Нью-Йорктегі Американдық Радиатор ғимараты

Hotel skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

The American Radiator Building is on 40th Street, which forms the southern border of Bryant Park, and between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. On the same block are the Engineers' Club Building, The Bryant, and 452 Fifth Avenue to the east; the Engineering Societies' Building and the Haskins & Sells Building to the south; and Bryant Park Studios to the west. Other nearby places include the New York Public Library Main Branch across 40th Street to the north, as well as the Lord & Taylor Building to the southeast. The site of the annex was occupied by six houses at 46–52 West 40th Street and 39–43 West 39th Street until the 1930s.

The American Radiator Building was designed by Raymond Hood and J. André Fouilhoux, of the firm Hood, Godley, and Fouilhoux, in a mixture of the Gothic Revival and Art Deco styles. It was completed in 1924 as the headquarters of the American Radiator Company. Rene Paul Chambellan, a frequent collaborator of Hood and his associate John Mead Howells, created the ornamentation and sculptures. Numerous other contractors were hired for the construction. efn|The contractors included:
Hegeman Harris Company, general contractor The building's design was also inspired by those of two nearby buildings: the base and tower massing of the Candler Building and the Gothic details of the Bush Tower.

The original structure measuring 103.02 m tall consists of an eighteen story tower above a base of five stories. The western annex only rises five stories. According to Architectural Forum magazine, the lower floors "form a projecting screen, back of which rises the towering bulk of the building". The writer Eric Nash described the building as the "first true expression of the Art Deco skyscraper silhouette". Above the 15th story are indentations; those on the northern side of the building are beveled to make the tower appear like a shaft. The shaft like design permitted the tower to be illuminated by natural light from all sides. The shaft like form was not applied consistently; the rear conformed to the city's setback requirement for backyards, so the south facade of the base and tower are continuous. Conversely, the slight setbacks and the indented corners ensure there would be some air between the tower and all adjacent buildings. Hood and his client only disagreed over whether the building should be more than twenty stories high and whether additional frontage should be used for the base.

The American Radiator Building was designed in a black and gold color scheme. It is not known who exactly suggested the black and gold colors, but architectural writer Walter Littlefield Creese says it may have been Hood's friend, architect Joseph Urban. Hood used the black and gold palette because he believed that conventional office buildings, with their white masonry facades and dark glass windows, were monotonous. After the tower's completion, Hood anticipated that additional colorful skyscrapers would be developed in New York City. The primary color of black was used to signify coal, while gold coated decorations were used to symbolize fire. The "gold" was actually bronze powder placed on cast stone, a technique which was devised after a number of experiments by Hood and Fouilhoux's team. The main entrance is a round arched opening between the two original showroom windows. efn|According to The New York Herald, New York Tribune, these figures resembled anger, drunkenness, revolt, lust, fury, and hatred. The grotesques on the building were designed in a whimsical manner, with figures that included a pipe fitter with a wrench. The roof consists of a tank surrounding a chimney and installed on a frame.

Initially, the building was designed with of floor area. The annex has either Twenty five hundred lights were used in the interior, as well as motors capable of The basement includes a 73 seat screening room, which was created when the Bryant Park Hotel was constructed within the building in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The screening room was dug 13.72 m deep into the bedrock. Because of the high water table of the area, the excavation of the screening room entailed installing several pumps and drainage systems. As designed, the American Radiator Building's main entrance led to a vestibule, which in turn led to a corridor, an elevator lobby with three elevators on the left (east) wall, and a central staircase. This arrangement, according to Hood, was intended to give "more space in each store without sensibly leaving a general main level". Due to the layout, only the eastern showroom had a mezzanine above it. Bent girders were installed to support the different levels of showrooms, and the structural steel around the elevators were made of thin single webs. In addition, two bars, a few shops, and a gym were created within the lower stories, A smokestack was placed right behind the elevators. On the 5th through 17th stories, there are no columns at the tower's front corners because of the presence of the indented corners. As a result, these corners are supported by cantilevered girders. Furthermore, while the front and rear walls were already stiffened at their setbacks, the east and west walls had to be stiffened with gusset plates.

Raymond Hood was a relatively obscure architect when, in 1921, he collaborated with John Mead Howells in an architectural design competition, submitting a successful proposal for the Tribune Tower. According to one author, Hood became a prominent architect "from almost complete obscurity and literally overnight". At the time, architects were using classical Beaux Arts design elements, which were poorly suited to tall structures. The American Radiator Building was only the second skyscraper Hood designed, after the Tribune Tower. The design and construction of the original skyscraper took only thirteen months. The design process started in April 1923, and the steel superstructure was constructed from August 22 to November 21 of the same year. Space was also leased to office tenants, such as the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies' electric laboratories, the Clarage Fan Company, and the American Engineering Company. Hood and Fouilhoux's architecture firm also took space in the American Radiator Building. The American Radiator Company acquired a 12 story building at 35–39 West 39th Street, occupying a lot behind the company's tower, in 1928. This sale was intended to protect the views from the American Radiator Building. The next year, American Radiator Company merged with Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company to form American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation, later American Standard. Consequently, the structure was renamed the American Standard Building. American Standard had hired Hood in 1929 to design a westward extension of its tower. Hood drew plans for a tower that would be two and a half times the original building's height, with a black and gold facade topped by a pinnacle. These plans were not executed due to financial issues caused by the Great Depression.

