The History of 135 Hudson

"In 1882, few of the once-grand houses that had graced the former St. John’s Park neighborhood still stood. The elegant park had been replaced in the 1860s by the Hudson River Railroad Company’s freight terminal. Wealthy homeowners abandoned their Federal-style brick mansions, which in turn were rapidly converted for business or razed for hulking warehouse buildings. No. 135 Hudson Street was an exception. ... Basically Romanesque Revival, the severe composition smacked of a medieval fortress—or prison. Gaping arches—one on the narrow Hudson Street façade and seven along Beach Street—were separated by rounded brick piers. The architects used the rounded shape not so much to add visual interest; but to eliminate the sharp corners which would be easily broken off by the in-and-out traffic of freight wagons. Iron tie rods, which elsewhere in the city added ornament by being cast as stars, starfish, or curlicues, here had the straightforward appearance of giant screw heads. These, like the iron anchor plates which were purposely left exposed, stressed the structural integrity of the building. ..."
Tribeca Citizen

2017 July: Seeking New York: The Stories Behind the Historic Architecture of Manhattan, 2017 October: The History of 452 Greenwich Street, 2018 February: The History of 121 Chambers