Decker Building | |
Location | 33 Union Square West, New York, New York |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°44′12″N73°59′27″W / 40.7368°N 73.9908°W |
Built | 1893 |
Architect | John H. Edelmann |
Architectural style | Late 19th and early 20th century American movements |
NRHP reference No. | 03001179 [1] |
NYCL No. | 1538 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | November 21, 2003 |
Designated NYCL | July 12, 1988 |
The Decker Building (also the Union Building) is a commercial building located at 33 Union Square West in Manhattan, New York City. The structure was completed in 1892 for the Decker Brothers piano company, and designed by John H. Edelmann. [2] From 1968 to 1973, it served as the location of the artist Andy Warhol's studio, The Factory. [3] The Decker Building was designated a New York City landmark in 1988, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
The building is only 33 feet (10 m) wide and 138 feet (42 m) deep on a lot that goes back 150 feet (46 m). [4] It has a right of way to 16th Street from the rear of the building. The style of the building mixes influences from Venice and Islamic traditions. There are numerous terra cotta details on the façade which remain today. There was a minaret on the roof which disappeared before World War II.
The building was valued at $285,000 in 1913, after which it was traded to settle debts. [5]
The structure was built in 1892 for the Decker Brothers piano company according to designs by the radical anarchist architect John H. Edelmann, working out of the offices of Alfred Zucker. It replaced the earlier Decker Building on the same lot, designed by Leopold Eidlitz and built in 1869. [2]
On November 25, 1950, 27 year old Abraham Yeager was killed when a one-ton piece of cornice from the Decker Building collapsed onto the sidewalk where Yeager was walking. [6]
In 1967, artist Andy Warhol had to move his Factory from East 47th Street after the previous building was torn down. Union Square at the time was a rundown neighborhood, but Paul Morrissey had found the loft, in the Decker Building, and Warhol agreed to move there. Morrissey by then had met Jed Johnson and hired him to help out with the refinishing of the space. It was around this time, or just prior, that Morrissey introduced him to Warhol. [7]
On June 3, 1968, Valerie Solanas visited the Factory to look for Warhol, who she felt was taking control of her screenplay away from her. She then shot Warhol three times, seriously wounding him, as well as art critic and curator Mario Amaya. [8] [3] Around 1970, Warhol built a video camera system and taped his visitors and documented the activities around the studio. [9]
In 1973, Warhol moved the Factory to 860 Broadway, a short distance away, and created the Warhol Time Capsules while packing up. [10]
The building was completely refurbished into apartments by Joseph Pell Lombardi in 1995. [11] In 2015, Dylan's Candy Bar opened a ground-floor storefront in the building, [12] which closed in 2021. [13]
Andy Warhol was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol is considered one of the most important American artists of the second half of the 20th century. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, advertising, and celebrity culture that flourished by the 1960s, and span a variety of media, including painting, silkscreening, photography, film, and sculpture. Some of his best-known works include the silkscreen paintings Campbell's Soup Cans (1962) and Marilyn Diptych (1962), the experimental films Empire (1964) and Chelsea Girls (1966), and the multimedia events known as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable (1966–67).
Paul Morrissey is an American film director, best known for his association with Andy Warhol. He was also director of Trash (1970), the first film in which a transgender actress, Holly Woodlawn, starred as a girlfriend of a main character.
I Shot Andy Warhol is a 1996 biographical drama film about the life of Valerie Solanas and her relationship with the artist Andy Warhol. The film marked the feature film directorial debut of Canadian director Mary Harron. The film stars Lili Taylor as Valerie, Jared Harris as Andy Warhol, and Martha Plimpton as Valerie's friend Stevie. Stephen Dorff plays Warhol superstar Candy Darling. John Cale of The Velvet Underground wrote the film's score despite protests from former band member Lou Reed. Yo La Tengo plays an anonymous band that is somewhat reminiscent of the group.
Edith Minturn Sedgwick Post was an American actress, model, and socialite, who was one of Andy Warhol's superstars, starring in several of his short films during the 1960s. Her prominence led to her being dubbed an "It Girl", while Vogue magazine named her a "Youthquaker".
Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by the pop artist Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life, epitomizing his dictum, "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes". Warhol would simply film them, and declare them "superstars".
