Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 77, no. 1989: April 28, 1906

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-April 28, 1906 RTICORD AJSD GUIDE 765 Title Company's New Home. TYPICAL OF NEW-CENTURT METHODS IN DESIGN AND , CONSTRUCTION—POR THE SOLE OCCUPANCT OF THE OWNER. SOME TIME- during the month of May the Title Guarantee & Trust Company expects to move to the new white granite edifice at 170 Broadway. The company's first oflice was in tbe Potter Building, from which the business was TITLE GUARANTEE AND TRUST CO.'S BUILDING. 176 Broadway. Thompson-Starrett Co., General Contractors. removed to 55 Liberty st. and about ten years ago the quarters there were outgrown and the company removed to its present location, 146 Broadway. These quarters have been very much cramped for three or four years and the erection of the new building at 17G Broadway was the result. It is one of the few large buildings downtown erected for the exclusive use of the owner, as it has been decided by the com¬ pany to rent none of its extra space. The building was con¬ structed by the Thompson-Starrett Co. from plans of the archi¬ tects, Messrs. Howells & Stokes. The front occupies 75 ft. on Broadway, and is of white granite quarried in Bethel, Vt. There is only one other sample of this granite in New Tork, namely, the Payne Whitney house on fith av. The granite is as soft and while as marble and will prob¬ ably be much used in New Tork ill the future. The architecture of the fagade is an adaption of the Palladian style with an order of pilasters rising 02 j;t, above the first story, which forms their base. The capitals of these pilasters are the largest that we know of in New York, of Ibis type, being 9 ft. across the top of the Corinthian abacus. Owing to the very large scale of the building it has been possible "to successfully introduce a story in the height of the frieze, and the composition ends above this with a 1-sty attic and balustrade. Between the first and second s lories runs a heavy ornamental band carrying the title of the building. The carving on the front has necessarily been simple, to suit granite, but for granite carving it is extremely rich. It is only after is extremely rich. It is only after Ibis carving has been uncovered that tbe public will appreciate the ex¬ treme beauty and artistic merit of this facade. The main feature of the building, however, is its suitability to the purposes for which it has been built. Evei-y inch of space in the building has been made a matter of careful study between tbe architects and tbe head of the department that is to occupy it. Before a stroke of work was done, the desk of every employee was located on the plans, due consideration being given to the space needed, including the question of accessibility of the pubiic or necessary privacy from the public. Entering the center of the Broad¬ way front, the public finds itself in a domed rotunda distributing in three directions, into the large banking and business room. The customers for the banking de¬ partment enter on the right, for the mortgage department on tbe left, and for the title insurance in the center. The central entrance is through a 20-ft. archway, afford¬ ing the best view of tbe great room, the ceiling of which ig supported by two rows of columns. Around the rear of this room runs a mezzanine gallery of horseshoe f o r m, surrounded by a rich wrought-iron railing with a motif in the centre, which consists of a sculptured clock surmounting the door leading into the officers' private rooms. The ground fioor, vestibule and rotunda are lined above with marble of different types; the floor of the vestibule and the main room is tesselated marble, and a marble wainscoting runs along the walls. The banking: screen of marble and bronze has been built by the Tiffany Studios, and is a rare Howells & Stokes, Architects. ^^"^P^^ «* ^^"stic work. For the