Emery Roth

Emery Roth (Hungarian: Róth Imre, July 17, 1871[1] – August 20, 1948) was an American architect of Hungarian-Jewish descent who designed many New York City hotels and apartment buildings of the 1920s and 1930s, incorporating Beaux-Arts and Art Deco details. His sons continued in the family enterprise, largely expanding the firm under the name Emery Roth & Sons.

Emery Roth
BornJuly 17, 1871
Gálszécs, Austria-Hungary, (now Sečovce, Slovakia)
DiedAugust 20, 1948 (aged 77)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Citizenship
OccupationArchitect
Notable workHotel Belleclaire (1903)
Ritz Tower (1925)
The El Dorado (1929–31)
The San Remo (1930)
The Ardsley (1931)
2 Sutton Place South (1938)
300 East 57th Street (1947)
SpouseElla Grosman
Children4 including Julian

Life and career
This World Columbian Exposition pavilion, designed by the young Roth alone, housed a temporary shop for the Menier Chocolate Company. Its design is a direct quotation of the ancient Roman Temple of Vesta, a visual trope that would later cap some of his most famous skyscrapers.[2]

Born in Gálszécs, Austria-Hungary (now Sečovce, Slovakia) to a Jewish family, Roth emigrated to the United States at the age of 13 after his family fell into poverty upon his father's death. He began his architectural apprenticeship as a draftsman in the Chicago offices of Burnham & Root, working on the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. Roth also designed one of his first solo projects at the Exposition: a pavilion that housed a chocolatier.[2]

At the Exposition, Roth met Richard Morris Hunt, who was impressed with his skills and invited Roth to work in his office in New York. Following Hunt's premature death in 1895, Roth moved to the office of Ogden Codman Jr., a designer and decorator with a Newport, Rhode Island, clientele. In the interwar years, the firm of Emery Roth delivered some of the most influential examples of architecture for apartment houses in the at-the-time fashionable Beaux Arts style, especially in Manhattan.[3]

Many of his most notable projects are located on the Upper West Side, specifically Central Park West which is home to the San Remo, the Beresford, the Ardsley, and others. In 1938, Roth included his sons Julian and Richard as partners.

Buildings designed
The Beresford
The El Dorado
The mark of Emery Roth's architecture firm
Building Year Location Notes
The Saxony 1899-1900 250 West 82nd Street
Hotel Belleclaire 1903 250 West 77th Street (aka 1271–1277 Broadway)
The Adath Jeshurun of Jassy synagogue 1903 58 Rivington Street
Whitestone 1909 45 Tiemann Place Builder Charter Construction Co.
601 West End Avenue 1915 601 West End Avenue
The First Hungarian Reformed Church 1915 346 East 69th Street
1000 Park Avenue[4] 1916 Park Avenue and East 84th Street
570 Park Avenue 1916 Park Avenue and East 63rd Street
151 East 80th Street 1922 151 East 80th Street
The Whitby 1924 325 West 45th Street
The Gilford 1924 140 East 46th Street
110 West 86th Street 1924 110 West 86th Street
Chester Court[5][6] 1924 201 West 89th Street
243 West End Avenue 1925 243 West End Avenue (Manhattan)
Mayflower Hotel 1925 15 Central Park West demolished in 2004
221 West 82nd Street 1925 221 West 82nd Street
930 Fifth Avenue 1940 930 Fifth Avenue
Ritz Tower 1925 465 Park Avenue (101 East 57th)[7] With Thomas Hastings. New York's first residential skyscraper introduced terraces at the setback levels.
41 West 96th Street 1926 41 West 96th Street
65 Central Park West 1926 65 Central Park West; Lincoln Square
The Alden 1927 225 Central Park West; Upper West Side
The Oliver Cromwell 1927 12 West 72nd Street
Warwick Hotel 1927 65 West 54th Street
Hotel Benjamin 1927 125 East 50th Street
Hotel Carteret 1927 208 West 23rd Street
580 West End Avenue 1928 580 West End Avenue[8]
Manchester House 1928 145 West 79th Street
The Belvoir 1928 470 West End Avenue
The El Dorado 1929–1931 300 Central Park West / Central Park West Historic District
The Beresford 1929 211 Central Park West
15 West 81st Street 1929 15 West 81st Street
300 West 23rd Street 1929 300 West 23rd Street
35 Prospect Park West 1929 Prospect Park; Brooklyn
Hotel St. George 1930 100 Henry Street, Brooklyn Heights
Hotel St. Moritz 1930 50 Central Park South
993 Fifth Avenue 1930 993 Fifth Avenue
784 Park Avenue 1930 784 Park Avenue
The San Remo 1930 145 and 146 Central Park West The first of the twin-towered residential skyscrapers.
The Ardsley 1931 320 Central Park West Roth's outstanding Art Deco residential skyscraper.
275 Central Park West 1930–1931 275 Central Park West
299 West 12th Street 1931 299 West 12th Street
140 East 28th Street 1932 140 East 28th Street
888 Grand Concourse 1937 888 Grand Concourse
880 Fifth Avenue 1948 880 Fifth Avenue
2 Sutton Place South 1938 2 Sutton Place South
41 West 96th Street 1925 41 West 96th Street
310 West End Avenue 1927 310 West End Avenue
The Normandy 1938 140 Riverside Drive Last of the twin-towered residences, and Roth's choice for his retirement apartment.
[Shenandoah Apartments] 1929 10 Sheridan Square
The Grasmoor House 1940 2370-2380 Madison Road, Cincinnati Ohio An amazing 55 unit Art Deco residential condominium.

