The Wilbraham
The Wilbraham is an apartment building at 282–284 Fifth Avenue and 1 West 30th Street in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The nine-story structure was designed by David and John Jardine in the Romanesque Revival style, with elements of the Renaissance Revival style, and occupies the northwestern corner of 30th Street and Fifth Avenue. It was built between 1888 and 1890 as a bachelor apartment hotel. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has designated the Wilbraham as an official city landmark, and the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The building occupies a rectangular site and has a facade that is divided horizontally into three sections. The lowest two stories are clad in rusticated blocks of New Jersey brownstone, with storefronts near the western and eastern ends of the facade. The third through sixth stories are clad in Philadelphia red brick, the seventh story is clad in ashlar, and the eighth story is located within a mansard roof. The Wilbraham retains much of its original layout, which is composed of storefronts and a lobby on the lowest two floors, as well as apartments on the third through eighth floors. The building originally had 42 apartments and five servants' quarters, which by the 2010s had been consolidated into 38 apartments. Its bachelor flats each consisted of a bedroom and parlor, with a bathroom but no kitchen; the communal dining room was on the eighth floor.
The building was a speculative development by Scottish-American jeweler William Moir, at a time when clubs, hotels, and the first blocks of "French flats" were being developed in the area. When the Wilbraham opened in May 1890, china and glass importer Davis Collamore & Co. leased two floors of showrooms. John J. Gibbons, the leader of Davis Collamore & Co., bought the building in 1908 and sold it in 1927. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company took over the Wilbraham in 1934 and renovated it over the next year, adding some units with kitchens. By the 21st century, the building was still mostly residential.
Site
The Wilbraham is at the northwestern corner of 30th Street and Fifth Avenue in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, at the northern edge of the NoMad neighborhood. The land lot is rectangular and measures around, with a frontage of on Fifth Avenue and along 30th Street. To the south of the Wilbraham are the Marble Collegiate Church and old Holland House. Other nearby buildings include the Gilsey House to the west, the Grand Hotel on the same block to the northwest, the Hotel Wolcott on the same block to the north, the Colony Club building to the east, and the Church of the Transfiguration to the southeast.During the mid-19th century, the stretch of Fifth Avenue between 23rd Street and 42nd Street had contained brownstones and mansions for some of New York City's wealthiest residents, as well as churches. Many hotels and social clubs opened in what is now NoMad following the opening of the Fifth Avenue Hotel in the 1850s, followed by apartment hotels, apartment buildings, Broadway theaters, and stores in the 1870s. The area's wealthiest residents moved uptown in the 1880s, but the neighborhood remained fashionable for clubs, hotels, and the first blocks of "French flats". When the Wilbraham opened in 1890, the surrounding area contained many Broadway theaters, men's clubs, Madison Square Garden, and Delmonico's restaurant. Even in the 21st century, the area contained a large number of apartment buildings, scattered among the commercial and office structures of the neighborhood.
Architecture
The Wilbraham was designed by brothers David and John Jardine. It is eight stories under a verdigris copper-covered mansard roof. The building's design largely contains elements of the Romanesque Revival style, with elements of the Renaissance Revival style. Some parts of the design, such as rock-faced walls and round arches, were influenced by the Richardsonian Romanesque style developed by H.H. Richardson. The building also has a penthouse and a basement, though this is not included in the floor count.Facade
The Wilbraham is clad in Philadelphia brick and brownstone from quarries in Belleville, New Jersey, with wrought- and cast iron, and has sash windows with wooden frames. The Fifth Avenue elevation of the facade is divided vertically into two bays, while the 30th Street elevation is divided into seven bays. On both elevations, the facade is divided horizontally into three sections: the base, midsection, and capital.Lower stories
The base is clad in rusticated blocks of brownstone, with alternating decorative bands and rock-faced stone, above a water table of gray polished granite. There are three pairs of bays, which contain storefronts. On both elevations, the ground-story storefronts have been modified from their original design and are topped by canopies and sign boards. Some of the ground-story openings are covered with roller shutters.On Fifth Avenue, the two bays are separated vertically by a granite-clad pier on the first story, as well as a half-column in the Composite order on the second story. The pier is veneered with tiles, which was installed around the mid-20th century. Rusticated piers are placed on either side of the facade; the capitals of these piers have carved foliate ornamentation and heads. When the Wilbraham was built, each of the ground-floor bays on Fifth Avenue had a door, a transom window above, and a display window beside the door. These have since been replaced with plate-glass display windows and metal-framed doors. Above the first story, each bay has a cast-iron spandrel with ribbons and patterned window sills, which is covered by a storefront sign. On the second story, each bay has two wood-framed windows, topped by a cornice made of stone and cast iron.
