Broadway and Grand Original Proposal 2

New York CityHistorical Significant Wells Fargo Sites

xxxx:

When I looked at the number of stores we have in Manhattan I was severely disappointed by the lack of access to Wells Fargo banks. There are only 12 stores and 7 ATM sites, and of those none are higher than the 3rd Ave. and 47th St. We have no presence up town or anywhere near Harlem. Wells Fargo also has very little presence downtown where there are neighborhood identities with history, such as Little Italy or the Battery. The majority of our sites are mid-town and research on them would be futile, redundant and expensive to find what would be significant about 8 Wells Fargo Banks within approximately 12 square blocks.

We have installed one mural in the Chelsea at 17th and 7th; of the remaining 3 stores, one is close to the history of Wells Fargo and the city of New York: Broadway and Grand in the center of SoHo.

It could be considered to install murals at:

Sixth Avenue & 45th Street – because of its proximity to Times Square, Broadway and the theatre district, it is the only site we have that is significance to the tradition of the theatre in New York which continually moved more uptown on Broadway until it stopped at what is now Times Square.

Broadway and 10th – the site would give us the chance to use more of the unique images of SoHo, however when I saw the corner, I didn’t see any good wall space, but it doesn’t exclude using window space.

Ninth Avenue and 15th Street – we already have image of the piers on the west side, which is the second bank in Chelsea, and the store is a few blocks from the Hudson River.

Broadway and Grand: The Location

Broadway and Grand is in the center of the boundaries of SoHo bordered by Houston, West Broadway, Canal Street and Lafayette Street. The cast iron buildings still stand from the mid-19 th century, and if you go a few blocks further south on Broadway, the site of where the Astor House stood at 217 Broadway across the street from St. Paul’s Church, which still stands, is the site where Henry Wells and William Fargo signed the documents that created our bank on March 18, 1852.

of 5


Other buildings or and businesses original or significant I’ve found, so far, are:

The Astor House was torn down in 1913; however there are good images, like the one above. The former Astor House site is close to the World Trade Center and would give us the

opportunity to include historic NYFD Images from the 19th c., recognizing the World Trade Center Memorial and the continued service of Firemen in the city of New York.

Little Italy, Chinatown, Canal Street (once a canal), can be included in the mural for their immediate proximity, for example Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral is the north boundary for Little Italy on the border of SoHo. The demographics and neighborhood identities can be connected to Broadway and Grand because of its central Location.

Having walked for most of a day in SoHo recently, the neighborhoods are full of cast iron fronts, however it is the Cast Iron Buildings still standing and of signifance:

The Little Singer Building, 551 Broadway, constructed 1902. The E.V Haughwout Building, 488 Broadway, constructed 1857. Once a grand emporium of

domestic treasures, it was the first retail store in America to have an elevator, built and installed by Otis elevators.

The Gunther Building, corner of Broome and Greene Streets, was a store for furs, including men, and the Gunther’s had ties to John Jacob Astor.

of 5

What is now SoHo was the center of commercial New York, and Tiffany’s opened their first store at 550 Broadway with the iconic clock above the door held in place by Atlas. The working foundry for all the silver and house wares were forged around the corner 54-55 Prince Street, and both building still exist. The statue of Atlas is still used at the Tiffany’s on 5th.


Lord and Taylor had its second store located on the corner of Broadway and Grand (our present store site) in 1861; of the innovations that Lord and Taylor created was the first displays of the Christmas Window. More research could prove it was on that corner those displays were created.

Broadway and Grand: Images in our Library

Because we had pulled Broadway and Grand from the schedule we did not complete our collection, or our research for the innovations that happened at or near that corner in SoHo in the 19th c. We do have two images with the signed General User Agreements:

of 5

Niblo’s Theatre, Broadway near Prince St. (around the corner from our present store). The theatre lasted in several incarnations from 1834 until 1872, and was the first theatre to produce the modern American musical, The Black Crook, in 1866.


Broadway and Grand: Images in our Library

of 5

A broadside for D.D. Badger & Others, Proprietors, Architectural Iron Works, located in Alphabet City, and produced many of the facades that still exist in SoHo.

Because Otis Elevator was the first elevator to carry passengers in the Haughwout emporium, we obtained a broadside for Otis Elevators from the Elevator Museum.


Broadway and Grand: Additional Images

For the final project, and we would have to work with established trademarks and companies which we had success in the past, it would be to our advantage to include as many resources in the community so each resource could have a stake in their own history.

Broadway and Grand: Mural Size

Although I wasn’t able to take picture of the store at Broadway and Grand, I was able to guess-timate the size of the available space. Aside from the windows there is an L-shaped soffit above teller’s line that is approximately 6’X20’ and 6’X20’, and a space of 6’X10 over the interior ATM’s facing the street. The window are very tall so additional space could be created by suspending panels, and we would have the material and images.

of 5

Broadway and Grand Original Proposal 2

Documents

Transcript of Broadway and Grand Original Proposal 2