The Emmet Building is a historic 16-story building located at 89–95

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stree ...

at 29th Street, in the

NoMad Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It was designed by John Stewart Barney and Stockton B. Colt of the architectural firm of Barney & Colt for Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, a prominent gynecological surgeon who was also an author of books on Irish history. He was the son of Emmet John Patten (1796–1842), a chemistry professor at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

who was born in Ireland and was the nephew of

Robert Emmet Robert Emmet (4 March 177820 September 1803) was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt to overthrow the British Crown and Prote ...

, the advocate for Irish independence. The building was constructed between 1911 and 1912, replacing Emmet's own townhouse at 89 Madison, and four other properties at 91–95 Madison which he had acquired. Although the building's primary function was to serve commercial tenants in the area north of

Madison Square Park Madison Square is a public square formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The square was named for Founding Father James Madison, the fourth president of the United St ...

,Herman, Margaret (February 20, 2018
"95 Madison Avenue (The Emmett Building) Designation Report"

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the Government of New York City, New York City agency charged with administering the city's Historic preservation, Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting Ne ...

Emmet had a penthouse apartment that included custom designed furnishings by Keeble, Ltd. It was served by a private elevator. He moved in with his 51-year old son, his nurse, and his cook, Koricki Myamiata, and lived in the building for more than 40 years. Commercial space was located on the lower floors of the building; early tenants included wholesale silk merchants William Openhym & Sons and the Manhattan Shirt Company.

Architecture

The neo-Renaissance building building is adorned in

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

ornamentation. The exterior of the first two floors used

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

and were adorned with

cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

ornamentation and green marble-clad pillars. The lower story exterior features Medieval figures, canopies, and

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...

s, as well as "cavaliers and courtesans". Exterior columns span between the fourth and eleventh floors. The lobby was adorned with Sienna and Numida marble, mosaic floors, and bronze elevator doors and surround. The facade underwent restoration in 1991. The fifth edition of the ''

AIA Guide to New York City The ''AIA Guide to New York City'' by Norval White, Elliot Willensky, and Fran Leadon is an extensive catalogue with descriptions, critique and photographs of significant and noteworthy architecture throughout the five boroughs of New York City. ...

'' speculates that the design of the building may have been inspired by the

Woolworth Building The Woolworth Building is a residential building and early skyscraper at 233 Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the Tribeca neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Cass Gilbert, it was the tallest building in the world f ...

Landmarking

The Emmet Building, as well as the

Beaux Arts architecture Beaux-Arts architecture ( , ) was the academic architectural style taught at the in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorporated Renaissance and B ...

James NoMad The Hotel Seville NoMad (formerly the Seville Hotel, Carlton Hotel, and James New York NoMad) is a hotel at 22 East 29th Street, at the southwest corner with Madison Avenue in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The original ...

hotel (formerly the Seville Hotel) at 22 East 29th Street across the street from it, were designated as landmarks by the

on March 6, 2018. Landmarks Preservation Commission chairperson Meenakshi Srinivasan said, "These elegant buildings are not only distinctive and exemplary on their own, but together they represent an era of change and development in the area north of

Madison Square Madison Square is a public square formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The square was named for Founding Father James Madison, the fourth president of the United St ...

during the early 20th century." The family that owns it has been renovating the building, and, after initially supporting the landmarking, later expressed displeasure with how the Landmark Preservation Commission operates and its bureaucracy.

References

External links

* {{coord, 40.7444, -73.9851, type:landmark_region:US-NY, display=title Emmet family Office buildings in Manhattan Madison Avenue Renaissance Revival architecture in New York City New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan Office buildings completed in 1912