Tammany Society
Who occupied 44 Union Square from Jul 1929 to 1943?
44 Union Square 44 Union Square , also known as 100 East 17th Street and the Tammany Hall Building , is a three-story building at 44 Union Square East in Union Square , Manhattan , in New York City . It is at the southeast corner of Union Square East/Park Avenue South and East 17th Street . The neo-Georgian structure was erected in 1928–1929 and designed by architects Thompson , Holmes & Converse and Charles B . Meyers for the Tammany Society political organization , also known as Tammany Hall . It is the organizations oldest surviving headquarters building . The Tammany Society had relocated to 44 Union Square from a previous headquarters on nearby 14th Street . At the time of the buildings commission , the society was at its maximum political popularity with members such as U.S . senator Robert F . Wagner , governor Al Smith , and mayor Jimmy Walker . However , after Tammany Hall lost its influence in the 1930s , the building was sold to an affiliate of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union in 1943 . By the 1980s , it was used by the Union Square Theatre , while the New York Film Academy took space in 1994 . The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a city landmark in 2013 , and it was converted into an office and retail structure during a renovation that took place between 2016 and 2020 . History . Context . By the first decade of the 20th century , Union Square in Manhattan had grown into a major transportation hub with several elevated and surface railroad lines running nearby , and the New York City Subways 14th Street–Union Square station having opened four years prior . The area had also become a major wholesaling district with several loft buildings , as well as numerous office buildings . The office structures included the Everett Building , erected at the northwest corner of Park Avenue South and 17th Street in 1908 ; the Germania Life Insurance Company Building , erected at the northeast corner of the same intersection in 1910–1911 ; and the Consolidated Gas Building ( later Consolidated Edison Building ) , constructed three blocks south at 14th Street between 1910 and 1914 . By the 1920s , the remaining buildings in Union Square were occupied by theaters , while most buildings on the eastern part of the square were owned by department stores S . Klein and Ohrbachs . The previous headquarters of Tammany Hall , a prominent Democratic Party political organization in New York City , had been located on 14th Street next to the Consolidated Gas Building . The organization—named after Tamanend , the chief of the Lenape who originally occupied New York City—extensively used Native American titles and terminology , for instance referring to their headquarters as a wigwam . After the expansion of the Consolidated Gas building was announced in 1926 , the old Tammany Hall wigwam was sold to J . Clarence Davis and Joseph P . Day , of real estate syndicate D&D Company , on December 6 , 1927 . D&D Company sold the old wigwam again to Consolidated Gas in January 1928 . There were allegations that Tammany leaders profited from the sale of the headquarters , which Tammany leader George Washington Olvany denied . Day , a long-time member of Tammany Hall , eventually agreed to give the $70,000 profit from the sale ( ) to Tammany . Construction . One week after the sale of the old wigwam , Tammany purchased a site nearby , at 44 Union Square East near the southwest corner with Park Avenue South and East 17th Street . Olvany announced the sale on December 14 , 1927 . As originally proposed , the Tammany Hall Building was an American colonial style building , measuring on 17th Street by on Union Square East , with storefronts on the ground floor and a 1,200-seat auditorium . At the time of the announcement , the societys members included state senators Robert F . Wagner and Al Smith : the former would become U.S . senator for New York , while the latter would become the states governor and 1932 presidential candidate . According to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission , the old headquarters was associated with the societys corrupt past under William M . Boss Tweed , while the new headquarters construction represented its future and an opportunity for Smith . In January 1928 , a month after the purchase of the site , Charles B . Meyers was selected along with Thompson , Holmes & Converse as the buildings architects . The plans were submitted to the New York City Department of Buildings that April . Tammany Hall remained in its old headquarters until July 4 , 1928 , so it could celebrate the U.S . Independence Day at that location . Immediately afterward , it moved to a temporary space at 2 Park Avenue . Construction progressed quickly , without any cornerstone-laying ceremony to mark the start of work , and by December much of the structure was substantially complete . The New York County Democratic Committee , a club for Democratic officials representing New York County ( Manhattan ) , started using the new structure on January 2 , 1929 , and the ceremonial cornerstone was laid the next week , marking the completion of the facade . Tammany and union uses . The wigwam at 44 Union Square was finished by early July 