In February 1936, American Standard paid the Bowery Savings Bank $500,000 for the six adjacent houses at 46–52 West 40th Street and 39–43 West 39th Street. The structures were planned to be replaced with a showroom annex of no more than six stories. The new showrooms of the American Radiator Building opened in June 1937. The first exhibit held in the showrooms was a program about the planned redevelopment of Sixth Avenue after the planned demolition of the Sixth Avenue Elevated. Twenty one of the project's laborers were given awards for the quality of their craftsmanship. The expanded showrooms were initially used for exhibits such as "an ideal city of 2000 AD", displayed in 1937; an exhibit of home appliances, in 1938; and a model of the northern section of Sixth Avenue, in 1941. American Standard sold the structure behind its tower, at 35–39 West 39th Street, in 1950. The expanded tower continued to be occupied by office tenants such as the North Star Woolen Mill Company, as well as the Mosler Safe Company, the latter of which moved to the structure after American Standard acquired it in 1967. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) held public hearings in September 1974 to determine whether to designate the American Radiator Building, along with Bryant Park and part of the New York Public Library's interior, as a city landmark. If approved, these would be the city's first modern era, scenic, and interior landmarks, respectively. American Standard opposed the designation, stating that "the building has no historical significance at all" and claiming that it was only meant to "last a commercial length of time". Only two skyscrapers, the Flatiron Building and the Manhattan Municipal Building, were designated as city landmarks at the time. LPC chairwoman Beverly Moss Spatt said at the time that the "city is in serious trouble", with lawsuits questioning the commission's authority. and the designations were ratified by the New York City Board of Estimate early the next year. The American Standard Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 7, 1980.

American Standard reduced the number of employees working at its New York City headquarters in the 1980s, decreasing the workforce from 500 to 200 within five years. In light of its downsizing, American Standard sold the tower and annex to Japanese company Clio Court (also known as Clio Biz Clio initially proposed converting the building into a luxury hotel with either 160, Clio contemplated erecting at least 15 stories above the annex but did not have a construction estimate at first. When Christopher Gray wrote about the building for The New York Times in 1994, it had already been unoccupied for four years. Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger reportedly expressed interest in leasing the American Standard Building as his company's headquarters, but no deal was ever made.

The ownership of the main tower and its annex were split when the real estate developer Philip Pilevsky bought the main tower for $15 million in 1998 The hotel was one of several being established outside the traditional hotel districts in New York City. Daiwa Real Estate originally committed to funding the hotel conversion but reneged when Pilevsky experienced financial issues with other projects in late 1998. David Chipperfield was hired as the conversion architect. The Bryant Park Hotel opened in early 2001 and was frequently fully occupied during its first two months. and became popular with musicians such as Madonna and Rihanna, as well as those in the fashion and film industries, in part because New York Fashion Week was hosted in Bryant Park. However, by May 2011, the Bryant Park Hotel had fallen behind on its $89 million mortgage. The Moroccan themed Célon Bar & Lounge opened in the basement in 2017, replacing the hotel's Cellar Bar. The Bryant Park Hotel closed temporarily in early 2020 due to the COVID 19 pandemic in New York City. By mid 2020, Pilevsky, along with hotel co owners Raymond Gindi and Joseph Chehebar, had hired Philips International to advertise all in the main building as office space. The men planned to rent the space in sections ranging from The hotel reopened with limited service in September 2020 and was 20 percent occupied by March 2021. Gibbs School operated until 2009, when it closed all of its locations. Afterward, the City University of New York (CUNY) indicated its intent to sign a lease for the American Radiator annex, which would house a new community college. The school, subsequently renamed Guttman Community College, opened in 2012.

When the building was completed, architect Harvey Wiley Corbett observed that "Comment upon the new building has been sharply divided", quoting one critic who cited the color scheme as a source of argument. Hugh Ferriss wrote that the design "provoked more arguments among laymen on the subject of architectural values than any other structure in the country". An anonymous critic in The Villager said that the American Radiator Building "distilled" what they perceived as a monotonous skyline. Praise continued even in later years. In 1987, architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee named the American Standard Building as having one of the city's most distinctive roofs. The design was additionally noted for its use of lighting. According to art and architectural historian Dietrich Neumann, the design "helped to introduce a new age of color and light in American architecture." Other critics were less appreciative of the novel color scheme. An article published in Architecture magazine during 1925 said that the facade design "shocked and offended some of our good friends from the Middle West who saw it for the first time recently". Journalist Herbert Croly felt that the American Radiator Building was "not particularly successful in itself", though he believed the decorative scheme was useful as an inspiration for future colorful buildings in New York City.

In December 1924, the Fifth Avenue Association dubbed the American Radiator Building as the second best new building erected around Fifth Avenue during that year. The Community Trust of New York installed a plaque near the original building's entrance in 1962, commemorating the building's architectural significance. According to Christopher Gray, the American Radiator Building was "so powerful that it inspired other works of art". as well as nighttime photographs by Samuel Gottscho.