40°44′08″N73°59′30″W / 40.735653°N 73.991679°W /40.735653; -73.991679
TheSpingler Building (alsoSpringler Building or5 Union Square West) is an eight-storyRomanesque building at 5–9Union Square West, between14th and 15th Streets, in theUnion Square neighborhood ofManhattan,New York City. Built in 1897 byWilliam H. Hume & Son, it replaced a five-story building of the same name, which burned down in 1892. The Spingler Building occupies an L-shaped lot wrapping around15 Union Square West to the north, and is also adjacent to theLincoln Building to the south.
The site of the Spingler Building was initially part of a farm owned by Henry Spingler (or Springler).[1][2][3] Union Square was first laid out in theCommissioners' Plan of 1811, expanded in 1832, and then made into a public park in 1839.[4][5] The completion of the park led to the construction of mansions surrounding it, which were largely replaced with commercial enterprises following theAmerican Civil War.[1][5] Despite this, the Spingler and Van Buren families continued to own the land under the western side of Union Square until 1958, leasing it out to various people.[1] The Spingler Institute for Young Ladies, founded in 1843, was located at 5 Union Square West from 1848 untilc. 1861, at which point it was turned into the Spingler Hotel.[6][7][8] The hotel operated from 1864 until about 1878.[7]
By the late 1870s, technological advances in elevator technology and steel framework enabled the construction of taller office buildings.[9] The original Spingler Building, a five-story loft and commercial structure on the site of the hotel, was completed in 1878 at a cost of $115,000.[10] The Spingler Building was a L-shaped structure wrapping around theTiffany & Co. building at15 Union Square West to the northeast, with a depth of 200 feet (61 m) on Union Square West, along its eastern facade, and 70 feet (21 m) on 15th Street to the north. The structure housed theBrentano's book store.[11] At the time,The New York Times said: "the block is now occupied by uniform buildings [...] the front is of iron, imposing in appearance, and the shops and lofts are of the first class."[7][10] In 1892, the structure burned down in a fire that destroyed everything below the second floor, but only caused minor damage to its neighbors: theLincoln Building (to the south) and 15 Union Square West.[11] The charred walls of the old building remained standing for several years.[12]
On July 17, 1895, James L. Libby & Son leased 5–9 Union Square West as well as the adjacent 20 East 15th Street. The L-shaped building site covered about 14,000 square feet (1,300 m2) and was roughly the same as the old building footprint. On this site, Libby & Son planned to build an eight-storylimestone,brick, andterracotta building.[13][14] The structure was to be designed byWilliam H. Hume & Son.[15] Land clearing began four days afterward, at which pointThe New York Times reported that the structure would be completed by May 1896.[16] However, the new Spingler Building was not completed until sometime before March 1897, when Libby & Son ran advertisements in theNew-York Tribune stating that the building had the "finest stores and lightest lofts in the city".[17]
The Spingler Building was designed for multiple uses, including "stores, showrooms, manufacturing enterprises and industrial lofts," and catered in particular to Union Square's growing garment trade.[8] Among the Spingler Building's first tenants were hatters Cluett, Coon & Co. who were reported to have moved into the building in an August 1897 issue ofAmerican Hatter magazine.[18] In 1901, some of the upper-level space was leased to Mark Aronson, whose company manufactured cloaks and suits.[19] This was followed in 1906 by Henry Hart of theMetropolitan Life Insurance Company,[19] though Hart seems to have moved out the following year.[20] One of the ground-floor stores was occupied in 1910 by the Cleveland Faucet Company.[21] Besides Aronson's firm, other garment companies seem to have occupied the Spingler Building in the early 20th century,[19] including theLondon Button Company.[22] In the 1970s nylon strings guitars were also sold there, I have one, they were guitars made in Finland and sold at 5 Union Square as imports, Alfred Roldan NYC
In the late 1990s, the supply store chainStaples announced that it would open a location on Union Square West between 14th and 15th Streets, within 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) of space across two floors.[23] The store opened in February 1997[24] within the Spingler Building at 5–9 Union Square West, where it is still located.[25] Just before the store's opening, a particular point of contention was the presence of several large signs, including a lighted sign with 4-foot-tall (1.2 m) letters; four 9-foot-tall (2.7 m) vertical signs on the facade; and a bright red background behind some of the store windows. The Union Square Business Improvement District had requested that Staples reduce the size of these signs in January 1997, saying that the signs might be visually distracting.[23] TheNew York City Department of Buildings had approved and then revoked the signs' permits, but even after the permit was rescinded, Staples erected the signs anyway,[24] The dispute resulted in Staples being issued a summons for theNew York City Criminal Court, and by the end of the year, the signs had been dismantled.[26]
The Spingler Building is designed in theRomanesque style withclassical influences. Itsfacade was designed with base, shaft, and capital sections, similar to the components of acolumn. The facade of the two-story base is of limestone; the five-story shaft is made of brick with terracotta detailing; and the one-story capital is made of terracotta.[8]
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