1929 . A dedication celebration was held on July 4 , 1929 . Governor Franklin D . Roosevelt and former governor Smith spoke at the dedication . The structure had cost $350,000 to erect ( ) . Shortly after , during the early 1930s , Tammany Hall started to lose its political influence . Although Roosevelt was also a Democrat , he did not regard the organization highly , opening several corruption investigations into the organization . Roosevelts election to U.S . president in 1933 , as well as the election of Republican mayoral candidate Fiorello H . La Guardia the same year , contributed to the downfall of the Tammany Society . By the early 1940s , the Tammany Society could no longer afford to maintain its wigwam . Local 91 , a local affiliate of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union ( ILGWU ) , was simultaneously looking for a new headquarters and offered to purchase the structure in April 1943 . The sale was finalized that September . Tammanys leaders moved to the National Democratic Club on Madison Avenue at East 33rd Street , and the Societys collection of memorabilia went into a warehouse in the Bronx . The New York County Democratic Committee , meanwhile , moved to other quarters in Midtown Manhattan . The ILGWU enlarged the stage and furnished the offices , officially rededicating the building on December 18 , 1943 , at an event with several leaders including mayors La Guardia and Jimmy Walker . Upon completion of renovation , the ILGWU opened meeting spaces , offices , art studios , and classrooms in the former Tammany building . 44 Union Squares auditorium was renamed for the late president Roosevelt in 1947 . The Roosevelt Auditorium was used often for other unions events . For instance , in the 1950s the auditorium was used for meetings of firefighters ; gardeners , municipal laborers , and sewage workers ; and sanitation workers . The United Federation of Teachers held meetings at the Roosevelt Auditorium in 1960 to resolve a citywide teachers strike , and again in October 1968 to approve the Ocean Hill/Brownsville teachers strike . Additionally , several unions in the private sector often met at the Roosevelt Auditorium , such as those of newspaper delivery people ; drivers of taxicabs in fleets ; hospital workers ; and Teamsters unions . In 1969 , the auditorium was also the location of a high-profile disagreement between two Central Labor Council leaders , who endorsed opposing candidates in the 1969 New York City mayoral election . By the 1980s , the ILGWUs membership had decreased because of an exodus of garment manufacturers in New York City . Performing arts uses . At a premiere event for Harold Pinters play Old Times , ILGWU executive vice president Wilbur Daniels had a chance encounter with Gene Feist , co-founder of Roundabout Theatre Company . After Feist mentioned that the lease theaters premises at 23rd Street was about to expire , Local 91 leased 44 Union Square to Roundabout in June 1984 . As part of the $850,000 renovation ( ) , the theater was split in half from west to east , reducing its capacity to 499 seats . The stage was expanded , while the balcony and the orchestra were also refurbished . Though the renovated theater was originally slated to open in late 1984 , the conversion of the space was delayed by several months . The first performance took place within the space on February 1 , 1985 . After Roundabouts lease ran out in 1990 , it moved to the Criterion Theater in Times Square . 44 Union Square was then leased in June 1994 by Alan Schuster and Mitchell Maxwell , who also operated the Minetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village . In preparation for converting the space for use by the Union Square Theatre , Schuster and Maxwell renovated the interior , painting the dome a sky-blue hue , and replacing the seats upholstery with burgundy materials . The building started housing the New York Film Academy in July 1994 , and the Union Square Theatre held its first performance in the space that November . The Liberty Theatres , a subsidiary of the Reading Company , operated the Union Square Theatre . In 2001 Liberty Theatres bought the structure from the ILGWU . The air rights above the building were sold to another Reading Company subsidiary in 2005 , giving the company the right to theoretically erect another structure above 44 Union Square . Landmark status and redevelopment . Though preservationists had been advocating for the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission ( LPC ) to designate 44 Union Square an official city landmark since the 1980s , the ILGWU had been indifferent toward landmark status . When Liberty Theatres bought the building , preservationists hoped that the company would be more receptive toward landmark status . However , the effort stalled for several years . The LPC designated it as a city landmark in October 2013 , following public meetings held to gauge opinion for the designation , in which 17 people expressed support and no one expressed opposition . In the early 2010s Liberty Theatres announced its plans to refurbish the Tammany Hall Building . As part of the renovation , a glass dome was to be added to the building , though these plans were denied by the LPC in 2014 . The following year , a scaled-back version of the glass dome was approved by the commission . The New York Film Academy moved out in late 2015 , and all existing tenants were evicted the next year . The $50 million renovation project , designed by BKSK Architects , began in July 2016 . The auditorium was demolished to make way for retail and office space . The renovation of the structure , renamed 44 Union Square , was supposed to be completed in 2018 . By February 2019 , the glass dome was under construction and the renovation was slated to be completed that year . The dome was structurally completed in July 2019 , and work was substantially completed by July 2020 . Prospective tenant Slack Technologies , which was slated to take all the space in 2019 , ultimately withdrew from the project in early 2020 . Design . 