Masonry Magazine June 1985 Page. 19
19th Century Building Renovation
Reveals Heavy Reliance on Brick
A century-old building in New York City, most recently the home of New York's Playboy Club, has been completely gutted in preparation for renovation to a new use as the North American executive headquarters of the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation. In stripping down its interior, the building's general contractor, E. W. Howell Company, discovered a fascinating history of major metropolitan construction techniques practiced down through the years.
The building's neighbors include the landmark Sherry-Netherland Hotel which abuts it, and Grand Army Plaza, the General Motors Building, and the Plaza Hotel. Yet this structure was there before all of them.
Ralph D. Howell, Jr., partner in E. W. Howell Co., reports that when the building originally was constructed in the late 19th century, it was eight stories. Howell's on-site project manager, Donald Robinson, estimates that in its original state, the building contained 1,500,000 brick.
"That figure is particularly impressive when you consider that the building's dimensions are relatively small-50 feet wide, 100 feet deep and 70 feet high, and that today's 50-story skyscrapers, when veneered with brick, contain about the same number of brick as this old-timer does," Robinson said.
When the Playboy Club took over the building in 1961, the brick facade facing East 59th Street was replaced and new structural steel was installed to "beef up" the building. Now, the structure contains "only" 1,200,000 brick in three-foot-thick brick bearing walls and twelve-foot-square foundation piers, each resting on bedrock.
Walking through and around the rubble and the constant rattling of jackhammers, one can look up and see the old beam pockets that once held the structure's wood beams. Towards the rear of the building is an architectural gem: the only one of the structure's original cast iron girders. It remains intact and will become part of the finished structure. The building's original brick piers and brick bearing walls will also remain as part of the "new" building.
Says Ralph Howell Jr., "When the bank's architect (Der Scutt) and the structural engineer (Eipel Engineering Consultants) examined it, their professional opinion was to use much of the existing construction, add girders around the new stairs, and then get on with the business of interior reconstruction and a new facade." The exterior materials facing 59th Street will be granite and bronze tinted glass.
Other former construction methods and materials uncovered during interior demolition included "goulash" concrete-used as a fireproofing material in hundreds of New York City office and industrial buildings from 1900 to the late 1940's-and riveted steel connections. And the old three-foot-thick brick walls, seven stories high, served double duty in turn-of-the-century (and later) structures:
▲ Brick piers are secured in the bedrock foundation of Manhattan.
Brick bracing walls remain as part of the bank building. Wedged design offers additional support.
MASONRY-MAY/JUNE, 1985 19