14th street and union square preservation plan - Columbia ...

PAVILION—UNION SQUARE
UNION HALL
The Italian Renaissance inspired pavilion in Union Square was designed for the New
York City Parks Department in 1931 by the Department’s architect Charles Schmieder.
Schmieder joined the Parks
Department as a draftsman in
1912 and served as Department
architect from 1922 until his
death in 1950. During this time he
designed many structures in parks
throughout the city, including a
boathouse in Central Park and a
field house in Inwood Hill Park,
in 1931 and 1933 respectively.
The Pavilion was part of greater
park improvements made during
subway construction, and at its inception housed a bandstand and comfort station. The
pavilion has since served as a meeting point, a playground, a restaurant and a “soap
box” for political protesters. (Figure 43)
27-29 Union Square West, the union meeting and offices, represents
the rise of the trade and labor unions in the 1950’s. Its architectural style
is representative of vernacular modern architecture. (Figure 45)
HARTFORD BUILDING
This eleven-story corner building built in a neo-Renaissance style
was designed by Youngs, Bergesen, and Cornell in 1894. Built as a
speculative office and loft building by Charles Wadsworth to meet the
increasing demand of the wholesale and manufacturing establishments
that moved to Union Square since the 1880’s, the Hartford Building
represents the transition of Union Square’s built fabric and character,
going from residential to commercial in the late nineteenth century.
(Figure 46)
43. PAVILION—UNION SQUARE.
46. HARTFORD
ZECKENDORFF TOWERS
BUILDING.
24-30 UNION SQUARE EAST
Once four individual Greek Revival rowhouses, these buildings are an excellent
example of the evolution of New York architecture from residential to commercial.
The re-cladding of the structures in cast iron, designed by architect Henry Fernbach,
characterizes the shift from traditional masonry facades to a progressive style of the
late nineteenth century. (Figure 44)
These large-scale, residential mixeduse
towers on the southwest corner
of Union Square were built by the
prominent real estate developer
Zeckendorff in 1988. Its significance
lies in the fact that it played a large part
in the revitalization of Union Square,
an area which had been in decline since
the 1960’s. (Figure 47)
47. ZECKENDORFF TOWERS.
44. 24-30 UNION SQUARE EAST. 45. UNION HALL.
SIGNIFICANT RESOURCES: UNION SQUARE
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