Rosario Candela

Rosario Candela
File:Rosario Candela photo.jpg
Born	(1890-03-07)March 7, 1890 Montelepre, Sicily
Died	Mount Vernon, New York
Nationality	Sicilian-American
Alma mater	Columbia University School of Architecture
Occupation	Architect
Spouse(s)	Felicia
Parent(s)	Michelle and Josephine(née Pizzurro)
Buildings	740 Park Avenue 834 Fifth Avenue One Sutton Place South

Rosario Candela (March 7, 1890 – October 3, 1953) was a Sicilian American architect who achieved renown through his apartment building designs in New York City, primarily during the boom years of the 1920s. He is credited with defining the city's characteristic terraced setbacks and signature penthouses. Over time, Candela's buildings have become some of New York's most coveted addresses. As architectural historian Cristopher Gray has written: "Rosario Candela has replaced Stanford White as the real estate brokers' name-drop of choice. Nowadays, to own a 10- to 20-room apartment in a Candela-designed building is to accede to architectural as well as social cynosure."

Rosario Candela's striking flatiron building at 47 Plaza Street West, Brooklyn, New York

Life

Early life and education

Born in Montelepre, Sicily in 1890, Candela immigrated to New York in 1906. He returned to Sicily after his arrival to study there and returned to the US in 1909. His father was Michele Candela, a plasterer, and his mother was Josephine Pizzurro. He gained admission to the Columbia University School of Architecture and graduated in 1915. Keenly aware of his talent, he went so far as to erect a velvet rope around his drafting table to prevent other students from copying his designs.

Career

After graduation, Candela worked briefly as a draftsman for the Palermo-born Italian-American architect, Gaetan Ajello. After another brief stint with the firm of Frederick Sterner, Candela set up his own practice in 1920. His first major commission was for an apartment house at West 92nd Street and Broadway. Shortly thereafter, he received his first commission for an East Side apartment at 1105 Park Avenue. During the next five years, Candela designed a number of residential buildings on the Upper West Side, primarily on West End Avenue and Riverside Drive. During this period, the West side was undergoing an intense transformation from an area of primarily single-family homes to one characterized by the apartment buildings.

Candela's greatest work would occur during the latter half of the 1920s, when he designed numerous apartment buildings on the Upper East Side, primarily on Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue, as well as at Sutton Place and other locations. In 1927 and 1928, Candela designed 19 apartment buildings, including 960 Fifth Avenue (at East 77th Street) and 720 Park Avenue (at East 70th Street). He had more commissions in 1929, but the housing boom had begun to slow prior to the stock market crash in October. Of 27 designs that year, only 12 were completed. These included 740, 770, 778 and 834 and 1040 Fifth Avenue.

The exteriors of his buildings tended to be understated, particularly in view of some of the more exuberant styles popular during the period. However, he was considered a master of design when it came to the interiors. Many apartments were constructed as duplex residences with grand entry foyers; curved, freestanding stairways; and dramatic public rooms. Some of the designs, including that of the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. triplex at 740 Park Avenue, were palatial by even the considerable standards of the day. That triplex, of more than 20,000 square feet (1,900 m²), "had, depending on who was counting, anywhere from twenty-three to thirty-seven rooms, the discrepancy caused by such questions as whether one included hallways and foyers the size of ballrooms, servants quarters, and the fourteen bathrooms".

During the Great Depression, work fell off dramatically and Candela received only sporadic commissions. While the quantity declined considerably, the quality of his designs rarely suffered. During this time, he expressed his interest in codes and ciphers, publishing two books on the topic. He continued his practice up until his death in 1953. Chesley Bonestell, first an architect, and later a noted science fiction illustrator, painted two pictures for him, one of his home and one of his son.

Cryptography

Candela began studying cryptography in 1930 after learning about the accomplishments of the Army Signal Corps in WWI. He decrypted messages originally coded in 1898 by Commandant Étienne Bazeries of the French Army. Commandant Bazeries was “one of the most brilliant cryptologists of” his era, and he developed an encryption method considered unbreakable. Candela wrote a book, The Military Cipher of Commandant Bazeries, in 1938 detailing how he broke Bazeries' code. Starting in 1941, Candela taught a class on cryptography and cryptanalytics at Hunter College in New York. At the time, the course was considered the only one of its kind offered to the public in the United States.

