Building: The E. F Caldwell & Co Building

40 West 15th Street is a loft conversion located on one of the best Chelsea loft blocks. It is on the south side of 15th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. Having just 13 residences, each unique and elegant, and ranging in size from 1,573’ to 2,053’, it is a coveted building to live in.

The present building at 38-40 West 15th Street was designed by the architectural firm of D’Oench & Yost. The building was commissioned by E. F Caldwell & Co., prominent lighting designers and manufacturers of high-end lighting fixtures and ornamental metalwork. Construction began in August 1903, and was completed in March 1904. Caldwell used the building as both factory and showroom.

Active from 1895 to 1959, the Caldwell firm worked closely with many of the most prominent architects of the day, including McKim, Mead & White, Carrère & Hastings, and Cass Gilbert. Caldwell and his staff contributed to many high-profile projects, including the Andrew Carnegie residence (now the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum of the Smithsonian); the F. W. Vanderbilt residence (Hyde Park, NY); McKim, Mead & White’s 1902 renovation of the White House; the New York Public Library (Center for the Humanities at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street); Radio City Music Hall, and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. An article about the firm by Jeni L. Sandberg was published in Antiques (February, 1998; pp. 310-319). Extensive collections of the firm’s archival material are now held by Cooper-Hewitt and the New York Public Library. Digital images of some material, including references to the factory at 40 West 15th St., can be viewed at http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/Caldwell/.

Various commercial tenants occupied the lofts after the Caldwell firm closed in 1959, including a number of companies involved in the bulk mailing business. The building was converted to residential use in 1979. P&J Realty purchased the building, oversaw the conversion, and sold the coop shares to the first tenants.

Description provided by Stanley Ginsberg and Josh Rubin