The Studebaker Building is located at 615 West 131st Street, between Broadway and 12th Avenue, and between 131st and 132nd Streets, in the Manhattanville section of the Upper West Side in

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 is in the northeast quadrant of the Manhattanville Campus of

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. It is near the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

and several local bus routes. It is one of three historic buildings to have survived in the university's Manhattanville expansion, the others being Prentis Hall and the Nash Building. The former

Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Man ...

automobile finishing plant, complete with a freight elevator, was constructed in 1923. It is constructed largely of brick with a decorative white porcelain trim, is 6 stories tall, has a plot size of 175 feet by 200 feet, and has 210,000 square feet of floorspace. The blue Studebaker logo used between 1912 and 1934 is still visible on the southwest corner near the top. Originally built as a finishing plant, it was later used to store and distribute cars and parts manufactured in

South Bend South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, as a sales and services headquarters for the company. Studebaker sold the building due to declining profits to the Borden Milk Company in 1937, which used it as a milk processing plant. Later it was home to various warehouses (e.g. for the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

), offices, and small manufacturing facilities such as the

Madame Alexander Bertha "Beatrice" Alexander Behrman (March 9, 1895 – October 3, 1990), known as Madame Alexander, was an American dollmaker. Founder and owner of the Alexander Doll Company in New York City for 65 years, she introduced new materials and innovati ...

doll company and Scientific Prototypes which manufactured sirens for every NYPD police vehicle from 1979 until 1989. In the late 1980s, Columbia University began to rent office space there, and subsequently bought the building. In 2007, most of the Finance department for the University, including the Student Financial Services department, moved to the Studebaker Building from the historic Kent Hall.

References

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