DESIGNATION REPORT 49 West 28th Street Building, Tin Pan Alley Landmarks Preservation Designation Report Designation List 516 Commission 49 West 28th Street LP-2627 December 10, 2019

DESIGNATION REPORT 49 West 28th Street Building, Tin Pan Alley LOCATION Borough of Manhattan 49 West 28th Street LANDMARK TYPE Individual SIGNIFICANCE Built c.1852 as an Italianate-style row house, 49 West 28th Street was the site of numerous musicians’ and sheet music publishers’ offices in the 1890s-1900s, part of a block known as “Tin Pan Alley.” Landmarks Preservation Designation Report Designation List 516 Commission 49 West 28th Street LP-2627 December 10, 2019

47, 49, 51, 53, and 55 West 28th Street, December 2019 LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION COMMISSIONERS Lisa Kersavage, Executive Director Sarah Carroll, Chair Mark Silberman, General Counsel Frederick Bland, Vice Chair Timothy Frye, Director of Special Projects and Diana Chapin Strategic Planning Wellington Chen Kate Lemos McHale, Director of Research Michael Devonshire Cory Herrala, Director of Preservation Michael Goldblum John Gustafsson Anne Holford-Smith REPORT BY Everardo Jefferson Sarah Moses, Research Department Jeanne Lutfy Adi Shamir-Baron EDITED BY Kate Lemos McHale PHOTOGRAPHS BY Sarah Moses Landmarks Preservation Designation Report Designation List 516 Commission 49 West 28th Street LP-2627 December 10, 2019 3 of 48

Table of Contents 5 Testimony at the Public Hearing 6 Editorial Note 8 Summary 10 Building Description 11 History and Significance of Tin Pan Alley 11 Early Site History and Development of Madison Square 11 Entertainment Districts and Tin Pan Alley 14 The Experience of Tin Pan Alley 16 Music of Tin Pan Alley 18 Tin Pan Alley and the Promotion and Consumption of American Popular Music 21 Jewish and African-American Songwriters and Publishers of Tin Pan Alley 24 Caricatures and Stereotypes in American Popular Music of the Post-Reconstruction Era 25 West 28th Street’s Flower District 25 Later Usage of the Term “Tin Pan Alley” 28 Building History: 49 West 28th Street 31 Endnotes 41 Findings and Designation 45 Appendix: Musicians, Publishers, and Entertainers of 47-55 West 28th Street, 1893-c.1910 48 Map Illustrations 12 “That Fairyland of Theaters and Gaudy Palaces Which is Broadway,” William Glackens, 1900 14 “This is ‘Tin Pan Alley’—You Can Tell by the Sounds,” Carlo de Fornaro, 1903 15 “They Flock from Tin Pan Alley,” H. Harmony, 1905 16 “In Twenty-Eight Street,” “In the Exclusive Music-Room Sits the Singer, Critically Listening,” and “A Rehearsal in the Private Room,” William Glackens, 1900 21 “Ain’t You Got a Nice Duet for Two Ladies?” J. C. Chase, 1908 26 “51 W. 28 St. Store 1920,” Source Unknown 42 49 West 28th Street, Municipal Archives, c. 1938-43 43-44 Landmarks Preservation Commission Images, 2019 Landmarks Preservation Designation Report Designation List 516 Commission 49 West 28th Street LP-2627 December 10, 2019 4 of 48

49 West 28th Street Building, Johnson, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, New York State Assembly Member Richard Tin Pan Alley Gottfried, Historic Districts Council, New York 49 West 28th Street, Manhattan Landmarks Conservancy, Society for the Architecture of the City, 29th Street Neighborhood Association, Village Preservation, Save Chelsea, the Bedford Stuyvesant Society for Historic Preservation, and Hampsong Foundation, and eight individuals. Four people, including three Designation List 516 representatives of the owner and one individual, LP-2627 spoke in opposition to the proposed designation. In addition, the Commission received 44 Built: c.1852; 1890 (facade) written submissions in support of the proposed Builder/Architect: Joseph Rogers; Hubert, Pirsson designation, including from the American Society of & Hoddick (facade) Composers, Authors and Publishers; Carnegie Hall; Municipal Art Society of New York; Museum of the Landmark Site: Borough of Manhattan, Tax Map City of New York; National Music Publishers’ Block 8

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