Emery Roth & Sons

Despite the fact that Roth's sons, Julian and Richard, had joined the firm many years earlier, it was not until 1947 that the firm's name was changed to Emery Roth & Sons, approximately one year before Roth's death.[9]: 50  Julian (1901–1992) specialized in construction costs and building materials and technology, while Richard (1904–1987) was named the firm's principal architect.[9]: 51 

In the 1950s and 1960s Emery Roth & Sons became the most influential architectural firm in New York and contributed substantially in changing the appearance of Midtown and Lower Manhattan. In that particular period of time Emery Roth & Sons designed dozens of speculative office buildings, mostly with curtain wall facades, which soon became a ubiquitous feature of the city.[9]: 51 

Beginning in the mid-1960s, the firm was also hired as associate architects in large-scale projects like the Pan Am Building (1963), the World Trade Center (1966–1973) and the Citicorp Center (1977). In the early 1960s, Richard Roth's son, Richard Roth, Jr. (b. 1933) became the third generation to join the firm, eventually rising to chief architect CEO and shareholder.[10]

As the firm expanded and diversified over six decades, it remained a family business through the 1990s. In 1988 Richard Roth Jr's daughter Robyn Roth-Moise joined the firm as comptroller. Richard Roth Jr's son Richard Lee Roth joined the firm in 1982 and became the chief specification writer for Emery Roth & Sons. Both retired from the firm when Richard Roth Jr retired and was replaced as the company's CEO in 1993 by Robert Sobel, Roth's cousin.[11]

Only three years later, in 1996, the firm ceased to operate, apparently because of financial distress.[12] Emery's great-grandson Richard Lee Roth currently works in the architectural profession and resides in South Florida.

The extensive architectural records and papers of both Emery Roth and Emery Roth & Sons are now held in the Department of Drawings & Archives at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University.

