B.F. Goodrich Company Building

History and architecture

1780 Broadway was constructed in 1909 as the New York headquarters of the B. F. Goodrich Company, a leading American manufacturer of automobile tires and other rubber products. Since the late 1880s the company had operated a Manhattan office and this project coincided with the company’s reincorporation in New York State. Located in the section of midtown Manhattan that was known as “Automobile Row” during the first decades of the 20th century, Goodrich’s neighbors included the A.

T. Demarest and Peerless Motor Companies, as well as the United States Rubber Company. Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw was responsible for the building’s distinctive design and it is one of two extant works by him in New York City. Like many of the two hundred works Shaw built during his career, mostly in the Midwest, it reflects his life-long interest in blending modern and traditional architectural features. Clad with mostly red brick and limestone, the 12-story facade is distinguished by abstract, stylized ornament that suggests the influence of Elizabethan and Jacobean sources, the English Arts and Crafts movement, and the Vienna Secession.

Goodrich occupied 1780 Broadway for about eighteen years. A tire showroom was located on the ground floor and other floors contained offices and repair facilities. In addition, some space was leased to related firms in the booming automobile industry. Following the sale of the building in 1928, the number of automobile-related tenants began to decline. Although the ground floor was substantially altered by the early 1950s, the upper stories retain most of their original materials and ornament.

The B. F. Goodrich Company

By 1888, the Goodrich Hard Rubber Company had opened a New York City office, at 65 Reade Street in lower Manhattan. Based in Akron, Ohio, it was founded by Benjamin Franklin Goodrich in 1870 and grew to be one of the largest producers of rubber products, especially tires, in the world. Raised in upstate New York, Goodrich studied medicine but during the late 1860s entered the rubber industry, investing in the Hudson River Rubber Company, which operated a factory in Hastings-on-the-Hudson, as well as a Manhattan office.

Though the company struggled, when Goodrich relocated to Akron he was well-prepared to launch a similar partnership with his brother-in-law, Harvey W. Tew, named Goodrich, Tew & Company. Over the next two decades, the company grew and by the time of his death in 1888 it was one of Akron’s leading businesses. Under subsequent president George Perkins, the company flourished, manufacturing not only tires, but also golf balls, footwear, belts, hoses, tubes, and druggists’ supplies.

The company’s third president was Bertram G. Work (1868-1927), who served for two decades, from 1907 to 1927. During his first four years in this position, “sales more than doubled and returns on assets averaged about 22 percent annually.” In 1908, he convinced the board of directors to move the headquarters to New York and erect an office building in Manhattan. Both social and economic considerations shaped this decision. Not only had Work been born on Staten Island but company officers believed Goodrich would gain prestige by operating here. At this time, most crude rubber was produced in the Amazon River basin and the company depended on importers who were based in New York to deliver a reliable supply.

Over one hundred thousand people attended the annual auto show at Madison Square Garden in 1909 and the New York Times reported:

. . . Manhattan is the automobile centre of the country. This is not only because there are probably more machines in actual use here than in any other one place, but auto manufacturers all over the country, like those in other branches of industry, first seek metropolitan approval of their products.

Contemporary advertisements would promote Goodrich as a local product, claiming:

The “Great White Tread” of the Goodrich Tire is the big mileage tread of the “Great White Way” and every other street and avenue in New York.

In subsequent years, Goodrich issued 200,000 shares of stock and was able to raise more than $20 million in capital. Officers and stockholders “reaped a windfall from the recapitalization” and the number of employees swelled from 2,500 in 1907 to six thousand in 1912. Goodrich sold 1780 Broadway in 1928. After the Second World War, however, it became increasing involved with the aerospace and defense industries, exiting the tire business in 1988. Following a merger with Coltec Industries, Inc. in 1998 it became known as the Goodrich Corporation. The headquarters is currently located in Charlotte, North Carolina.