New-York tribune., 1922-11-19
Big Business
Has Deserted
Old fo1. New
Nav Located I'm Fine
Structures i'm Circle
;7th St. District; Fisk
Building Marks New Era ,

RttIfUafsSs 1sRsaa EASS ANSV A%S ~
Ths creation Of new commercial CEN
..,ssln the city involves not only the
.,s..ssn and renting of buildings, but
Ia ths more difficult task Of persuad
,,s rsay lines of business to leave cid
..tssgshed locations to which they
hsvs Seeome welded.
n tie instance OF Columbus Circle
and Fifty-seventh Street and Broad
way. which localities combine TO form
New York's newest commercial center,
at least two decades have elapsed since
tbs automobile and rubber industries
began TO establish themselves in this
ssesion and to give 1t the character of
New York's automobile row.
The uptown movement Of the rubber
sad automobile trades did not origin
sily involve the construction of mod
ern buildings in the Columbus Circle
Sstrict The uptown trend had been
sssed, however, by the O. y. Potter
fmst in 1905 and it erected the build
sg at the. northwest corner of Fifty
! 9TH Street and Broadway, which al
ssst Immediately became an automo~
! He sales agency center.
About four years later the Goodrich
ffre Company moved from store at
isss Broadway to the twelve-story
Sailding at 1850 Broadway. between
Nf.y-seventh and Fifty-eighth streets.
This swas followed by the erection OF
,hs1twenty- building at the
southeast corner of FiftNe Neighth Street
md Broadway by the United States
aubber Company, which formerly was
ocated just west of City Hall Park.
This building is on land leased for
sl9hsy-four years from the estate of
| Msry A. Fitzgerald.
Start of Development
q The Ford Motor Company about 1865
lsssed and altered the old q. s. Bailey
stable on the west side Of Broadway,
\ between Fifty fourth and Fifty-frfth
4 ,syeets. More recently the Ford com
psny built at the northeast corner of
i Fitty-fourth Street and Broadway on
tte ontine site of the old Clermont
i Apsrtment House and the vacant lots
adjoining,
4 ii about this time the block on the
y east side Of Broadway between Fifty
q sixth and Fiftyseventh streets was
q purthased by Robert E. Bowling, who
j subsequently, resold the Fifty-sixtn
Street corner to the Broadway Taber-
q naels, which then was located at the
Northeast corner of Broadway and
n Tairtyieufth Street, where the Mar
f bndr Bidding now stands.
The Fifty seventh Street corner was
resolds hy Mr.. Dowling to the Island
Rssity Company, William A. Cheese
B brough Corporation, by whom the in
\ Ode portion of the Fifty-seventh Street
frontage was sold to the Peerless Com
ssny, which erected Qine-story build
ing; The immediate corner was i'm
proysd with similar nine-story build
ing and leased for twenty-one years to
tie Demarest Company, then located
etfhe northeast corner of Thirty-third
Btreet and Fifth Avenue. One lot re-
naming on Fifty-seventh Street was
sold BY Mr.. Dowiing to Andrew Car
asgie for an addition to the Engineer
ing Building adjoining. Both the
Peerless and Demarest buildings have
been acquired since by the General
Motors Corporation, the corner build
Ing now being occupied by the Chevro-
let Motor Company, while the adjoin-
Ing one-time Engineering Building Is
now the home of the Ajax Rubber
Company.
OF futy-seventh Street between Broad
way and Seventh Avenue, the costly
stable built by Frank Gould is now the
neaoquarters of the Lincoln Automo-
piie Company; this building immedi-
seely aoJoins on the east the twelve
story business building erected last
sear oy the Excelsior Savings Bank
oh ene site formerly occupied by
ssmyssh-story NC elevator apartment house.
Inc hrst substantial building i'm
psovement in this neighborhood after
lsou was the Woodward Hotel, built
70 1902 by the late Nathan E. Clark.
Eho was prominent builder Of apart
nent houses in the Madison Avenue
son ssstion In 1904 the Cumberland Ho-
si was erected at the southwest cor
hef Of Fifty-fourth Street and Broad
ssy, on the site occupied for number
m years by The Hotel Bayard. Two
5sars later, In 1905, the Automobile
slub of America erected it's present
building in Fifty-fourth Street, be-
sReen Broadway and Eighth Avenue.
u remained, however, for the inter-
sas behind the new twenty-fve-s -story
slsk Building. at Fifty-seyenth Street
and Broadway and extending to Eighth
avenue, TO accelerate the movement of
general business to this more north
wy district and to SO broaden the
cope OF the demand as to>include lines
= BUSINESS having no connection with
ns automobile and rubber trades.
Marks New Era
The Fisk Building, containing ap-
s.anmstsiy $4,000 square feet Of
s..Vsi ..asasie ares and representing q valu-
s. soa og s6.200,o00, according TO the
easement valuation Tor the year 1928,
800 aos 10 per cent rented to approx
Issseiy ls5 tenants, representing about
10y inherent lines of business. This
msS. msSstsaoie renting record has been
as sssssy oy the Cross & Brown Company,
Is.s, IN period Of about one year.
= risk risk Building record, howevey,
eon,ssas more remarkable when it is
prass;sssss;d that the building, which
70 tsssay was pioneer, was opened
tls asats .1.s at least eight months after
iss, ssae Of the renting market OF
lioss had to compete with the mil
proy;as. square feet Of Office space
nsss g In the mid-city sections co
pa,s.,tae me requirements Of the tern
postsv.y aetivs renting market of the
and reconstruction period.
Fsni,.a s,sk .k Tire Company, Inc, or
for ~ tae l76T broadway Corporation
RailS,n purpose of erecting the Fisk
exsertalg, IN order to consolidate their
rue se snS offices at SO Vanderbilt Ave