On the lowest two stories, the two easternmost bays on 30th Street are similar to those on Fifth Avenue, except that the display windows at ground story retain their original iron frames. The third and fourth bays from the east protrude slightly from the facade and are clad with rock-faced stone. There are round-arched openings on the first story and double windows on the second story of either bay. The arch in the third bay initially contained a stairway to the basement, which was topped by two windows; these were respectively replaced with service doors and a grille. A door in the fourth bay leads to the commercial space inside and is topped by a transom bar, a round-arched transom window, and a roller shutter. The fifth and sixth bays are designed similarly to those on Fifth Avenue, but they have masonry infill and metal grilles at ground level. The seventh bay contains a slightly protruding entrance to the apartments. The entrance is flanked by four colonettes with ornate capitals, which support a round arch with a foliate keystone and ornate spandrels. The name "Wilbraham" is carved in stylized letters above the arch. On the second story, the westernmost bay has a double window.
Upper stories
The third through sixth stories are clad in Philadelphia red brick. On these stories, each bay on Fifth Avenue has three windows per story, while each bay on 30th Street has two windows per story. On 30th Street, there are smaller windows on each story between the third and fourth bays, as well as between the fifth and sixth bays. The third and fourth bays have a fire escape and protrude slightly from the facade. The seventh bay on 30th Street also protrudes slightly from the facade. On the facade's western elevation, the top two stories are visible above the roof of an adjacent structure and are clad in painted brick.The third through fifth stories have wood-framed sash windows with brownstone quoins on either side. The windows in each bay are separated by stone half-columns and flanked by colonnettes and keyed frames. There are stone spandrels with foliate decorations between each story. The third- and fifth-story windows have flat transoms, while the fourth-story windows have round arches. There are segmental-arched windows on the sixth story, with rubbed-brick piers on either side of each window. Stone cornices run above the fifth and sixth stories. The cornice above the fifth story contains keystones, dentils, and voussoirs, while the cornice above the sixth story has corbels and voussoirs. In the westernmost bay, there is a pediment above the window on the sixth story.
On the seventh and eighth stories, the windows are wood-framed sash windows. On the seventh story, each bay on Fifth Avenue has three windows, while each bay on 30th Street has one window. That story is clad in rock-faced ashlar with a band course above it. The eighth story is a mansard roof with paired dormer windows. The lower sections of each dormer are clad with rock facing, while the upper sections have egg-and-dart moldings. The mansard roof was originally made of slate with copper cresting, but it was later re-clad in standing seam copper. There are four brick chimneys above the roof, as well as a metal railing that runs around a roof garden. At the western end of the building is a penthouse that is set back from the street. The original masonry penthouse contained servants' rooms and was not counted as a full story; it was later replaced with a metal-and-masonry penthouse.
Interior
The Wilbraham retains much of its original layout, which is composed of storefronts and a lobby on the lowest two floors, as well as apartments on the third through eighth floors. The lobby is at the western side of the ground floor, while the storefronts occupy the eastern side of the ground floor and most of the second floor. An open staircase with a cast-iron balustrade and newel ascend from the western side of the lobby to the top floor and contains pink treads and landings. An elevator, to the north of the stairs, serves all floors. The original elevator by Otis Worldwide was manually operated, but it has since been replaced with a more modern unit. On each story, the rooms are connected by hallways that were originally paved in encaustic tiles.The Wilbraham was intended to be fireproof. The building was originally supposed to have a cast-iron frame. The builders requested that the cast iron be substituted for steel in November 1888, after construction had begun. Despite receiving permission to add steel beams, the Wilbraham still used iron beams, although the party wall next to the building was reinforced. The Wilbraham also had its own power generator in the basement. The building's mechanical systems, such as plumbing, ventilation, electric and gas lighting, and heating systems, were advanced for their day. In addition, each tenant had housekeeping service, similar to in a short-term hotel, as well as an intercom that allowed them to talk to the building's superintendent.