Tag Archives: New York City

Vanished New York City Art Deco – The Richard Hudnut Salon

Detail rendering of the entrance to the Richard Hudnut Salon.

Architectural detail drawing of the entrance to the Richard Hudnut Salon at 693 Fifth Avenue. From a June 1, 1931 advertisement in the New York Times. Image from proquest.com.

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).

Richard Hudnut, circa 1900. Image from cosmeticsandskin.com.

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).

Ely Jacques Kahn, circa 1930. Image from library.columbia.edu

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.

Eliel Saarinen, circa 1940. Image from mfa.fi.

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.

New York Herald-Tribune ad ofJune 1, 1931 opening day advertisement for the Richard Hudnut Salon.

Richard Hudnut Salon opening day advertisement, June 1, 1931. New York Herald-Tribune, Pg. 32. Image from proquest.com.

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.

The exterior the Richard Hudnut Salon, 1931.

The exterior of the Richard Hudnut Salon at 693 Fifth Avenue, 1931. Photograph by Nyholm & Lincoln. From the collection of The Museum of the City of New York.

Ground floor detail, Richard Hudnut Salon.

Ground floor detail of the Richard Hudnut Salon, 693 Fifth Avenue, 1931.(Photo by Irving Browning/The New York Historical Society/Getty Images)

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.

Door and woodwork detail on the ground floor of the Richard Hudnut salon.

Richard Hudnut door detail. This picture is a good example of the fine woodwork on the ground floor of the salon. Photograph by Nyholm & Lincoln. From the collection of The Museum of the City of New York.

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.

Main floor showroom and lounge, 1931. Photograph by Nyholm & Lincoln. From the collection of The Museum of the City of New York.

Richard Hudnut Salon lounge ceiling detail, 1931.

Lounge ceiling detail showing dome and nickel silver frame, 1931. Photograph by Nyholm & Lincoln. From the collection of The Museum of the City of New York.

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

Second floor salon reception room, 1931. Photograph by Nyholm & Lincoln. From the collection of The Museum of the City of New York.

Richard Hudnut Salon second floor reception room.

Another angle showing the second floor reception room and the decorative use of the wall mirrors, 1931. Photograph by Nyholm & Lincoln. From the collection of The Museum of the City of New York.

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.

Reception room ceiling light detail. Photograph by Nyholm & Lincoln. From the collection of The Museum of the City of New York.

Lounge off the second floor reception room. Photograph by Nyholm & Lincoln. From the collection of The Museum of the City of New York.

Treatment room in the Richard Hudnut Salon.

The place to be pampered. A second floor treatment room of the Richard Hudnut Salon. Photograph by Nyholm & Lincoln. From the collection of The Museum of the City of New York.

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.

A 1948 photograph showing the Richard Hudnut Salon and its Fifth Avenue neighbors. The black and white doorway to the right is the Elizabeth Arden shop. Wurts Brothers photograph. Image from the Museum of the City of New York.

693 Fifth Avenue, June, 2019. Image from Google Maps.

* 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)

Vanished New York City Art Deco: The Broadmoor Pharmacy & Restaurant

Today when one hears the word pharmacy the image that comes to mind is a place to buy medicine and “as seen on TV” products in a store that resembles a small supermarket. Before World War Two some pharmacies were quite different and quite elegant. The Broadmoor was such a place. There is nothing Art Deco about the 45 story skyscraper neo-gothic skyscraper at 295 Madison Avenue. Completed in 1930 it ended up being one of the last projects of Abraham E. Lefcourt (1876 – 1932). Lefcourt built up a Manhattan real estate empire that unraveled with the Great Depression.

Abraham E. Lefcourt (1876 – 1932). Photo from Wikipedia.

The upper floors of the Lefcourt Colonial Building (1930) at the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and 41st Street. Image from NewYorkitecture.com.

The announcement of the Broadmoor Drug company leasing space in the building hit the papers in mid-April, 1930:

Broadmoor Drug company leases ground floor and basement of the Lefcourt Colonial Building.

The Broadmoor Drug Company leases space in the Lefcourt Colonial Buildng. New York Herald-Tribune, April 12, 1930, Pg. 11. Article from proquest.com.

Shortly after the opening of the building, the Boardmoor Pharmacy and Restaurant occupied the ground floor shop front and the basement. Architect Ely Jacques Kahn (1884 – 1972) designed the new restaurant and drug store in a restrained modern style.

Ely Jacques Kahn, circa 1935. Photograph from Columbia University Libraries.

At street level was the pharmacy counter and soda fountain. The most dominating decorative feature of the ground floor was the wall treatment. Kahn employed alternating panels of Oriental walnut creating a subdued checker board pattern. Modern style vent grills were built into the walls above the large lighted display cases. Separating the dark walls from the light plaster ceiling was a narrow wood cornice. Another cornice in plaster with graduating bands lead to the ceiling. Bands also lined the outer edges of the ceiling

Broadmoor Pharmacy, ground floor drug store counter and soda fountain, 1930.

