Flatiron Building History
January 29, 2011 6:20 AM Subscribe
Last weekend, I found out that my boyfriend's grandmother worked in my office building 57 or so years ago, for about six months, as a secretary for "the first sofa bed company in the United States." (It was their showroom.) Now, the Flatiron offices are entirely occupied by two companies, but then, it held many different small businesses. How can I find out where in the building her office was located? I'd love to take her there sometime so she can see it again.
Ok. Do you know the name of the Company? Because the inventor of the foldable sofa bed was Bernard Castro, and his company was Castro Convertibles. His obituary mentions that he opened an his first office on 21st St., which is close to 23rd.
They still exist. If this is the company, you could email or call them—or even follow their 1940s (now much older) TV spokeschild on Twitter.
posted by functionequalsform at 6:39 AM on January 29, 2011
They still exist. If this is the company, you could email or call them—or even follow their 1940s (now much older) TV spokeschild on Twitter.
posted by functionequalsform at 6:39 AM on January 29, 2011
Rats.
Preview.
Also, extremely jealous you work there. It's my favorite building.
posted by functionequalsform at 6:40 AM on January 29, 2011
Preview.
Also, extremely jealous you work there. It's my favorite building.
posted by functionequalsform at 6:40 AM on January 29, 2011
Go down to the library and find the city directories for the 1950s or 60s. Most city directories have a section that's sort-of a reverse phone book: you look up an address and find who was at that address back in the day. Office buildings usually have a bunch of listings, with each one showing their suite number.
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:27 AM on January 29, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:27 AM on January 29, 2011 [4 favorites]
You or she might enjoy The Flatiron: The New York Landmark and the Incomparable City That Arose with It which came out in 2010. There's also this AIA-published photo essay, which is a beautiful book that you can purchase for only $18 used via Amazon (it's over $100 new).
posted by carmicha at 8:16 AM on January 29, 2011
posted by carmicha at 8:16 AM on January 29, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions. Now off to do some sleuthing...
posted by ocherdraco at 2:41 PM on January 29, 2011
posted by ocherdraco at 2:41 PM on January 29, 2011
If it was indeed Castro Convertibles, here's some info.
Patent application (1951, 1953) here on Google scholar.
This link references the company being located at 131 West 21st St, as noted above. (A March 1st, 1948 notice says they bought the 22.6x98.9 space from Jesse E. Kahn, for what appears to be $15,000). A separate listing called it a "loft building" (as noted above).
Company Names
In the NYT Historical DB, the company often appears as Castro Decorators, Inc., New Hyde Park, N.Y. They also show up as Castro Convertible Corp, a listing on Oct 15, 1953 shows them as Castro's, Inc. and a March 23, 1949 article lists them as Castro Furniture Co. A Feb 23, 1933 ad has Bernard Castro, Inc.
Addresses in various articles:
57 5th Ave. Between 12th & 13th Streets (Feb 23, 1933)
675 Avenue of the Americas - "Additional Showroom Space" (Feb 15, 1950)
Times Square, Broadway at 47th St. (Jan 17, 1954)
34th St. at Madison Avenue (Jan 17, 1954) [41 E 34th St.]
131 W. 21st St. Between 6th & 7th Ave. (Jan 17, 1954)
292 East Kingsbridge Rd off Fordham Road (Jan 17, 1954)
895 Flatbush Ave. Off Church Ave (Jan 17, 1954)
153-25 Jamaica Ave. Near Parsons Blvd (Jan 17, 1954)
67 Fulton Ave. On Hempstead Turnpike (Jan 17, 1954)
8th Ave at 36th St. (Sep 19, 1954)
325 E. Fordham Road at Kingsbridge Road (Sep 19, 1954)
149th St. at 3rd Ave
255 Main St. At Post Road (Dec 5, 1955)
1646 Pitkin Avenue. Corner of Bristol Street (Aug 24, 1958)
490 Fulton St. Opposite RKO Albee (Oct , 1959)
43 W. 23rd St "The Castro Building"
There are also bunches of places where Castro Convertibles shows up in classified ads. They're a pain to find because where there is usually OCR and you can run a search, the ones I pulled up didn't have OCR done. But I did find one specific instance of a secretarial position & uploaded the image - Clerk Typist, $50. (Jan 13, 1954). A similar listing appears on Sep 13, 1953. 131 W 21st Street is the address listed.
So I couldn't find any evidence that any Castro properties were ever in the Flatiron building. Could have been though. If you get any more information or specifics, please share them! Good luck!
Side note - I found an August 31, 1950 listing for space in the flatiron building - "5th Ave, 175 (23D) Flatiron bldg. Desirable Desk Space, Telephone & Mail Service. Room 1708. Oregon 7-6868."
posted by cashman at 5:15 PM on January 29, 2011
Patent application (1951, 1953) here on Google scholar.
This link references the company being located at 131 West 21st St, as noted above. (A March 1st, 1948 notice says they bought the 22.6x98.9 space from Jesse E. Kahn, for what appears to be $15,000). A separate listing called it a "loft building" (as noted above).
Company Names
In the NYT Historical DB, the company often appears as Castro Decorators, Inc., New Hyde Park, N.Y. They also show up as Castro Convertible Corp, a listing on Oct 15, 1953 shows them as Castro's, Inc. and a March 23, 1949 article lists them as Castro Furniture Co. A Feb 23, 1933 ad has Bernard Castro, Inc.
Addresses in various articles:
57 5th Ave. Between 12th & 13th Streets (Feb 23, 1933)
675 Avenue of the Americas - "Additional Showroom Space" (Feb 15, 1950)
Times Square, Broadway at 47th St. (Jan 17, 1954)
34th St. at Madison Avenue (Jan 17, 1954) [41 E 34th St.]
131 W. 21st St. Between 6th & 7th Ave. (Jan 17, 1954)
292 East Kingsbridge Rd off Fordham Road (Jan 17, 1954)
895 Flatbush Ave. Off Church Ave (Jan 17, 1954)
153-25 Jamaica Ave. Near Parsons Blvd (Jan 17, 1954)
67 Fulton Ave. On Hempstead Turnpike (Jan 17, 1954)
8th Ave at 36th St. (Sep 19, 1954)
325 E. Fordham Road at Kingsbridge Road (Sep 19, 1954)
149th St. at 3rd Ave
255 Main St. At Post Road (Dec 5, 1955)
1646 Pitkin Avenue. Corner of Bristol Street (Aug 24, 1958)
490 Fulton St. Opposite RKO Albee (Oct , 1959)
43 W. 23rd St "The Castro Building"
There are also bunches of places where Castro Convertibles shows up in classified ads. They're a pain to find because where there is usually OCR and you can run a search, the ones I pulled up didn't have OCR done. But I did find one specific instance of a secretarial position & uploaded the image - Clerk Typist, $50. (Jan 13, 1954). A similar listing appears on Sep 13, 1953. 131 W 21st Street is the address listed.
So I couldn't find any evidence that any Castro properties were ever in the Flatiron building. Could have been though. If you get any more information or specifics, please share them! Good luck!
Side note - I found an August 31, 1950 listing for space in the flatiron building - "5th Ave, 175 (23D) Flatiron bldg. Desirable Desk Space, Telephone & Mail Service. Room 1708. Oregon 7-6868."
posted by cashman at 5:15 PM on January 29, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by sciencegeek at 6:36 AM on January 29, 2011