History and architecture
The Mechanics' and Tradesmen's Institute as we see it today is the result of two major construction campaigns resulting in a coherent and sensitive design solution which blends monumental Beaux-Arts classicism with Renaissance Revival elements and a lingering touch of stratified Richardsonian design. Originally built in 1890 for the Berkeley School for Boys, a private school, and designed by Lamb & Rich, a firm well-known for educational institutions, this four-story Renaissance Revival structure was acquired by the Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen in 1899. Major alterations which involved removing the existing top story, and building three new stories, along with wings to the rear, were carried out by the fashionable apartment house architect, Ralph Samuel Townsend, in 1903-05.
The Berkeley School for Boys, founded in 1880, was a college preparatory school which placed emphasis on military drill exercise. The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, founded in 1785, has fostered building trade education throughout its long history, offering free instruction and maintaining one of New York City's three subscription libraries.1 One of its major benefactors and members was Andrew Carnegie, the industrialist, who financed the alteration of the building.
Sources and further reading
This history comes from the Landmarks app’s historical catalog. Names and building uses may reflect the period described.