yet another thread on an annual october ‘open house new york’ weekend site:

http://www.ohny.org/

 

this one is the general society of mechanics and tradesmen building (1899)

20 W 44th St/ 5th Ave, New York

neighborhood: Midtown

 

website:

http://www.generalsociety.org/

about:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Society_of_Mechanics_and_Tradesmen_of_the_City_of_New_York

 

founded in 1785 to provide cultural, educational and social services to families of skilled craftsmen, Twenty W44th Street is the fifth home of the General Society and a New York City landmark. The main reading room soars to a height of three stories and is topped by a magnificent skylight. The building was purchased in 1899 and expanded in 1903 through gifts from member Andrew Carnegie.

 

fyi -- this building was originally designed by lamb and rich as the berkeley school (1893).

it has an interesting backstory:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/realestate/07scap.html

 

HALLS OF LEARNING The structure at 20 West 44th Street was built as the Berkeley School for boys, left in 1892, but was acquired by the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen in 1899. It extended the building to seven stories in 1905, which is how it appears today, right.

 

 

the building itself is best known for the main floor library and this wonderful old skylight

 

entrance stairwell

 

one of those very cool old winding staircases

 

mechanical drawing room

 

beautiful old glass door window design

 

sculpture rooms

 

sculpture instructors office

 

i *heart* old radiators  :laugh:

 

out the window, the building is u-shaped on the upper floors

 

a random old map of manhattan showing the ‘wall st’ boundry

 

top floor stairwell skylight

 

drawing rooms in action

 

*** this organization & building certainly puts the old in old school ***

 

Gorgeous building with a lot of history. I'm happy to see it still being used to teach and train in important skills.