Starrett & van Vleck
The architectural firm of Starrett & van Vleck specialized in the design of early 20th century department stores primarily in New York City. The partner Goldwin Starrett had worked for four years in the Chicago office of Daniel Burnham. Included in their designs were the New York City flagship stores of Lord & Taylor, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, Abraham & Straus, and Alexander's. The Lord and Taylor store, located on Fifth Avenue between 38th and 39th streets, was completed in 1914 and was Starrett & van Vleck’s first major department store. In December 2007, the store was named a New York City landmark.[1]
Starrett & van Vleck was also responsible for the design of the New York City landmarks 21 West Street (1929), Everett Building (1908), American Stock Exchange (1921), and Downtown Athletic Club (1930).[2] Between 1937 and 1948, they designed the downtown flagship store of the J. N. Adam & Co. in Buffalo, New York, which is currently threatened with demolition.[3] It is located in the J.N. Adam-AM&A Historic District. Starrett & van Vleck, credits also include the flagship store of Washington, D.C.'s Garfinckel's. The latter was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
In Pittsburgh, Starrett & van Vleck was responsible for the design of the downtown flagship of the Gimbels Department Store which was built in 1914 at 339 Sixth Avenue. After Gimbels went out of business in the late 1980's, the building was renamed the Heinz 57 Center. It was added to the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation as a Historic Landmark in 1987. Near Pittsburgh, in 1912, they designed the house that later becase the clubhouse of the Foxburg Country Club.[4]
The firm also designed a number of schools for the suburban New Rochelle, New York school district in the late 1920's and early 1930's. The firm designed Isaac E. Young Middle School in the Collegiate Gothic style which, upon completion, was immediately rated as one of the most architecturally beautiful school buildings in the United States. Jefferson Elementary School was entirely unique in its art deco design when it was completed in 1932 while the Henry Barnard School reflected the much more traditional Tudor design aesthetic of the Beechmont community where it was built. [5]
Gallery
-
J.N. Adam Department Store, Buffalo, New York, June 2009
References
- ^ "A Landmark Department Store," by Francis Morrone, The Sun, December 27, 2007.
- ^ "Manhattan House, Lord & Taylor Flagship Landmarked," by Tom Acitelli, The New York Observer, October 30, 2007.
- ^ "J.N. Adam (AM&As) Threatened by Vampiric Policies of Development Agencies," Greater Buffalo Blog, March 3, 2005, (accessed Aug 16, 2008).
- ^ "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Note: This includes David L. Taylor (October 2006). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Foxburg Country Club and Golf Course" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-01-16.
- ^ NRHLRB Heritage Properties - Jefferson & Isaac
- Guide to New York City Landmarks, By Andrew Dolkart, Matthew A. Postal, New York (N.Y.). Landmarks Preservation Commission, Published by John Wiley and Sons, 2003.