AGRICULTURAL DEGREE https://blog.dnevnik.hr/agricultural-degree

37 West 39th Street, Midtown, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

The Haskins & Sells building, designed by architect Frederick C. Zobel, was originally constructed in 1912 as a speculative venture of the Brunswick Realty Company, a real estate enterprise headed by Zobel's brother Robert. The building, located at 35-37 West 39th Street in Midtown Manhattan, was adjacent to the renowned Engineers' Club and Engineering Societies' buildings, and was initially referred to as the Commercial Engineers Building in hopes of attracting engineering-related businesses. From the beginning, however, the building was home to a variety of tenants. From 1920 to 1930, the building served as the principle location for the accounting firm of Haskins & Sells, recognized as the first major auditing firm founded by American accountants. Haskins & Sells was started in 1895 by Charles Waldo Haskins, nephew of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Elijah Watt Sells. Although the company only owned the building for five years, an indelible reminder of their presence has been left in the form of a first-story frieze bearing the inscription 'Haskins & Sells', the years of the firm's founding and acquisition of the building, and the name of the architect.

The 12-story Renaissance Revival-style building is an imaginative and graceful combination of architectural elements and details.

The tripartite design features an arcaded base characterized by two-story round-arched openings and elaborate terra-cotta ornament inlaid with marble details. The door and window openings of the first and second stories are further articulated by cast-iron details featuring intricate grillwork, elongated baluster columns, and semi-circular foliated pediments. From the base, the structure ascends to a canted tower constructed primarily of blonde brick and crowned by even more exuberant terra-cotta and marble detailing, including a modillioned cornice. A balustraded terra-cotta balcony is located at the fourth story, where the tower begins its canted ascent.

Architect Frederick C. Zobel was particularly active in the first decade of the 20th century. Zobel primarily designed commercial structures, including several buildings designated as part of the Tribeca East, Soho Cast-Iron, Ladies' Mile, and Greenwich Village Extension II historic districts. Zobel was also considered an expert in the field of building engineering, particularly with respect to skyscraper construction techniques.

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

West 39th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues

At the turn of the 20th century, West 39th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, the future site of the Haskins & Sells building, was at the crossroads of several rapidly-evolving Midtown neighborhoods. In the late 1800s, Fifth Avenue between 34th and 59th Streets had been established as one of the most fashionable addresses in Manhattan, and residential rowhouses lined the blocks to the east and to the west.

By 1900, however, various real estate forces were coalescing to permanently alter the character of this part of Manhattan. Construction of Grand Central Terminal at East 42nd Street between Madison and Lexington Avenues, and the decking of the railroad tracks running north from the station, accelerated the commercialization of eastern Midtown and spurred the development of an important hotel and business district. With respect to the blocks surrounding the future site of the Haskins & Sells building, considered the northwest periphery of the Murray Hill neighborhood, the construction of or conversion of private residences into exclusive retail shops, restaurants and office buildings, was already well underway by the close of the century.

Midtown Manhattan, west of Fifth Avenue, was being similarly transformed at the turn of the 20th century. A growing transportation hub at Herald Square , featured cross-town streetcars, the Sixth Avenue Elevated, and the Hudson Tubes to New Jersey, and helped secure the continued commercial development of this part of Midtown.

The successful openings of two department stores at Herald Square, Saks & Co. in 1900 followed by R.H. Macy's in 1901-02, anchored a new shopping district that encouraged similar businesses to relocate northwards from Madison Square. The construction of restaurants and hotels to meet shoppers' needs logically followed. The opening of Pennsylvania Station at 34th Street and Seventh Avenue in 1910 precipitated even higher demand for realty in the blocks surrounding the station, which had become known as the 'Pennsylvania terminal loft zone' due to the large number of plans filed for manufacturing and business structures which proceeded the announcement of plans for the station.

In 1899, the block surrounding the future site of the Haskins & Sells building, bounded by Fifth and Sixth Avenues, West 39l and West 40th Streets, was still lined with the four-story rowhouses that had been built in the mid-

Ken Dudeck, left, associate professor of electrical engineering, looks on as his daughter, Elaina, thanks her family and friends for their support while she earned her degree.

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