Bell Laboratories Building (Manhattan)

Last updated
Bell Telephone Laboratories
Westbeth Complex vc.jpg
Bell Laboratories Building (Manhattan)
Location463 West Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York
Coordinates 40°44′12″N74°00′35″W / 40.73667°N 74.00972°W / 40.73667; -74.00972 Coordinates: 40°44′12″N74°00′35″W / 40.73667°N 74.00972°W / 40.73667; -74.00972
Built1896–1898
Architect Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz and others
NRHP reference No. 75001202
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMay 15, 1975 [1]
Designated NHLMay 15, 1975 [2]

463 West Street is a 13-building complex located on the block between West Street, Washington Street, Bank Street, and Bethune Street in Manhattan, New York. It was originally the home of Bell Telephone Laboratories between 1898 and 1966. For a time, it was the largest industrial research center in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and further designated as a National Historic Landmark, as Bell Telephone Laboratories. [2]

Many early technological inventions were developed here including automatic telephone panel and crossbar switches, the first experimental talking movies (1923), black-and-white and color TV, video telephones, radar, the vacuum tube, medical equipment, the development of the phonograph record [3] and the first commercial broadcasts, including the first broadcast of a baseball game and the New York Philharmonic with Arturo Toscanini conducting. It also served as the headquarters for the company from 1925 to the early 1960s, [4] after which the headquarters moved to Murray Hill, New Jersey.

The site was also the home for part of the Manhattan Project during World War II.

After two years of renovations by Richard Meier, the building was reopened in 1970 as Westbeth Artists Community for low- to middle-income artists. In addition to affordable artist housing, the complex contains a theatre, an art gallery, and a synagogue.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1975. [2] [3] The complex was listed a second time on the National Register in 2009, for its high-profile and successful example of adaptive reuse of the property.

The southern viaduct section of the West Side Line railroad passed underneath the building at first floor level. This segment remains in place but is now isolated from the rest of the former railroad viaduct, which is now the High Line elevated park.

Bell Laboratories Building in 1936 Western Electric complex NYC 1936.jpg
Bell Laboratories Building in 1936

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Financial District, Manhattan</span> Neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City

The Financial District of Lower Manhattan, also known as FiDi, is a neighborhood located on the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by the West Side Highway on the west, Chambers Street and City Hall Park on the north, Brooklyn Bridge on the northeast, the East River to the southeast, and South Ferry and the Battery on the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in New York</span>

Buildings, sites, districts, and objects in New York listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrollton Viaduct</span> Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland

The Carrollton Viaduct, located over the Gwynns Falls stream near Carroll Park in southwest Baltimore, Maryland, is the first stone masonry bridge for railroad use in the United States, built for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, founded 1827, and one of the world's oldest railroad bridges still in use for rail traffic. Construction began in 1828 and was completed in 1829. The bridge is named in honor of Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737–1832), of Maryland, known for being the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, the only Roman Catholic in the Second Continental Congress (1775–1781), and wealthiest man in the Thirteen Colonies of the time of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Viaduct</span> Railroad bridge in Maryland, US

The Thomas Viaduct spans the Patapsco River and Patapsco Valley between Relay, Maryland and Elkridge, Maryland, USA. It was commissioned by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O); built between July 4, 1833, and July 4, 1835; and named for Philip E. Thomas, the company's first president. Some claim it to be the world's oldest multiple arched stone railroad bridge. However, the Sankey Viaduct on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was opened in 1830, and finally completed in 1833.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace Church (Manhattan)</span> Church in New York, United States

Grace Church is a historic parish church in Manhattan, New York City which is part of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. The church is located at 800–804 Broadway, at the corner of East 10th Street, where Broadway bends to the south-southeast, bringing it in alignment with the avenues in Manhattan's grid. Grace Church School and the church houses—which are now used by the school—are located to the east at 86–98 Fourth Avenue between East 10th and 12th Streets. In 2021, it reported 1,038 members, average attendance of 212, and $1,034,712 in plate and pledge income.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westbeth Artists Community</span> United States historic place

Westbeth Artists Housing is a nonprofit housing and commercial complex dedicated to providing affordable living and working space for artists and arts organizations in New York City. The complex comprises the full city block bounded by West, Bethune, Washington and Bank Streets in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City; the complex is named for the streets West and Bethune.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seventh Regiment Armory</span> United States historic place

The Seventh Regiment Armory, also known as Park Avenue Armory, is a historic National Guard armory building located at 643 Park Avenue in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The building is a brick and stone structure built in 1880 and designed in the Gothic Revival style by Charles Clinton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Langham (apartment building)</span> Apartment building in Manhattan, New York

The Langham is a luxury apartment building located at 135 Central Park West on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. After the site was unused for more than 15 years, the building was constructed between 1905 and 1907. Built at a cost of US $2 million, the structure included modern amenities, such as ice accessible from every apartment. The building was designed in the French Second Empire style by architects Clinton and Russell. It was listed as a contributing property to the federal government designated Central Park West Historic District on November 9, 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel J. Tilden House</span> Historic house in Manhattan, New York