44 Union Square , a -story neo-Georgian building , is the oldest surviving wigwam of the Tammany Society . It measures on its western facade along Union Square East , and on its northern facade along 17th Street . The particular neo-Georgian features in the Tammany Hall Building include Flemish bond brickwork ; rectangular windows with stone keystones , set in arched openings ; and wrought-iron balconies . The facades along Union Square East and on 17th Street are both arranged to give the appearance of symmetry . The bracketed gable , on the pediment above the portico , is not of neo-Georgian design but was likely inspired by a niche on the facade of the 14th Street building . The exterior design features are evocative of government buildings in the American colonial and Federal styles that were built in the later 19th century , when the society was founded . These features include a first level above a raised basement ; a portico on Union Square East , with a pediment supported by columns in the Doric order ; a hip roof ; and a frieze running along the top of the structure . According to a commemorative publication from the Tammany Society , these features were inspired by the design of Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan , as well as by Somerset House in London . The Tammany Hall Building was one of several structures built in New York City in the early 20th century whose designs were inspired by government buildings . Other such structures included The Town Hall near Times Square , the Museum of the City of New York on the Upper East Side , and the original Staten Island Museum building in St . George . Facade . The facade consists of limestone at the basement and first level . and English red brick on the second story and above . The Old Virginia Brick Company , who created the exterior brick , said in an advertisement that the hardiness of the brick , in conjunction with the softening and toning down of the limestone , would turn the building into an enduring symbol of New York Citys historic yester-years . On Union Square East , within the center of the first floor , was the entrance to the commercial space on the first floor . The commercial space is located below a second-floor balcony . The balcony is located in the center of the facade , below the pedimented portico . In the round-arched gable of the pediment , above the portico , there is a panel depicting arrows intertwined with an olive branch , which flank Tammany Halls circular logo . On 17th Street , there is a set of triple arches in the center of the first floor , which originally provided egress from the buildings auditorium . The main entrance to the theater and elevator lobby was located to the right ( west ) side of the arches , and a similar arch grouping was located to the left ( east ) . Above the first floor , in the center of the building , is an inscription reading 1786 THE SOCIETY OF TAMMANY OR COLUMBIAN ORDER 1928 . Features . According to a book published by the Tammany Society in 1936 , the western half of the building contained various offices . The Tammany Society had exclusive use of the third floor , which included a central lounge , a club room , office and meeting rooms , and various waiting rooms . The Democratic County Committee was located on the second floor . The first floor was occupied by commercial space . Starting in 2016 , the basement , first , and second floors were being renovated into of retail space . The eastern half of the building was occupied by the 1,200-seat auditorium , which took up the first to third floors . In the basement below the auditorium was a waiting room , accessed from an elevator lobby . Stairways led to the second-floor balcony . The auditorium was demolished in 2016 to make way for of office space . With the dome , the ceiling heights on the fifth floor range between while the sixth floor has a ceiling height of up to . Critical reception . Early architectural critics lauded the Tammany Hall Building as a paragon of the neo-Georgian style in New York City . The Real Estate Record & Guide said that the severe Colonial columns placed at the center of both facades contributed to the buildings dignified architectural treatment . The Architecture & Building magazine said that the structure was well proportioned . George Shepard Chappell , writing in The New Yorker under the pseudonym T-Square , praised the Tammany Hall Buildings exceptionally charming design , saying that it was a real adornment to Union Square .