Look Up: Restrained Sculptures at the American Tract Society Building

Image via Complex Original

For some time now, I've been thinking about when to write about Frank Gehry’s Beekman Tower at 8 Spruce Street. As the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere and the 11th tallest residential tower in the word, it certainly deserves a shout in a column titled “Look Up.” But I was unsure. Initially I wanted to distance my take from the hype. Then it started to feel like old news. After deciding it was finally time, I set out to shoot the building but ran into a much more interesting structure: The American Tract Society Building (150 Nassau St.).

Gehry will have to wait.

The ATS is a nonsectarian Christian Evangelical organization that was founded in NYC in 1825 to publish and disseminate Christian literature. Located in printing house row, the structure stands in the shadow of another publishing building; at one time, it was one of the largest American publishing houses. The building was built in 1894 to serve not just as the home of their printing presses, but also as a speculative venture to generate much needed rental income as the ATS's revenues declined. By 1914, it had lost its investment and were foreclosed upon. For a couple of years the NY Sun took over, but by 1919, it too had to relocate.

The tower was designed by notable architect R. H. Roberston, who designed many of New York’s striking churches and other institutional buildings. The ATS building was one of the earliest steel framed structures, and has a partial curtain wall of gray granite and gray brick. At twenty stories, it was one of the tallest buildings in the city at the time.

The exterior detailing is a combination of Romanesque and Renaissance Revival styles. The building is divided into a typical Renaissance tripartite vertical scheme for early skyscrapers, with a strong base, a repetitive and delicately detailed middle, and a soaring three-storey cap.

The upper arcade on the western half of the building is accentuated with grand winged caryatids made of terra cotta at the corners (now braced to prevent them from falling to the ground). Above, a copper band capped with gilded spheres serves as the base for a three storey hipped roof that can only clearly be seen from the distance and blends in with the city’s skyline.

In 1999 it was designated a NYC landmark, and in 2003 it was converted into luxury apartments. 

A last look at the bound female figure. Now, go listen to Rihanna's "S&M."