Salmon Tower Building
11 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036
I just want to start out by saying a huge congratulations to two of my favorite people on the birth of their first baby on Wednesday. This BOTW is dedicated to Mark, Alexis, and Millie Mae Valentino.
Hand Colored Lithograph published in 1929
11 West 42nd Street, aka the Salmon Tower Building (is having both “Tower” and “Building” in the name redundant?), was built in 1928 and is located right across the street from Bryant Park! Sitting at 32 stories high, this building has nearly no interesting facts about it. I will do my best to squeeze every last minute detail out of this building’s history just to find something interesting to write about. It was just too perfect of a building for this occasion. It’s the NYC HQ for Valentino AND it has the address of “11”: both the room number Alexis gave birth in and the name of the character Millie Bobbie Brown plays in Stranger Things.
The name “Salmon” in Salmon Tower Building comes from Walter J. Salmon Sr. (jingleheimer schmidt) who headed the development firm for this building. Walter was a real estate investor and developer in the early 1900s and was credited for “rebuilding the north side of West 42nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues”. And you know what? That’s a pretty impressive street! Although, what an oddly specific section. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (the people that credited him) did NOT want him to get credit for anything more. Something a lil sus about this guy: his first wife died in her 20s so he married her younger sister, and then she died in her 20s too! And no one is suspicious?? Maybe the NYC Landmarks yada yada people were on to him and that’s why he only got credit for that small stretch of street.
The architecture firm behind the Salmon Tower Building (I’m really bothered by the redundancy, like just pick one??) was York and Sawyer. This firm specialized in the Beaux-Arts style of architecture, which comes from the teachings of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. If we are getting technical here, neither York nor Sawyer studied there. So their style is actually considered “sparkling architecture”. The Beaux-Arts style draws upon the principles of French neoclassicism and incorporates Renaissance and Baroque elements. Just think of pretty much every institutional building you’ve ever seen and that’s the Beaux-Arts style.
The entrance to this building is an impressive two-story limestone archway. It has six carvings on either side of the arch, representing the twelve signs of the zodiac. Fun Fact, Millie is a Gemini and I love that for her. Can you believe I’ve gone this long without talking about her??? Up top are a bunch of figures representing various occupations. I challenge you to find the two dogs in there.
In September 1941, elevator operators in the building went on strike so only four of its eighteen elevators were operating on the morning of September 25. Why wikipedia found that fact important enough to put on the page for this building is beyond me. But now we all know that fact, so you’re welcome. No information on whether or not they ever opened back up the rest of the elevators, so I guess we’ll never know. I’m clearly really struggling to find anything else of note on this building. The building I was originally going to talk about this week is kind of a shit show and I didn’t want to attach that type of energy to this monumentous occasion.
Fun Facts
York and Sawyer also designed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which I briefly mentioned in week 9, Liberty Tower (see? look at how they just picked one).
Two doors down is the W.R. Grace Building. I look at that building and think “man, the skateboard tricks you could do on that thing…”
Alexis Valentino is my role model and a goddess among us.
I love this one bestie keep it up! - sara 🤠