41 Park Row

Infobox Skyscraper
building_name = 41 Park Row


caption = One Pace Plaza (left) and the lower floors of 41 Park Row (right).
location = New York City, New York, United States
status = Completed
opening = 1851
use = Classrooms, Gym
floor_count = 13
architect = George B. Post
engineer = Thomas R. Jackson
owner = Pace University

41 Park Row, located near New York City Hall in the New York City borough of Manhattan, was the longtime home of "The New York Times", until it moved to Longacre Square, now known as Times Square. asof|2008, the building still stands as the oldest of the surviving buildings of what was once "Newspaper Row" and is owned by Pace University

The newspaper's first building was located at 113 Nassau Street in New York City. In 1854, it moved to 138 Nassau Street, and in 1858 it moved to Park Row, making it the first newspaper in New York City housed in a building built specifically for its use. The original building constructed for the "Times" was a five-story structure in the Romanesque revival style, designed by Thomas R. Jackson, that occupied the site of the Brick Presbyterian Church. The 1851 building, located across from City Hall and dwarfing that of Horace Greeley's "New York Tribune", was described by the "Times" in 2001 as "a declaration that the newspaper regarded itself as a powerful institution in civic life.... No politician standing on the broad steps of City Hall could fail to note the newspaper's presence. And after 1871, when The Times led the crusade against the Tweed Ring, no politician could afford to ignore it."Dunlap, David W. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6DF1F38F937A25752C1A9679C8B63 "150th Anniversary: 1851-2001; Six Buildings That Share One Story"] , "The New York Times", November 14, 2001. Accessed October 10, 2008. "Surely the most remarkable of these survivors is 113 Nassau Street, where the New-York Daily Times was born in 1851.... After three years at 113 Nassau Street and four years at 138 Nassau Street, The Times moved to a five-story Romanesque headquarters at 41 Park Row, designed by Thomas R. Jackson. For the first time, a New York newspaper occupied a structure built for its own use."]

After Greeley's "Tribune" raised the stakes with a taller building of its own in the 1870s, the Times responded in 1889 with a commission for architect George B. Post to design a grander — and taller — building at 41 Park Row to replace the existing structure. The 13-story Romanesque building, with arches carved from Maine granite and Indiana limestone, was constructed around the core of the original building. The printing presses were kept in place, and the new building constructed around it as the old one was demolished. The top floor was designated for use by the composing room to allow the printers access to more natural light. The paper was purchased by Adolph Ochs in 1896. Under Ochs' leadership, architect Robert Maynicke was retained to remove the original mansard roof and add three additional stories of offices.

Five printing presses, capable of printing 12,000 newspapers an hour, were located below street level in a space that was later used by Pace University as a gym.

The building was purchased by Pace University in 1951, and has been used for classrooms and offices. 41 Park Row was granted landmark status by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1999.Dunlap, David W. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9903E3DB1F3EF934A25750C0A96F958260 "Former Times Building Is Named a Landmark"] , "The New York Times", March 17, 1999. Accessed October 10, 2008.] A bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin holding a copy of his "Pennsylvania Gazette" stands in front of the building in Printing-House Square. [Staff. [http://media.www.pacepress.org/media/storage/paper424/news/2001/11/14/Features/On.Park.Row.One.Historic.Building.Not.Owned.By.Jr-160963.shtml "On Park Row, one historic building not owned by J&R"] , "The Pace Press", November 14, 2001. Accessed October 10, 2008.]

References