In June 1931 the Richard Hudnut salon opened its new building at 693 Fifth Avenue. Here was another business contributing in making the ten block stretch from 50th to 60th Streets the most posh shopping center in the United States. It was New York’s equivalent of the Rue de la Paix in Paris or Bond Street in London. This is where all the high society ladies came to shop, lunch and gossip. And the chic, new Hudnut salon became one of their popular destinations. Ladies could purchase cosmetics, perfume, get a manicure, facial treatment or take exercise classes. The 1939 film The Women, perfectly parodies the Hudnut salon as the fictitious Sydney’s * (See Note).

 

The son of a New York City pharmacist, Richard Hudnut (1855 – 1928) made his fortune as the first American to achieve international success in the cosmetic industry.  And after graduating from Princeton University, Hudnut went to France to investigate their perfume and cosmetic companies. Upon his return to the United States he established his company of selling French style makeup and perfumes to American women. He registered his name as a trademark in both France and the United States. And he transformed his family drugstore into a a cosmetics showroom. Hudnut eventually became so successful that he maintained business headquarters in New York City and Paris. Once making his fortune he retired in 1916. Hudnut sold his business to William R. Warner and Company. Under the new management the Hudnut company continued to flourish. So in 1930 they began construction of an elegant new Fifth Avenue showroom.

 

The commission for the building was awarded to two of the top architects of the time. This new Richard Hudnut Salon would be a collaboration between Ely Jacques Kahn (1884 -1 972) and Eliel Saarinen (1873 – 1950).

 

 

By 1930 Kahn was one of the most prolific architects in New York City.  Working within the guidelines of the 1916 zoning resolution, his skyscrapers are text book examples of the set back style imposed by that law. Such buildings as 120 Wall Street, the Film Center Building, 100 Park Avenue and the Squibb Building are surviving examples of his best moderne work.

 

 

 

 

To label Finnish-American Saarinen just an architect is an understatement. Yes, he was an architect who had a major influence in the field. Similar to Frank Lloyd Wright, Saarinen often designed the interiors of his buildings along with the exteriors. Saarinen soon established himself as one of Finland’s top architects. After coming in second in the Chicago Tribune Tower competition, Saarinen and family moved to the United States in 1923. For the rest of his life, Saarinen continued as a leader not only in architecture but design as well.

 

The Architectural Forum said this about the collaboration:

If Ely Jacques Kahn and Eliel Saarinen should join forces in designing a shop building, the result would be interesting. As a matter of fact, they did and the result was. 

The Architectural Forum – September, 1931, Pg. 9.

Opening on June 1, 1931 the new Fifth Avenue building stood just north of 54th Street on a lot only 25 feet wide. The much larger Aeolian Building was right next door to the south. And whose ground floor tenant was the Hudnut cosmetic competitor, Elizabeth Arden.

 

 

The exterior design of the Hudnut salon fell solely to Saarinen. The narrow façade helped to make the building seem taller than its six stories. The only decoration of the marble clad façade were two implied pilasters and a simple friezelike pattern along the roofline.  At the street level two recessed bronze doors framing a shop window provided entrance to the salon. Elegant, raised Ambrac letters spelling Richard Hudnut were placed above the window. Saarinen’s clever trick of dividing the glazing of the upper floors into many panes, prevented the tenants from placing advertising in the windows.

 

 

As elegant as the exterior, the interior was even more so. Covering the terrazzo floor was a yellow and gray rug designed and woven by Loja Saarinen (wife of Eliel Saarinen). Adding to the richness of the salon was the casework and ceilings of zebra and primavera woods.

 

A bold nickel silver frame surrounded the recessed gold dome of the lounge.  The woodwork and the bold metal work of circles and triangles was Kahn’s influence on the interior decoration. But all the elegant furniture is directly attributable to Saarinen.

 

 

 

By taking a private elevator patrons gained access to the second floor reception. The mirror lined reception room led to the individual treatment rooms.

 

 

Dominating the ceiling of the reception room was a large light fixture. The mixed metal and glass, 8 point star infused the space with soft indirect lighting. It is likely this was another Kahn design.

 

 

In 1955 the Warner-Hudnut Company merged with Lambert Pharmacal Company. And it was around this time the Richard Hudnut Salon closed its doors. Today a Valentino designer store occupies the site of the salon and its neighbor to the north. While still an upscale establishment, it definitely lacks the elegance of the Kahn & Saarinen design of ninety years ago.

 

 

 

* Originally I had mistakenly said the name of the fictitious salon in the movie The Women was Blacks. Laurie Gordon has correctly informed me that the salon in the film was Sydney’s. Thank you, Laurie.

Sources:

New York 1930: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Two World Wars

The Architectural Forum

Cosmeticsandskin.com

The New York Herald-Tribune

 

Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys)