Friday, March 5, 2021 – Wonderful building that has been used and abused over the years
FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 2021
The
204th Edition
From Our Archives
THE LANDMARK STRUCTURE
THE BATTERY MARITIME
BUILDING
EXTERIOR OF BATTERY MARITIME BUILDING
FROM WIKIPEDIA
The Battery Maritime Building is a building at South Ferry on the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City. Located at 10 South Street, near the intersection with Whitehall Street, it is composed of an operational ferry terminal at ground level, as well as a hotel and event space on the upper stories.
The Battery Maritime Building was designed by the firm of Richard Walker and Charles Morris and constructed by Snare & Triest Co. The project’s construction was overseen by C. W. Staniford, the chief engineer of the city’s Department of Docks, as well as assistant engineer S. W. Hoag Jr. It was inspired by the Exposition Universelle and is the only remaining ferry building in that style in Manhattan.
The Battery Maritime Building contains three ferry slips, numbered 5, 6, and 7. These are the three easternmost ferry slips of a never-completed larger terminal: the Whitehall Street Ferry Terminal, which was proposed to contain seven slips when it was constructed in 1906–1909.]
What is now the Battery Maritime Building was originally served by ferries traveling to 39th Street in South Brooklyn (now the neighborhood of Sunset Park in Brooklyn). The Staten Island Ferry terminal comprised slips 1, 2, and 3, which served ferries to St. George Terminal in St. George, Staten Island. The unbuilt slip 4 was to serve ferries from both Staten Island and South Brooklyn.
The three sections were designed to be built independently of each other with a visually identical style. The westernmost slips were drastically rebuilt in 1956, but the easternmost slips remain as a part of the modern Battery Maritime Building.
Facade Ironwork and window panels on balcony Entry bay, north elevation Railing between column on balcony Architectural metals including stamped zinc and copper, rolled steel, and cast iron were used in the building’s design.[8][20] These materials are more widely used on the water-facing side, to the south, than on the other facades.
Ferry slips 5, 6, and 7 are spanned by tall steel arches, which are supported by four pairs of pilasters with ornate capitals.
Slip 5 can accommodate vessels which load passengers from either the bow or the sides. Slips 6 and 7 can accommodate 149-passenger vessels which load passengers from the bow.
The entrances to each of the slips can be sealed with elaborate swinging gates. Above the ferry slips is a penthouse with a row of double-hung windows.The land-facing side, along Whitehall Street to the north, consists of five bays of sash windows, flanked by six pairs of columns that are topped by decorative capitals and brackets.
The columns supporting a hip roof, and the second floor of the land side contains a balcony with an elaborate railing. The balcony forms a loggia that measures 15 feet (4.6 m) wide; a similar loggia was also planned for the Staten Island Ferry terminal and center wing.[ The vaults under the porch roof utilize Guastavino tiles.
The second story had a direct connection to the South Ferry elevated train station, the Staten Island Ferry terminal, and Lower Manhattan.
The windows contain large frames with glazed glass and cast-iron mullions. Between these are connecting walls with wire lattice work, attached to the facade’s “I”-shaped steel stanchions. The steelwork on the remainder of the building contains decorative motifs such as paneled lattice work, raised moldings, and elaborate cross bracings.
Unlike in other structures of the same era, the steel structural members were left exposed without any cladding.
The roof was intended as a recreational area. Originally, the portion of the roof devoted to this purpose was clad with 1 Welsh red tiles, set in cement and laid on a layer of ash concrete. The other sections of the roof were made of gravel roof.
A skylight was installed in the center of the roof during one of the building’s restorationsIn the 2021 hotel conversion, a glass-clad addition was constructed on the roof.
Spires and cupolas were also installed atop the water-facing side
these design features had been part of the original design but were removed in the 1930s.
Including bulkheads, the Battery Maritime Building is approximately 104 feet
tall, as measured from the sidewalk of South Street.
The superstructure is made of steel framework and reinforced concrete floor slabs, which are finished with terrazzo. The main floor-girders vary in depth from 8 inches (200 mm), for I-beams, to 45-inch (1,100 mm) box girders. The ceilings are made of wire lath and finished in plaster. The columns of the superstructure vary in size; the larger columns are generally 25 inches (640 mm) thick and are built up of riveted steel sections.
Along the waterfront, the building rests upon thick concrete structural piers set over wooden piles, driven into the riverbed to the rock surface. Along the land, the concrete structural piers descend to the rock 20 to 30 feet (6.1 to 9.1 m) deep. Subway tunnels run directly under the terminal.
The interior has many decorative steel columns, beams, and molded ceilings, much of which dates from the original design.[ The terminal’s first story contains a waiting area along South Street. The waiting area was originally accessed by two vestibules and contained a smoking area, ticket office, and other booths[
The walls and furniture of the waiting area were decorated with wood, and the entire space was initially illuminated by a large skylight.
Behind the waiting area, to the south, was a passageway 40 feet (12 m) wide. This passage connected the two transverse driveways to slips 5 and 7, each measuring 51 feet (16 m) wide. It served as a vehicular loading area for wagons and motor vehicles.
The modern terminal contains the waiting area, ticket area, and restrooms for the Governors Island ferry line.
The building was originally constructed with a large second-story waiting room known as the Great Hall. The Great Hall measured 60 feet (18 m) wide and 150 to 170 feet (46 to 52 m) long,] with a ceiling about 30 feet (9.1 m) high.
The interior contains iron columns and stained glass windows and, as in the first floor, had wooden furnishings. Had the center wing of the Whitehall Street Ferry Terminal been completed, it would have formed a single, more massive concourse connected to the Staten Island Ferry slips. The third floor contained office space that could be used by the New York City Dock Board or rented out to other tenants.
Early 20th century
Ferry lines from Manhattan to Staten Island began operating under the municipal authority of the Department of Docks and Ferries in 1905, and ferries from Manhattan to Brooklyn were taken over by the city the following year.[ After the consolidation of these ferry lines, plans for the Beaux-Arts Whitehall Street Ferry Terminal in Lower Manhattan were approved by the city’s Municipal Art Commission in July 1906 and Walker and Morris were named as architects later that year.
The structure was to replace an earlier building on the site that had operated since 1887.
Walker and Morris’s plans were approved in February 1907 and a budget of $1.75 million was allotted to the work. The separate sections of the Whitehall Street Ferry Terminal were designed so they could be constructed separately while remaining visually similar. Work started on the Brooklyn ferry slips first, followed by the Staten Island ferry slips in 1908.A simple cornerstone-laying ceremony for the Brooklyn ferry terminal took place in September 1908.
The terminal was completed by 1909. The present Battery Maritime Building comprised the terminal’s eastern wing and became known as the South Street Ferry Terminal, while the ferries to Staten Island used the western wing, which became the Staten Island Ferry’s Whitehall Terminal. The city took over the Atlantic and Hamilton Avenue ferry lines from the Union Ferry Company in 1922. As part of the takeover, the two ferry lines were relocated from Union Ferry’s Whitehall Street slips to the municipally operated South Street ferry slips.
WSJ MAGAZINE
Hotel Conversion
After the exterior renovations were completed, the EDC and GIPEC started advertising for proposals to redevelop the interior .
In 2006, the city considered opening a food market in the building.
The marketplace idea, modeled after the San Francisco Ferry Building, subsequently proved infeasible because the second floor lacked a loading dock.
Through only a combination of financial difficulties and doing business with the City of New York various characters were involved which today has become a hotel operated by Cipriani, which will open this year. We think!
FRIDAY PHOTOS OF THE DAY
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THURSDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
CHARGING BULL AND FEARLESS GIRL
M. FRANK, ALEXIS VILLEFANE, HARA REISER, GLORIA HERMAN
GOT IT RIGHT
ARTURO DI MODICA JUST PASSED AWAY.
Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c)
Sources
WSJ MAGAZINE
WIKIPEDIA
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