Henry Janeway HardenberghFAIA (February 6, 1847 – March 13, 1918) was an American architect, best known for his hotels and apartment buildings, and as a "master of a new building form — the skyscraper."[2] He worked three times with Edward Clark, the wealthy owner of the Singer Sewing Machine Company and real estate developer: The Singer company's first tower in New York City, The Dakota Apartments, and its precursor, the Van Corlear.[3] He is best known for building apartment dwellings and luxury hotels.[4]
Life and career
Hardenbergh was born in
New Brunswick, New Jersey, of a
Dutch family, and attended the Hasbrouck Institute in
Jersey City. He apprenticed in New York from 1865 to 1870 under
Detlef Lienau, and, in 1870, opened his own practice there.[5]
He obtained his first contracts for three buildings at
Rutgers College in
New Brunswick, New Jersey—the expansion of Alexander Johnston Hall (1871), designing and building
Geology Hall (1872) and the
Kirkpatrick Chapel (1873)—through family connections. Hardenbergh's great-great grandfather, the Reverend
Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh, had been the first president of Rutgers College from 1785 to 1790, when it was still called "Queen's College".
He then got the contract to design the "Vancorlear" on West
55th Street, the first apartment hotel in New York City, in 1879.[1] The following year, he was commissioned by
Edward S. Clark, then head of the
Singer Sewing Machine Company, to build a housing development. As part of this work, he designed the pioneering
Dakota Apartments[6] on
Central Park West, novel in its location, very far north of the center of the city.
Subsequently, Hardenbergh received commissions to build the
Waldorf (1893) and the adjoining
Astoria (1897) hotels for
William Waldorf Astor and
Mrs. Astor, respectively. The two competing hotels were later joined together as the
Waldorf-Astoria, which was demolished in 1929 for the construction of the
Empire State Building.
Hardenbergh lived for some time in
Bernardsville, New Jersey[7] where he designed the building for the school house built with funds donated by
Frederic P. Olcott.[2] The school house is in Hardenberghs architectural style and is a landmark in the town.[8] Hardenbergh died at his home in
Manhattan, New York City on March 13, 1918.[1] He is buried in Woodland Cemetery, in
Stamford, Connecticut.
^
abSchleicher, William A. & Winter, Susan J. (1997). Images of America: In The Somerset Hills, The Landed Gentry. Dover, New Hampshire: Acadia Publishing. pp. 13, 15.
ISBN0-7524-0899-2.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)