Random Restless

7/19/11

1400/1410 Broadway 1

Left: 1410 in reflected light.  Right: The Empire State's spire over 1400's shoulder

I've featured 1400 Broadway before, with its dramatic scaffolding (here) seen from 6th Ave.  It's a huge building that wraps in an L around its prettier sibling at 1410 Broadway.  I didn't understand how they fit together until I saw an aerial photo at Google Maps (3D block version to the left, with 1410 at the block's top left corner).

Both 1400 Broadway and 1410, aka the Bricken Casino Building, were designed by Ely Jacques Kahn Architects.  According to a few accounts, "In 1937, Ayn Rand worked as a typist without pay in Kahn's office to research her novel The Fountainhead."  At least Khan had the sense to not pay her.


I used the term "sibling" above because the buildings have some common underlying elements and their setbacks are nearly identical, as you can see just above, and best in this 1931 photo at Flickr [eralsoto].  Unfortunately I haven't found out where the Bricken Casino Building, below and top left, got its name.