Bibliography

• Alpern, Andrew; Christopher Gray, preface. David Netto, foreword. The New York Apartment Houses of Rosario Candela and James Carpenter. New York: Acanthus Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-926494-20-6

Work

Buildings

All within New York City unless otherwise noted. Source: Rosario Candela listing in Emporis Buildings

Early 1900s

• 575 West End Avenue, 1914

1920s

Clayton Apartments, 1922 915 West End Avenue, 1922 1105 Park Avenue, 1923 304 West 89th Street, 1923 878 West End Avenue, 1923 522 West End Avenue, 1923 41 Fifth Avenue, 1923 320 West End Avenue, 1924 Charleton Apartments, 1924 875 West End Avenue, 1924 865 West End Avenue, 1924 755 West End Avenue, 1924 334 West 86th Street, 1924 425 Riverside Drive, 1924 240 West End Avenue, 1924 40 West 55th Street, 1924 300 West 108th Street, 1925 315 West 106th Street, 1925 Wellston Apartments (161 West 75th Street), 1925 855 Fifth Avenue, 1926 1172 Park Avenue, 1926 325 West 86th Street, 1926 800 West End Avenue, 1926 820 West End Avenue, 1926 607 West End Avenue, 1926 285 Riverside Drive, 1926 Oxford Tower (280 Riverside Drive), 1926 Berkeley Plaza Apts, 39 Plaza Street West, Brooklyn, 1926 Brazilian Court Hotel, Palm Beach, Florida, 1925 W New York - The Court, 1927

775 Park Avenue, 1927 884 Fifth Avenue, 1927 990 Fifth Avenue, 1927 - with Warren & Wetmore 960 Fifth Avenue, 1928 - with Warren & Wetmore One Sutton Place South, 1927 - with Cross and Cross The Windsor Park (100 West 58th Street), 1927 The Van Doran, 1927 230 West End Avenue, 1927 2 East 67th Street (also known as 856 5th Avenue), 1928 4 Sutton Place, 1928 25 Sutton Place, 1928 2 East 70th Street, 1928, with Walker & Gillette 8 East 96th Street, 1928 447 East 57th Street, 1928 30 Sutton Place, 1928 47 Plaza Street West, Brooklyn, 1928 Westwind Apartments, 1928 360 Central Park West (North and South Buildings), 1928 including Second Presbyterian Church, 4 West 96th Street 1 Gracie Square, 1929 - with William Lawrence Bottomley 14 Sutton Place South, 1929 1192 Park Avenue, 1929 70 East 96th Street Apartments, 1929 133 East 80th Street, 1929 720 Park Avenue, 1929 - with Cross & Cross 40 East 66 Street, 1929 40 West 67 Street, 1929 740 Park Avenue, 1929 - with Shreve & Lamb Stanhope Hotel, 1929 1040 Fifth Avenue, 1929

1930s

• 1220 Park Avenue, 1930
• 770 Park Avenue, 1930
• 1040 Fifth Avenue, 1930
• 1021 Park Avenue, 1930
• 834 Fifth Avenue, 1930
• 1500 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois, 1931
• 56 Seventh Avenue, 1931
• 778 Park Avenue, 1931
• 2 Beekman Place, 1932
• 3 Times Square (Rialto Theatre), 1935 (replaced by Reuters Building, 2001)
• Normandie Theatre (51 East 53rd Street), 1936 (demolished in the 1950s)
• 19 East 72nd Street, with Mott B. Schmidt, 1936
• Regency Park, 1937
• 955 Fifth Avenue, 1938

Outside of New York City:

• Personal Normandy Style home in Harrison, New York 1930
• Personal homes of friends in Bronxville and Tarrytown

1940s

• 44 East 67th Street, 1941
• 135 East 54th Street, 1948
• 1 East 66th Street, 1948

Twin apartments on Collins Ave. In Mount Vernon abutting the Fleetwood train station.

• 3103 Fairfield Avenue, Riverdale, The Bronx (1949)

1950s

• Montclair on the Park, St. Louis, MO, 1951
• Public School 87, NY, NY, 1953

Projects

• 960 Fifth Avenue, with Warren & Wetmore, 1929

External links

• Rosario Candela Buildings Images & Descriptions at Brick And Cornice