Bayard-Condict Building

History and architecture

This loft building, designed by famous Chicago architect Louis Sullivan with assistance from New York architect Lyndon P. Smith, was constructed in 1897-99 for the United Loan and Investment Company and is Sullivan’s only work in New York City. Its terra-cotta curtain wall construction was unique in New York at that time. Assisting with the design of the ornament was George Elmslie, a young architect who worked for Sullivan for a number of years, and later was a member of the firm Purcell & Elmslie. The terra cotta was manufactured by the Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Company. The building was converted from lofts to an office building above the first floor in the 1980s.

The Bayard-Condict building is the most significant commercial building utilizing skyscraper structural techniques in New York City.

Built in 1897-99 on busy commercial Bleecker Street, the building provided a new and startling contrast to the classically-inspired skyscrapers which were being constructed by New York City architects at that time. It. is the only building in New York designed by the internationally acclaimed architect, Louis Sullivan; the first American to work in a non-historic, modern architectural style. He was the first to solve the design problem of the tall building --the most significant new problem confronting architects in the late 19th century. Sullivan was a leader of the "Chicago School” of commercial architecture developed during this time which stimulated the subsequent development of 20th-century modern architecture, not only in the United States, but in Europe.