NY Architectural Terra Cotta Co. Ofc. Bldg.

The two-story red brick building with terra cotta details on Vernon Boulevard, just south of the Queensboro Bridge, is the former office of the N.Y. Architectural Terra Cotta Company. The structure, a mix of Renaissance and Tudor Revival styles, was built in 1892 (as shown on a terra cotta plaque on the curved bay of the building's front). The company was the fourth largest employer in Long Island City by 1915. The building became a NYC landmark in 1982 and was listed in the New York Register of Historic Places in 1987 for its architecture and its association with one of the most important terra cotta manufacturing firms in the northeastern U.S.

Terra cotta became a popular building material in the U.S. in the 1870s, although it was infrequently used in New York City until the early 1880s. Terra cotta architectural ornaments were manufactured in the New York Architectural Terra Cotta Company (NYATCC) complex in Queens for decades. The company used clay mainly from central and northern New Jersey as the main raw material.

The company was established in 1886 by Orlando B. Potter and his son-in-law Walter Geer and became the only terra cotta manufacturing plant in New York City. The complex began with manufacturing facilities here on the Long Island City waterfront in 1886. The company purchased nearly two acres with 200 feet of waterfront on the East River. The first superintendent was James Taylor of Chicago. The first kiln was fired on May 10th 1886, less than four months from when groundbreaking began. The company's first office was off the site at Manhattan on Park Row. The office moved to the new office building at the factory complex when it was finished in 1892. All that remains from the factory complex is the office building, located at the former entrance to the factory complex as sort of an advertisement for ways to use terra cotta on a brick structure.

The company denied admission to the inside of the buildings in the factory complex to the Sanborn Map Company folks in preparation for their first Queens map (published in 1898). The NYATCC office building had a 1-story wooden porch in 1898 attached to the south end of the building; free-standing scales were located north of the office. A rectangular wooden, 1.5-story storage building stood to the west of the office in 1898; a 1-story wooden, L-shaped structure stood along the property boundaries to the north of the scales, connecting at its northwest end to the brick factory near two kilns.

Some of the most famous buildings in New York City sport terra cotta from this factory, like Carnegie Hall and the Plaza Hotel. The company left a detailed photographic record of products in its catalogue and to use if a client later needed replacements. The photographic archive is housed at Avery Library at Columbia University. The terra cotta elements from the office building's chimneys appeared in the company catalogue.

While the company went bankrupt in the late 1920s, its successor, the Eastern Terra Cotta Company, used the building from 1931 to the mid-1940s. Eastern Terra Cotta Company was established by the last president of NYATCC, Richard Dalton. Later, Dalton used the office building for his construction company business until his death in 1968. The Dalton family sold the complex in 1968, including the office building, the six-story factory building, and a mansion from the Wallach estate that pre-dated the factory. Citicorp bought the property and demolished all the buildings except the office in the 1970s. A local grassroots effort started in the 1970s to stop Citicorp from demolishing the office building; it led to the building becoming a NYC landmark in 1982. The research for the landmark designation uncovered that the famous architect Francis Kimball designed the building. The building was purchased in 1999 by Stuart Match Suna (president of Silvercup Studios and husband of a member of the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission). Restoration was still in progress in the early 2020s, although most of the exterior appears to be finished.

Florio, Patricia. Pearson, Marjorie. Designation Report, New York Architectural Terra Cotta Works Building, LP-1304. NYC landmarks. New York, NY. New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, 1982.

Geer, Walter. Terra-Cotta in Architecture. Edition Third. New York, NY. Gazlay Brothers, 1891.

Historic Districts Council. New York Architectural Terra Cotta Works Building, Six to Celebrate: Long Island City, Queens. Accessed May 10th 2022. https://6tocelebrate.org/site/new-york-architectural-terra-cotta-works-building/.

Sanborn Map and Publishing Company, Limited. Borough of Queens. Volume One. New York, NY. Sanborn Map Co., 1898.

Young, Michelle. A Terra Cotta Beauty Sits Alone Beneath the Queensboro Bridge, untapped new york. January 1st 2021. Accessed May 10th 2022. https://untappedcities.com/2020/03/12/a-terra-cotta-beauty-sits-alone-beneath-the-queensboro-bridge/.