Work by Emery Roth & Sons
The Look Building (1949)
The Bronx High School of Science (1959)
The MetLife Building (1963)
The General Motors Building (1968)
The Uris Building (1970), now known as Paramount Plaza
Citigroup Center (1977)
7 World Trade Center (1987–2001)
  • 300 East 57th Street (1947)
  • Paris Theater & Office Building (1948)
  • 715 Park Avenue (1949)
  • 945 Fifth Avenue Apartments (1949)
  • Look Building, 488 Madison Avenue (1949)
  • 40 Park Avenue (1950)
  • 45 East End Avenue Apartments (1950)
  • 85 East End Avenue, NE corner of E83rd St (1950)
  • 575 Madison Avenue (1950)
  • 2 Fifth Avenue (1952)
  • 380 Madison Avenue (1953)
  • 30 Park Avenue (1954)
  • 555 Fifth Avenue (1954)
  • 589 Fifth Avenue (1954)
  • National Distillers Building (1954)
  • 430 Park Avenue (Renovation) (1954)
  • Baruch Houses (1954–1959)
  • 460 Park Avenue (1955)
  • Bank of Montreal Building (1955)
  • Colgate-Palmolive Building (1955)
  • Davies Building (1955)
  • 156 William Street (1956)
  • 415 Madison Avenue (1956)
  • 485 Lexington Avenue (1956)
  • 1430 Broadway (1956)
  • 123 William Street (1957)
  • 630 Third Avenue (1958)
  • 750 Third Avenue (1958)
  • 400 Madison Avenue (1958)
  • General Reinsurance Building (1958)
  • 100 Church Street (1958)
  • 166 East 63rd Street (Beekman Town House) (1959)
  • 2 Broadway (1959)
  • 10 Lafayette Square (Buffalo, New York) (1959)
  • 355 Lexington Avenue (1959)
  • Bronx High School of Science (1959)
  • Harriman National Bank Building (1959)
  • Lorillard Building (1959)
  • East Ohio Building (Cleveland, Ohio) (1959)
  • 10 East 70th Street Apartments (1960)
  • 80 Pine Street (1960)
  • Imperial House, 150 East 69th Street (1960)
  • Mutual of America Building (1960)
  • 850 Third Avenue (1961)
  • Pfizer Building (1961)
  • Diamond National Building (1961)
  • 60 Broad Street (1962)
  • 215 East 68th Apartments (1962)
  • 1180 Sixth Avenue (1962)
  • Bankers Trust Building (1962)
  • Tower East Apartments (1962)
  • Hanover Bank Building (1962)
  • 1212 Sixth Avenue (1963)
  • 250 Broadway (1963)
  • 605 Third Avenue, (f/k/a Neuberger Berman Building, originally the Burroughs Building) (1963)
  • 845 Third Avenue (1963)
  • 1290 Avenue of the Americas, the Neuberger Berman building (1963)
  • MetLife Building (Pan Am Building) (1963)
  • Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Building (1963)
  • 277 Park Avenue (1964)
  • 641 Lexington Avenue (1964)
  • Harcourt, Brace & World Building (1964)
  • Sterling Drug Company Building (90 Park Avenue) (1964)
  • 600 Madison Avenue (1965)
  • Bankers Trust Annex Building (1965)
  • Xerox Building (1965)
  • MGM Building (1965)
  • Leverett Saltonstall Building (1965)
  • Financial Times Building (1965)
  • 675 Third Avenue (1966)[13]
  • MacMillan Building (1966)
  • 299 Park Avenue (a.k.a. Westvaco Building) (1967)
  • 909 Third Avenue (1967)
  • ITT-American Building (1967)
  • General Motors Building (1968)
  • 10 Hanover Square (1969)
  • 100 Wall Street (1969)
  • 345 Park Avenue (1969)
  • 1700 Broadway (1969)
  • 1345 Avenue of the Americas (1969)
  • Random House Building (1969)
  • Schroder Building (1969)
  • Emigrant Savings Bank Building (1969)
  • 77 Water Street (1970)
  • 1633 Broadway (Paramount Plaza) (1970)
  • 1133 Avenue of the Americas (formerly Interchem Building) (1970)
  • 22 Cortlandt Street (1971)
  • 200 Water Street (a.k.a. 127 John Street) (1971)
  • 600 Third Avenue (1971)
  • 888 Seventh Avenue (1971)
  • Capitol-EMI Building (1971)
  • Park Lane Hotel (New York) (1971)
  • J.P. Stevens Company Tower (1971)
  • One Battery Park Plaza (1971)
  • 450 Park Avenue (1972)
  • 55 Water Street (1972)
  • 747 Third Avenue (1972)
  • Harper & Row Building (1972)
  • One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (1972)
  • North American Plywood Building (1972)
  • Franklin National Bank Building (1972)
  • World Trade Center (1972–1973) with Minoru Yamasaki
  • 100 East Pratt Street Building (1973)
  • Blue Cross Building (1973)
  • Merchandise Mart Building (1973)
  • Sovereign Apartments (1973)
  • Winstar Building and Addition (1974)
  • 100 William Street (1974)
  • Citigroup Center (1977)
  • Helmsley Palace Hotel (1981)
  • Crystal Pavilion (1982)
  • 575 Fifth Avenue (1983)
  • 900 Third Avenue (1983)
  • 1155 Avenue of the Americas (1984)
  • Manhattan Tower (1985)
  • Symphony House Apartments (1986)
  • Fifth Avenue Tower (1986)
  • 7 World Trade Center (1987)
  • Ellington Apartments (1987)
  • 17 State Street (1988)
  • 1585 Broadway (1989)
  • 546 Fifth Avenue (1990)
  • Oxford Condominiums (1990)

References
  1. "Emery Roth," findagrave.com . Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  2. Ruttenbaum, Steven (1986). Mansions in the Clouds: The Skyscraper Palazzi of Emery Roth. Balsam Press. ISBN 978-0917439094.
  3. Prisco, Jacopo (February 8, 2019). "A short history of the elevator". CNN Style. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  4. Gray, Christopher (March 9, 2008). "STREETSCAPES: Park Avenue Between 83rd and 84th Street. Seven Apartment Houses in a Piazza-Like Setting". The New York Times. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  5. 201 W. 89 St. – Chester Court, Columbia University Libraries. Retrieved June 16, 2011
  6. About us, Chester Court official website. Retrieved June 16, 2011
  7. Roth, Emery; Hastings, Thomas; Brisbane, Arthur (1925), Apartment hotel north east corner Park Avenue & Fifty-seventh Street (New York, N.Y, Carrère & Hastings, OCLC 80945343, retrieved February 24, 2022
  8. https://dlc.library.columbia.edu/catalog/cul:9cnp5hqdcw; Roth, Emery (1926), 15 story apartment house NE cor West End Ave and 88th St for Morwitt Realty Corp, Morwitt Realty Corporation, Emery Roth & Sons, OCLC 82698952, retrieved February 24, 2022
  9. Stern, Robert A. M.; Mellins, Thomas; Fishman, David (1995). New York 1960: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Second World War and the Bicentennial. New York: Monacelli Press. ISBN 1-885254-02-4. OCLC 32159240. OL 1130718M.
  10. Richard Roth retires; Robert Sobel succeeds. Real Estate Weekly, September 22, 1993. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
  11. Richard Roth retires; Robert Sobel succeeds. Real Estate Weekly, September 22, 1993. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
  12. Emery Roth & Sons architectural records and papers, 1906-1996 (bulk 1951-1994) at Columbia University Libraries: Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library. Retrieved June 16, 2011
  13. "675 Third Avenue". durst.org. Retrieved December 3, 2015.

Further reading
  • Steven Ruttenbaum Mansions in the Cloud: The Skyscraper Palazzi of Emery Roth (1986) ISBN 978-0-917439-09-4
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