The Samuel J. Tilden House is a historic townhouse pair at 14-15 Gramercy Park South in Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1845, it was the home of Samuel J. Tilden (1814–1886), former governor of New York, a fierce opponent of the Tweed Ring and Tammany Hall, and the losing presidential candidate in the disputed 1876 election. Tilden lived in the brownstone from 1860 until his death in 1886. From 1881 to 1884, Calvert Vaux combined it with the row house next door, also built in 1845, to make the building that now stands, which has been described as "the height of Victorian Gothic in residential architecture" with Italian Renaissance style elements. Since 1906 it has been the headquarters of the National Arts Club, a private arts club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitney Museum of American Art (original building)</span> United States historic place

The Whitney Museum of American Art original building is a collection of three 1838 rowhouses located at 8–12 West 8th Street between Fifth Avenue and MacDougal Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. In 1907, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney established the Whitney Studio Gallery at 8 West 8th Street adjacent to her own MacDougal Alley studio. This, and the later Whitney Studio Club at 147 West 4th Street, were intended to provide young artists with places to meet and exhibit their works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooklyn Heights Historic District</span> Historic district in Brooklyn, New York

The Brooklyn Heights Historic District is a historic district that comprises much of the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. It was named a National Historic Landmark in January, 1965, designated a New York City Landmark in November, 1965, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in October, 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barclay–Vesey Building</span> Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

The Barclay–Vesey Building is an office and residential building at 140 West Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The 32-story building was designed in the Art Deco style by Ralph Walker of Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker, and was Walker's first major commission as well as one of the first Art Deco skyscrapers. It occupies the entire block bounded by West Street to the west, Barclay Street to the north, Vesey Street to the south, and Washington Street to the east, abutting the World Trade Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sears, Roebuck and Company Complex</span> United States historic place

The Sears, Roebuck and Company Complex is a building complex in the community area of North Lawndale in Chicago, Illinois. The complex hosted most of department-store chain Sears' mail order operations between 1906 and 1993, and it also served as Sears' corporate headquarters until 1973, when the Sears Tower was completed. Of its original 40-acre (16 ha) complex, only three buildings survive and have been adaptively rehabilitated to other uses. The complex was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, at which time it still included the 3,000,000-square-foot mail order plant, the world's largest commercial building when it was completed. That building has been demolished, its site taken up by the Homan Square redevelopment project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company Warehouse</span> United States historic place

The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company Warehouse is a historic formerly commercial building at 150 Bay Street in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Built as a warehouse for The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P) in 1900, it is the major surviving remnant of a five-building complex of the nation's first major grocery store chain. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, and now houses a mix of residences and storage facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia State Railroad Museum</span> United States historic place

The Georgia State Railroad Museum is a museum in Savannah, Georgia located at a historic Central of Georgia Railway site. It includes parts of the Central of Georgia Railway: Savannah Shops and Terminal Facilities National Historic Landmark District. The complex is considered the most complete antebellum railroad complex in the United States. The museum, located at 655 Louisville Road, is part of a historic district included in the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central of Georgia Railway Company Shop Property</span> United States historic place

Central of Georgia Railway Company Shop Property is the former administration building of the Central of Georgia Railway. The site complex includes several notable structures, including a freight house, a cotton yard with brick gates which it shares with the Central of Georgia Depot and Trainshed, and a brick viaduct leading to a junction with the line along Louisville Road west of Boundary Street and the Savannah and Ogeechee Canal. The tracks were also located next to "The Gray Building," a Greek Revival structure built in 1856, which the C&G moved their headquarters to. This building became known as "The Red Building."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Four House</span> United States historic place

The Big Four Building is a historic 19th-century building in Downtown Sacramento, California. It is now located within Old Sacramento State Historic Park and the Old Sacramento National Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Detroit</span>

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Detroit, Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Park Avenue Viaduct</span> Roadway in Manhattan, New York

The Park Avenue Viaduct, also known as the Pershing Square Viaduct, is a roadway in Manhattan in New York City. It carries vehicular traffic on Park Avenue from 40th to 46th Streets around Grand Central Terminal and the MetLife Building, then through the Helmsley Building. All three buildings lie across the north–south line of the avenue. The viaduct itself is composed of two sections: a steel viaduct with two roadways from 40th to 42nd Streets, as well as a pair of roadways between 42nd and 46th Streets. The section from 40th to 42nd Streets was designated a New York City landmark in 1980 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The street-level service roads of Park Avenue, which flank the viaduct between 40th and 42nd Streets, are called Pershing Square.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vesey Street</span> Street in Manhattan, New York

Vesey Street is a street in New York City that runs east-west in Lower Manhattan. The street is named after Rev. William Vesey (1674-1746), the first rector of nearby Trinity Church.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 "Bell Telephone Laboratories". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. 2007-09-08. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13.
  3. 1 2 James Sheire (March 5, 1975). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Bell Telephone Laboratories" (pdf). National Park Service.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ATT history