Union Square is a historic intersection and surrounding neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City, United States, located where Broadway and the former Bowery Road – now Fourth Avenue – came together in the early 19th century. Its name denotes that "here was the union of the two principal thoroughfares of the island". The current Union Square Park is bounded by 14th Street on the south, 17th Street on the north, and Union Square West and Union Square East to the west and east respectively. 17th Street links together Broadway and Park Avenue South on the north end of the park, while Union Square East connects Park Avenue South to Fourth Avenue and the continuation of Broadway on the park's south side. The park is maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
The Factory was Andy Warhol's studio in New York City, which had four locations between 1963 and 1987. The Factory became famed for its parties in the 1960s. It was the hip hangout spot for artists, musicians, celebrities and Warhol's superstars. The original Factory was often referred to as the Silver Factory. In the studio, Warhol's workers would make silkscreens and lithographs under his direction.
Flesh is a 1968 American film directed by Paul Morrissey and starring Joe Dallesandro as a hustler working on the streets of New York City. It highlights various Warhol superstars, in addition to being the film debuts of both Jackie Curtis and Candy Darling. Also appearing are Geraldine Smith as Joe's wife and Patti D'Arbanville as her lover.
Women in Revolt is a 1971 American satirical film produced by Andy Warhol and directed by Paul Morrissey. It was initially released as Andy Warhol's Women. The film stars Jackie Curtis, Candy Darling, and Holly Woodlawn, three trans women and superstars of Warhol's Factory scene. It also features soundtrack music by John Cale.
Lonesome Cowboys is a 1968 American Western film directed by Andy Warhol and written and produced by Paul Morrissey. The film is a satire of Hollywood Westerns, and was initially screened in November 1968 at the San Francisco International Film Festival, where it won the Best Film Award. On May 5, 1969, it was shown for initial viewings at the New Andy Warhol Garrick Theatre in New York City.
John H. Edelmann (1852–1900) was a socialist-anarchist who worked as an architect in the office of Alfred Zucker, a successful commercial architect of the 1880s and 1890s in New York City. As an architect, Edelmann's sole surviving monument is the former headquarters of the Decker Brothers Piano Company, the Decker Building (1893), at 33 Union Square West, New York. Louis Sullivan was influenced by his work with Edelmann and credits Edelmann's concept of "suppressed function" with the inspiration for his maxim, "Form follows function," a watchword of Modernism.
Jed Johnson was an American interior designer and film director. TheNew York Times hailed Johnson as "one of the most celebrated interior designers of our time."
L'Amour, also known as Andy Warhol's L'Amour, is a 1972 underground film written by Paul Morrissey and Andy Warhol and directed by Morrissey and Warhol. The film stars Donna Jordan, Michael Sklar, Jane Forth, and Max Delys.
Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling, Andy Warhol Superstar is a 2010 feature-length documentary film about Candy Darling, pioneering trans woman, actress and Andy Warhol superstar. The film was written and directed by James Rasin and features Chloë Sevigny as "the voice of Candy Darling", reading from Candy's private diaries and letters. Patton Oswalt voices Andy Warhol and Truman Capote. It also features interviews with Factory regulars such as Paul Morrissey, Vincent Fremont, Bob Colacello, Gerard Malanga, Pat Hackett, George Abagnalo, and Fran Lebowitz as well as an archival interview with playwright Tennessee Williams. Louis Durra composed the score.
Four Stars is a 1967 avant-garde film by Andy Warhol, consisting of 25 hours of film. In typical Warhol fashion of the period, each reel of the film is 35 minutes long, or 1200 ft. in length, and is shot in sync-sound.
The Bank of the Metropolis was a bank in New York City that operated between 1871 and 1918. The bank was originally located at several addresses around Union Square in Manhattan before finally moving to 31 Union Square West, a 16-story Renaissance Revival building designed by Bruce Price and built between 1902 and 1903.
The Andy Warhol Museum is located on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is the largest museum in North America dedicated to a single artist. The museum holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives from the Pittsburgh-born pop art icon Andy Warhol.
The Garrick Cinema was a 199-seat movie house at 152 Bleecker Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Andy Warhol debuted many of his notable films in this building in the late 1960s. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention played here nightly for 6 months in 1967.
889 Broadway, also known as the Gorham Manufacturing Company Building, is a Queen Anne style building located at Broadway and East 19th Street in the Flatiron District of Manhattan in New York City, within the Ladies' Mile Historic District. Built in 1883–1884, it was designed by Edward Hale Kendall.
Pat Hackett is an American author, screenwriter, and journalist. Hackett was a close friend and collaborator of pop artist Andy Warhol. They co-authored the books POPism: The Warhol Sixties (1980) and Andy Warhol's Party Book (1988). She also edited TheAndy Warhol Diaries (1989). Hackett was an editor for Interview magazine and she co-wrote the screenplay for the film Bad (1977).