In my article on Spot Coffee I wrote there is not too much Art Deco architecture in Rochester, New York. One of the comments I received said there is more than I think, so now I’m on the hunt for Rochester’s Art Deco heritage. My first stop is The Reynolds Arcade on East Main Street. I have to admit this was a building that I read about but never noticed. Recently, when on a detour that took me to Main Street I passed The Reynolds Arcade. Seeing it, well more accurately noticing it, for the first time, the building impressed me and I decided to learn about its history.

 

The present building is the second Reynolds Arcade. On the same site the first one stood for over 100 years and went back to the days before Rochester became incorporated as a city.

Built by Abelard Reynolds, Rochester’s first Postmaster, the arcade quickly became the heart of the new city. At its completion the building was the largest in the United States west of Albany, New York. The arcade housed the post office and Rochester’s first public library, the Athenaeum in 1829. Another early tenant, Western Union arrived in 1851. And the forerunner of Bausch and Lomb originated in the original Reynolds Arcade.

 

By the turn of the Twentieth Century the original Reynolds Arcade began to show its age.  In the autumn of 1931 came the unveiling of plans for a new building to replace the historic structure.  The Rochester Times-Union announced on November 27, 1931 the following:

Big Office Building Planned to Replace Rochester Landmark

One of the largest realty propositions nearing readiness for award of contracts will wipe out an historic landmark, it was learned today. A committee of the Reynolds Library trustees heady by Josiah Anstice is reported ready to proceed ready to proceed with the erection of a large office building replacing  Reynolds Arcade at 16 Main Street East. 

In its place, if the plan is finally realized, will rise one of Rochester’s biggest office buildings. Those vitally interested refuse to discuss the plan, but it became known today that Gordon & Kaelber, architects, had drawn the plans and early realization is looked for. That calls for the erection of a modern office building, at least ten stories high.

 

Demolition commenced on May 9, 1932 and in less than a year the new Reynolds Arcade opened. The northern section of the building along Corinthian Street remained and Western Union moved some of its operations there while the Main Street frontage came down. Once the Main Street building opened the last section of the 1828 building was razed. The demolition and construction of the Reynolds Arcade provided jobs for approximately 1,200 workers during the very depths of The Great Depression.

 

Construction proceeded rapidly with the last piece of exterior stone work being set in place on November 18, 1932. The facade of the new Reynolds Arcade consists of polished granite to the second floor with limestone covering the upper nine. Not only being taller than all the other buildings on the block the simplified modern design stood in contrast from its Victorian Era neighbors.

 

In mid-December, 1932 the newspapers were announcing the new Reynolds Arcade would be ready for occupancy by the following April 1st. Some of the enticements for prospective tenants were private parking at the rear along Corinthian Street and acoustical treatment of ceilings to deaden noise and clatter.

 

The new Reynolds Arcade provided air conditioning for its offices, a first for Rochester. This would be the most modern building in the city, although not its tallest. A relatively squat building, the architects decorated the facade to emphasize verticality. The decorative metal main entrance rises up to the fourth floor with a stylized eagle topping the it. Receding step back style up the face of the building it directs one’s eye up the central shaft to the engraved name at the top. Modernistic carved limestone at the fifth floor continues the upward feeling.

 

 

 

Even the metal spandrels between the windows, designed like feathers on an arrow, point upward.

 

 

The finished building does differ slightly from the original plans. An additional floor being the biggest change. Also the carved limestone window boxes, originally planned for below the fifth story windows, moved up below the tenth story on the sides and the eleventh story in the middle section.

 

 

Ground floor businesses began moving into the new building by early March, 1933. The rest of the building opened on schedule in April.

 

The Reynolds Arcade remained basically unchanged for the next 28 years. A five-story annex opened in the spring of 1961 at the back of the building along Corinthian Street. Built over the existing Reynolds Arcade parking, the International Style of the annex did not mix well with the 1933 building. At the same time the original lobby received a mid-century marble renovation that blended stylistically with the annex. This design remains to this day.

Sometime later the annex received an exterior makeover, which changed the outside, top floor and roof from a late 1950’s appearance to a bland sleekness.

 

 

 

In 1967 came the demolition of the Elwood Building, at the corner of State and Main Streets. In its place rose the Crossroads Building, completed in 1969. At 15 stories it blocked the view of the Reynolds Arcade from the west. Then in the early 1970’s the buildings between the Reynolds Arcade and Front Street came down for the construction of First Federal Plaza (1976).  At 21 floors, crowned by a “flying saucer” that once housed a revolving restaurant, it’s more than double the height of the Reynolds Arcade.

 

 

Today the Reynolds Arcade is no longer a stand out in the Rochester skyline. It is still an impressive Art Deco building that deserves attention. So the next time you happen to be in downtown Rochester, New York, take a moment to notice the Reynolds Arcade.

 

Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, Tiquen Guys)