowmart Inn, a home for working girls. development in the area of Longacre Square (later Martin clearly thought the 34th Street-Broadway called Times Square). Saks & Co, and area was a vital , growing section for business and R.H . Macy's anchored the shopping at 34th Street, investment. Rogers, Peet & Co. opened a store at having led the move, beginning in 1901-02, of 1260 Broadway in 1889, even before such big department stores from below Madison Square. department stores as Macy's and Saks moved to 34th Restaurants such as Rector's and Delmonico's Street. 5 Martin began purchasing property for satisfied the gastronomical needs of New York's himself on this block in 1892, and made further wealthy, while they stayed at such hotels as the purchases in 1893 and 1895 until he owned a large, Marlborough, the Nonnandie, or the Vendome. irregularly-shaped parcel facing West 33rd Street, To the east, Fifth A venue had a different tone, West 32nd Street and Broadway. 6 Martin chose to set by the establishment of B. Altman's and the build his new hotel on this property, close to Gorham Silver Company, as well as the Greeley and Herald Squares because, at this time the Knickerbocker Club. This was confirmed by the location was beginning to offer many opportunities opening, in 1893 and 1897, of the lavish Waldorf for shopping, theater, and restaurants to attract the and then the Astoria Hotels (both designed by Henry tourist trade, and was close to several modes of J. Hardenbergh, architect of the Martinique) on transportation. Fifth A venue, between 33rd and 34th Streets. One block to the west of Greeley Square, the planned Development of the Area7 Pennsylvania Station promised much future Near the end of the nineteenth century, the area development. Sixth Avenue and 34th Street was of Broadway and West 34th Street, or Greeley also the site of cross-town streetcars, the Sixth Square8 gained prominence as an important Avenue Elevated, and the Hudson Tubes to New entertainment district. Just as different residential Jersey. areas had their highs and lows of popularity in the continuing northward migration of New Yorkers Henry Janeway Hardenbergh (1847-1918)9 from the tip of Manhattan Island, so too did quarters Born in New Brunswick, N. J., of Dutch for shopping, business and amusements. New lineage, Henry Janeway Hardenbergh attended the Yorkers first began to take a strong interest in the Hasbrouck Institute in Jersey City, and received 2 architectural trammg from the Beaux-Arts-trained the Willard Hotel (1900-01), as well as the Hotel Detlef Lienau in 1865-70. Hardenbergh, who began Windsor (1906, with Bradford Lee Gilbert) in his own architectural practice in New York in 1870, Montreal, and the Copley Plaza Hotel (1910-12) in became one of the city's most distinguished Boston. architects. Recognized for their picturesque compositions and practical planning, his buildings Hotel Architecture 10 often took their inspiration from the French, Dutch, Hotels have played an important role in the life and German Renaissance styles. Hardenbergh was of the city since the earliest taverns and inns of New a prolific architect and designed many types of Amsterdam dispensed food, drink, lodging and buildings, including: office buildings such as the entertainment to colonial travelers. For many years Western Union Telegraph Company Building at the Astor House, built in 1836 by Isaiah Rogers, on Fifth A venue and 23rd Street (1884, located in the Broadway between Barclay and Vesey Streets, Ladies Mile Historic District) , the Astor Building on provided the utmost in comfort and convenience to Wall Street (1885, demolished), and an early 12- its guests. Not only was the building very large, but story, steel-framed skyscraper, the Dutch it was equipped with the latest facilities , including a Renaissance John Wolfe Building at Maiden Lane bath and toilet on every floor! As the population and William Street (1895, demolished); Romanesque moved northward, so did the hotel district. By Revival commercial buildings such as the warehouse 1859, the Fifth A venue Hotel, called the "first at Broadway and West 51st Street (1892, modern New York Hotel, "11 opened on Madison demolished) and the Schermerhorn Building at 376- Square, offering its patrons such amenities as New 380 Lafayette Street (1889-90, a designated New York's first passenger elevator, and luxuriously York City Landmark); as well as numerous decorated interiors. As the nineteenth century individual houses, both freestanding country homes progressed, hotels competed in size and grandeur. and city rowhouses. Of the later type, some of his Perhaps the ultimate in nineteenth century hotel best-known examples include the picturesque rows splendor was exemplified by the Waldorf and the on West 73rd Street (in the Upper West Side/Central Astoria (which functioned as one hotel), which bad Park West Historic District) built in 1882 for 1,300 bedrooms and 40 public rooms, all lavishly Edward S. Clark, in the course of the early and individually decorated. development of the Upper West Side. The Waldorf and Astoria complex was perhaps Hardenbergh is best known, however, for his the largest, but it was certainly not unique among luxury hotel and apartment house designs. Among the grand hotels of the late nineteenth century. the earliest of these are the German Renaissance Fostered by economic prosperity, the large luxury sty le Dakota Apartments (1880-84, 1 West 72nd hotels of this period became the venue for public Street, a designated New York City Landmark and life, supplying halls for promenading, dining rooms located within the Upper West Side/ Central Park to be seen in , and private rooms in which to West Historic District) and the Hotel Albert, now entertain and be entertained.