Archivists are always finding treasures whenever they start processing a new collection. In the Baruch College Archives we are hosting Kristen Parrella from Queens College as an intern this semester and her project is to process materials pertaining to our newest buildings on campus. Included in the collection are pictures, and other memorabilia that can help tell the story of what the blocks that comprise our campus were like pre-Vertical Campus.
1910 Sanborn map depicting future Baruch campus. NYPL Digital Collections
The Vertical Campus comprises the blocks from Lexington to Third Avenue on 24th and 25th Streets. The building that was the former home to the library and administrative offices was at 155 East 24th Street. This building has an interesting history being located in what was known as Old Stable Row in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. 24th Street east of Madison Square housed saddlers, blacksmiths, and horse doctors. At 155 East 24th Street the firm Fiss & Doerr & Carroll built a seven story stable and a one story auction mart at 147 East 24th Street, both completed in 1907. In 1913, Fiss, Doerr & Carroll built 139 East 24th Street, a version of the original auction mart. The firm also took over another stable at 145 East 24th Street built by another owner. This complex of buildings was the last of equine architecture built in New York as automobiles began replacing horses.
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- An 1897 map-poster for the Fiss, Doerr & Carroll Horse Company. Cornell University Library
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- Fiss, Doerr & Carroll Auction Mart, future site of Newman Vertical Campus. From the Baruch College Archives.
However, this isn’t the end of the story of 155 East 24th Street. In 1928 RCA Records Studios acquired the building where they opened two recording studios on the ground floor, known as studios A and B. Elvis Presley recorded the hit “Hound Dog” in one of these studios and Harry Belafonte, and Perry Como also recorded there.
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- 155 East 24th Street, 1971 Baruch College Archives
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- 155 East 24th Street, former home of RCA Studios. From the Baruch College Archives
In 1969 Baruch College took over 155 East 24th Street, but in 1998 it was demolished to make room for the Vertical Campus.
Newman Vertical Campus construction site. From the Baruch College Archives.
Bibliography:
Christopher Gray, “Streetscapes: Fiss, Doerr & Carroll Auction Mart; Who Holds the Reins on Fate of a 1907 Horse-Auction Mart? New York Times, Nov. 8, 1987, section 8, p. 14.
Site A & B Collections. Baruch College Archives.
New York Public Library Digital Collections.