Nipper Building

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Building 17, RCA Victor Company, Camden Plant
RCA Nipper Camden NJ A.JPG
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Location1 Market Street, Camden, New Jersey
Coordinates 39°56′50″N75°07′38″W / 39.947284°N 75.127091°W / 39.947284; -75.127091
Area3.7 acres (1.5 ha)
Built1909
ArchitectBallinger & Perrot
Architectural styleClassical Revival
NRHP reference No. 02001253 [1]
NJRHP No.3033 [2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 4, 2002
Designated NJRHPSeptember 18, 2002

The Nipper Building is a colloquial name for The Victor condominiums, and formerly, Building 17, RCA Victor Company, Camden Plant. The structure is a historical building located in Cooper Grant neighborhood of Camden, Camden County, New Jersey, United States. Since 1901, Camden was the headquarters of the Victor Talking Machine Company, later RCA Victor. Originally a Victrola cabinet factory, the building was converted into luxury apartments and retail space in 2004. [3]

Contents

History

The Nipper Building, now known as 'The Victor', was originally constructed during 1909-1916, by the architectural and engineering firm of Ballinger & Perrot. [4]

Stained glass window in the building's tower featuring Nipper. RCA Nipper Camden NJ B.JPG
Stained glass window in the building's tower featuring Nipper.

Francis Barraud, an unknown British artist, painted a picture of his brother's dog, "Nipper", sitting attentively in front of a gramophone. Nipper, a mixed-breed dog with probable terrier ancestry, became the best known dog in the world. The painting, called His Master's Voice , was sold to the British Gramophone Company Ltd. and eventually became the trademarks of both the Gramophone Company and its new American affiliate, the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901. In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America purchased the Victor Company and the acquisition included the Camden manufacturing plant and the "His Master's Voice" trademark. [5] The four stained glass windows in the buildings tower depicting the "His Master's Voice" trademark were manufactured by D'Ascenzo Studios in Philadelphia and originally installed in 1915. The windows were illuminated at night and could be seen for several miles. In 1968, RCA introduced a new corporate logo and virtually retired both the "Victor" and Nipper trademarks. The windows were removed from the tower in 1969 and replaced with RCA's new logo painted on large sheets of plywood. Beginning in 1976, in response to public demand, RCA revived the "His Master's Voice" trademark and reinstated it to RCA record labels and other products. Nipper again was widely used in RCA advertising, company stationery, shipping cartons, store displays and repainted on RCA delivery and service vehicles. Several newspaper articles and news reports about Nipper's return, appeared at the time. April 10, 1979 was proclaimed "Nipper Day" in New Jersey by Governor Brendan Byrne, and RCA held a ceremony in Camden dedicating four new stained glass windows, identical to the originals, which had been reinstalled in the tower of building 17. These windows were damaged by vandals and neglect after General Electric, which had absorbed RCA in 1986, vacated the building in 1992. The broken windows were replaced in 2003 after the building was acquired by Dranoff Properties and converted into loft apartments and retail shops.

During the 1970s and 1980s, some parts of the Nipper Building were used by the RCA Government Communications Systems Division, for the development of computer systems for the U.S. intelligence community.

The Nipper Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [3]

The Victor

After GE vacated the Nipper Building in 1992, it deteriorated, was vandalized and became a general eyesore to the surrounding neighborhood and was in danger of demolition. All but a few of the dozens of other old RCA Victor buildings at the Camden site had already been razed. In 1997, the building was listed on Preservation New Jersey's Ten Most Endangered sites list. [6]

Utilizing the Investment Tax Credit, the structure was converted into a complex featuring a mix of 341 upscale loft apartments with outstanding views of the Philadelphia skyline. The restoration was completed in August 2003 at a cost of $65 million. [7] under the guidance of BLT Architects. [8] Approximately 80% of the project's funding came from private sources, namely through Dranoff Properties, Fleet Bank and Related Capital. Remaining funding came from various public sources including the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, the New Jersey Redevelopment Authority and the Delaware River Port Authority. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Company. In 1932, RCA became an independent company after the partners were required to divest their ownership as part of the settlement of a government antitrust suit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">His Master's Voice</span> Painting, British record label, and international trademark

His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a dog named Nipper listening to a wind-up disc gramophone and tilting his head. In the original, unmodified 1898 painting, the dog was listening to a cylinder phonograph. The painting was also famously used as the trademark and logo of the Victor Talking Machine Company, later known as RCA Victor. The painting was originally offered to James Hough, manager of Edison-Bell in London, but he declined, saying "dogs don't listen to phonographs". Barraud subsequently visited The Gramophone Co. of Maiden Lane in London where the manager William Barry Owen offered to purchase the painting if it were revised to depict their latest Improved Gramophone model. Barraud obliged, and Owen bought the painting from Barraud for £100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nipper</span> Canine mascot of HMV, RCA, and the Victor Talking Machine Company

Nipper, also known as the RCA Victor dog, was a dog from Bristol, England, who served as the model for a 1898 painting by British painter Francis Barraud titled His Master's Voice. This image became one of the world's best known trademarks, the famous dog-and-gramophone pairing that was used by several record companies and their associated company brands, including Berliner Gramophone and its various affiliates and successors, among them Berliner's German subsidiary Deutsche Grammophon; Berliner's American successor the Victor Talking Machine Co. ; Zonophone; Berliner's British affiliate the Gramophone Co. Ltd. and its successors EMI and HMV Retail Ltd.; the Gramophone Co.'s German subsidiary Electrola; and onetime Victor subsidiary the Japan Victor Company (JVC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JVC</span> Japanese international electronics corporation

JVC was a Japanese brand owned by JVCKenwood. Founded in 1927 as the Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan and later as Victor Company of Japan, Ltd., the company was best known for introducing Japan's first televisions and for developing the Video Home System (VHS) video recorder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Talking Machine Company</span> Former American record and phonograph manufacturer

The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer, incorporated in 1901. The company operated independently until it was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1929 and subsequently operated as the RCA Victor Division of the Radio Corporation of America.

RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deutsche Grammophon</span> German classical music record label

Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of labels in 1999. Deutsche Grammophon is the world's oldest surviving established record company. Presidents of the company are Frank Briegmann, Chairman and CEO Central Europe of Universal Music Group and Clemens Trautmann.

The Gramophone Company Limited , based in the United Kingdom and founded by Emil Berliner, was one of the early recording companies, the parent organisation for the His Master's Voice (HMV) label, and the European affiliate of the American Victor Talking Machine Company. Although the company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company in 1931 to form Electric and Musical Industries Limited (EMI), its name "The Gramophone Company Limited" continued in the UK into the 1970s.

Angel Records was a record label founded by EMI in 1953. It specialised in classical music, but included an occasional operetta or Broadway score. and one Peter Sellers comedy disc. The famous Recording Angel trademark was used by the Gramophone Company, EMI and its affiliated companies from 1898. The label has been inactive since 2006, when it dissolved and reassigned its active artists and catalogue while retaining its recent catalogue to sister labels EMI Classics, Virgin Classics and Manhattan Records and its musical theatre artists and catalogue to other sister label Capitol Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eldridge R. Johnson</span> American businessman and engineer

Eldridge Reeves Johnson was an American businessman and engineer who founded the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901 and built it into the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. Victor was the corporate predecessor of RCA Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Barraud</span> English painter

Francis James Barraud was an English painter. He is best known for his work His Master's Voice, one of the most famous commercial logos in the world, having inspired a music industry trademark used by corporations including EMI, HMV, RCA Victor and JVC. The image, which depicts a dog named Nipper, ear cocked as he listens to a wind-up disc gramophone helped popularize the nascent field of sound recording and brought Barraud worldwide fame. He subsequently established himself as an artist for corporate clients, spending the rest of his career producing at least two dozen copies of the painting which made his name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PSFS Building</span> Skyscraper in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The PSFS Building, now known as the Loews Philadelphia Hotel, is a skyscraper which is located in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A National Historic Landmark, the building was the first International style skyscraper constructed in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The St. James</span> Luxury residential skyscraper

The St. James is a luxury residential skyscraper in Washington Square West, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The 498 feet (152 m), 45-story high-rise stands along Walnut Street and Washington Square and is the 15th tallest building in Philadelphia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Joseph's Polish Catholic Church</span> Historic church in New Jersey, United States

St. Joseph's Polish Catholic Church is a historic Roman Catholic church at 1010 Liberty Street in Camden, Camden County, New Jersey, United States. It is one of two churches in Camden named St. Joseph. The other is St. Joseph Pro-Cathedral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cooper Library in Johnson Park</span> United States historic place

Cooper Library in Johnson Park is located in the Cooper Grant section of Camden, Camden County, New Jersey, United States. It was built in 1916 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 11, 1980, for its significance in architecture, art, education, and sculpture. It is part of Rutgers University–Camden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Linograph Company Building</span> United States historic place

The Linograph Company Building, also known as the Englehart Manufacturing Company Building and RiverWalk Lofts , is a historic building located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties and on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graham Alexander (musician)</span> American singer-songwriter

Graham Alexander is an American singer-songwriter, entertainer, and entrepreneur known best for his solo music career and for his roles in the Broadway shows Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles and Let It Be and as the entrepreneur who founded a new incarnation of the Victor Talking Machine Co. in Camden, N.J.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicola D'Ascenzo</span> Stained glass artist (1871–1954)

Nicola D'Ascenzo was an Italian-born American stained glass designer, painter and instructor. He is best known for creating stained glass windows for the Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; the Nipper Building in Camden, New Jersey; the Loyola Alumni Chapel of Our Lady at Loyola University Maryland; the Folger Shakespeare Library and Washington National Cathedral, both in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musée des ondes Emile Berliner</span> Museum located in Montreal, Canada

The Musée des ondes Emile Berliner is a technical history museum featuring displays related to the development of music recording and broadcasting and subsequent industries, located in the historic factory of the Berliner Gram-o-phone Company in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. To celebrate the Centennial of Broadcasting in Canada, the museum received a Governor General History Award in 2020.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places - Camden County" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection - Historic Preservation Office. January 10, 2010. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 4, 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  3. 1 2 "Landmark living on the Camden Waterfront" . Retrieved July 18, 2010.
  4. "RCA Victor Company, "Nipper Building" Rehabilitation". June 17, 2009. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
  5. "About RCA - Nipper and Chipper" . Retrieved July 18, 2010.
  6. "10 Most Endangered Historic Sites in New Jersey Archive" . Retrieved July 18, 2010.
  7. 1 2 "2004 Preservation Awards Presented in State House Ceremony" . Retrieved July 18, 2010.
  8. "The Victor, Camden | 129743 | EMPORIS". Archived from the original on March 7, 2016.