Ground floor pharmacy and sofa fountain. Samuel H. Gottscho photograph, October 25, 1930. From the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Providing light for the ground floor, etched, frosted glass fixtures hung from the ceiling. Glass cylinders framed the rectangular center section, while stepped metal fittings capped the top and bottom of the cylinders. A glass ball finial capped the top fitting. A two-tone terrazzo floor of a light color background with darker color squares led to a marble staircase to the basement.

Marble staircase leading down to the grill room and the tearoom.

The marble staircase leading down to the basement tearoom and grill rooms. Photograph by Samuel H. Gottscho taken on October 25, 1930, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Terrazzo flooring covered the entire basement space of the Broadmoor. The lower lobby floor consisted of a classic pattern of two-tone squares laid out diagonally surrounded by a dark boarder. Kahn matched the ceiling treatment of this space to that of the ground floor, with the same design of graduating bands. Lighting the room was another frosted glass light fixture mounted flush to the ceiling.

Directly opposite the staircase a niche provided patrons a place to sit on two large modern style sofas while waiting for friends or a table.

Basement lobby niche. Photo by Samuel H. Gottscho taken on October 25, 1930. From the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

More two-tone terrazzo flooring was used in the this niche. A marble baseboard framed the bottom of the smooth light colored walls. Molded walnut trim divided the top of the walls from the light colored ceiling. Rounded corners at the back of the room employed a darker color that graduated onto narrow bands in increasing lighter color to the back wall. A large rectangular mirror placed in the center of the rear hung over a modernistic table with metal legs and a highly lacquered top. Cylindrical, frosted glass wall sconces lined the walls as well as flush ceiling light.

Lower lobby columns received the same decorative treatment as the walls on the ground floor. Using the alternating grain of the Oriental walnut panels to give them visual interest.

On opposite sides of the lobby were two different dining rooms. The Grill Room received a masculine decorative scheme. Again Kahn chose walnut paneling for the wall treatment. But instead of alternating grain 15 inch squares, long panels were placed with the grain running vertically with narrow, darker color wood strips as separators. The columns in the Grill Room matched the wall paneling.

A Photograph of the Broadmoor Grill Room.

The Broadmoor Grill Room, October 25, 1930. Photograph by Samuel H. Gottscho. From the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Light color plaster in narrow bands separated the wood paneling and molding from the darker painted ceiling. Capping the four sides of the Grill Room columns were semi-circular frosted glass and metal sconces, decreasing in diameter as they descended.

The Broadmoor's Grill Room ceiling light.

Broadmoor’s Grill Room ceiling light detail. Samuel H. Gottscho photograph from the Museum of the City of New York collection.

Flush mounted etched frosted glass squares, surrounded by a painted, modernistic border in an octagon that in turn was surrounded by Mayan inspired animals decorated the ceiling. The Grill Room, large, open and comfortable was a perfect place for a mid-town business man to lunch or to grab a quick bite before heading home.

Across the lobby the equally large and open tearoom was a lovely spot for the ladies to have refreshments after making the rounds of the Fifth Avenue shops.

Samuel Gottscho photograph of the Broadmoor Tearoom, October 25, 1930. From the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

The main decorative feature of the Tearoom was a very stylized, modernistic mural of a country scene wrapping around the entire room. Using metallic paint to separate the different elements of the mural (trees, hills, sky and clouds) gave it extra style. Kahn’s use of mirrors on the columns and on the walls between the panels of the mural made the room appear even larger.

Tearoom, detail. Samuel H. Gottscho photograph from the Museum of the City of New York collection.

Hanging modernistic light fixtures provided direct light through the glass base and indirect lighting from the perforated metal shade. The tables featured highly polished, vermillion, lacquered tops. After a meal one paid the cashier at a walnut veneered counter and exited under a large clock, built into the wall.

The Broadmoor, like so many other business enterprises of the early 1930s suffered financial difficulties just about a year and a half after opening. In March of 1932 the following article appeared in The New York Herald-Tribune:

March 28, 1932 NY Herald-Tribune article announcing the Roger Smith Interests taking over the Broadmoor Restaurant.

The Roger Smith interests take over the lease of the Broadmoor Restaurant. New York Herald-Tribune, March 28, 1932, Pg. 30. Article from proquest.com.

For the next few years, the Roger Smith Organization kept the name, Broadmoor. Whether or not they redecorated it remains unknown. Sometime around 1935 or 1936 they dropped the Broadmoor name and for the rest of the decade it was known as The Roger Smith Restaurant. The Roger Smith Restaurant did well for most of the 1930s under the new management. Many different groups held private dinners there. The local New York newspapers occasionally announced that this company or that organization held their annual dinner at the Roger Smith Restaurant at 40 East 41st Street. Then by 1939 these announcements stopped and it must be assumed that the Roger Smith Organization closed this location. Today no evidence remains of the once elegant 1930 pharmacy-restaurant at the corner of Madison Avenue and 41st Street.

Exit from the tearoom of the Broadmoor restaurant. 1930 photo.

The exit from the Tearoom of the Broadmoor Pharmacy and Restaurant. On the right is the walnut veneered cashier counter and above the exit is the built in clock. Samuel H. Gottscho photograph from the Museum of the City of New York Collection.

Driving for Deco

We will drive anywhere to find great Art Deco.