RochesterSubway.com : A Tour of Rochester’s Times Square Building

A Tour of Rochester’s Times Square Building

January 7th, 2013

Ryan Green is a student at University of Rochester. Last month, after joining up with the University’s Urban Explorers (UrbEx ) club, he toured Rochester’s Times Square Building, formerly the Genesee Valley Trust Company . You probably know it by the enormous set of wings on top of it. Aside from maybe the Mercury statue, those “wings of progress” are easily the most recognizable element of Rochester’s skyline. And while they have a story all their own, there’s plenty more history to be found on the fourteen floors beneath.

Although the building is not open for public tours, Richard Calabrese Jr., who manages the property, says he likes touring the urban explorer group because of their genuine curiosity. Although, if a fundraising tour is requested, Calabrese says he’d consider that. “I have all kinds of history that I’ve learned over the years.” Ryan Green had such a good time touring the building, he wanted to share these photos, and his experience, with us…

First, a little bit of background. The architects of the Genesee Valley Trust bank building (now The Times Square Building) were New York City firm Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker , best remembered for designing the Barclary-Vesey Bank , which, in 1923, was the first significant Art Deco building in New York City. Ralph T. Walker is said to have conceived the idea for the “wings of progress” sculpture while walking on a beach in the 1920s. He found four seashells that suggested to him “a sense of flight… upward lift,” Ironically, the building’s cornerstone was laid on the same day as the infamous stock market crash of October 29, 1929 – the start of the Great Depression. Construction was completed in the summer of 1930. Genesee Valley Trust Company survived the Depression and remained in the building until 1955.

This is the main lobby (above). The walls are sheathed in red Altico and Levanto marble. The ceiling is covered in hand painted paper decorated with geometric shapes, trompe-l’oeil faceting and a stylized wheat motif. Wheat was symbolic of prosperity, which, given the importance of wheat in Rochester’s history as the “Flour City”, everyone would be familiar with. This is also a unifiying theme of both exterior and interior decoration. Hanging from the center of this octagonal room is a light fixture of characteristic geometric Art Deco form, which radiates light through a circle of narrow plates of translucent glass.

Those marble strips lining the walls were cut from the same piece of rock and formed to make the diamond patterns shown above. Over the years, much of this stone work had been hidden under layers of drywall and is now being rediscovered while Calabrese is in the process of renovating and updating the building.

Calabrese also tells us of a 25-foot mural called Rochester Past, Present, and Future painted—somewhere inside the building—in 1930 by famed local American painter Carl W. Peters . Most people assume the mural was removed or destroyed, possibly due to renovations. But Calabrese believes it might still be in the building under some drywall. According to Lu Harper, Memorial Art Gallery Librarian, the only images of the artwork that are known to exist are a few low-quality illustrations. This image (shown left) is a preparatory charcoal sketch, by Peters, for the mural.

UPDATE: Jeff Freeland found a reproduction of the mural on the cover of this book .

Also in the lobby, this fireplace was discovered hiding under drywall. Notice there’s now an Orange Glory Cafe in there. And that piece of furniture they’re using as a counter looks to be a check writing table, in true Art Deco style, and original to the building.

Here’s a closer look at the detail.

Sidebar: I’ve been looking to re-tile the bathroom in my house… don’t you know this is the exact same basket-weave pattern I picked out. A hundred years later it’s just as awesome looking.

Now we’re getting to the fun stuff. Here’s the door to the main vault of the Genesee Valley Trust Co. Bank…

…and the locking mechanism.

According to Calabrese, this particular vault room was used as a speakeasy at one time, and Charlie Parker once played here!

An electric chandelier inside the speakeasy… err, vault I mean.

This hallway seems to lead nowhere. It was either used as a decoy escape route for potential bank robbers… or maybe a real escape route for the bootleggers?

A mountain of original safe deposit boxes. This is somewhere within the maze of vault rooms.

A doorknob with the letters GVT-Genesee Valley Trust.

A second vault. This one is somewhere inside the first one.

Let’s climb inside! Great idea!

Looks like Sam wuz here… 4/17/1934.

Now THIS is interesting. This is the alarm system control panel. If you look closely you’ll see it was made by Duplex Electric Company. I’ve read that these alarm systems would sound a loud horn on the outside of the building. And some of them were even capable of discharging tear gas within the vault if a robbery was attempted. No word yet if this particular system used tear gas or not.

Alrighty then… from one scary-frightening chamber to another… lets jump inside the freight elevator and check out the basement. Ryan tells me the ride was about as terrifying as it looks. Down we go…

Hey, look what we found down here… a retro Art Deco cigarette butt can that matches the furniture we saw in the lobby–also original to the building.

Ooh fun… Here we find a Genesee Valley Trust Company sticker!

More WWII vintage stickers (and stamps)! One for “The New DeSoto” which I think was a car …and one looks like it’s from a United Jewish Appeal stamp book.

The boiler. Probably still works too.

Super Mario and his brother are in hiding down here somewhere. Let’s get out of this basement…

Ryan says the top floor was the only floor of office space that he saw. There were historic maps throughout the hallways. Apparently the building is 85-90% occupied – mostly with law firms and two private investigators.

The Cutler mail chute is still in use today. Drop your letter in the slot and watch it as it plummets to the mail box on the ground floor. Several downtown buildings still use these chutes… In fact, it was one of my favorite things about working in the Sibley Building.

UPDATE: I was just reminded by a friend that the Cutler mail chute was actually invented here in Rochester in the late 1800’s. It was designed by architect James G. Cutler, originally for the Elwood Building at State & Main Streets (demolished in 1967). Cutler later became mayor of Rochester in 1904. Of course, the Cutler Union is named for him.

NOW TO THE ROOF! But first, a word of caution…

This is an active nest site for the endangered Peregrine Falcon. Access beyond this point is prohibited under NYS Environmental law. Violators are subject to fines or imprisonment. This site is monitored by video surveillance. Watch the falcons live at www.rfalconcam.com

Yeah ok, whatever. Let’s go…

Hmm… looks to be no endangered falcon birds up here today. But check out this view…

This is looking west over the old City Hall building (with gaping hole in its roof), and the Rochester Free Academy building, which is now being renovated . Broad Street is on the left. Main Street is in the center.

The most distinctive feature of this 260-foot tall building are those large cast aluminum wings, known as the “wings of progress”, symbolizing the age of aviation. The tower was originally intended to serve as a night beacon to aviators, and to symbolize modernity in the age of electricity. The wings themselves are 42 feet high, fourteen and one-half feet wide at center, and weigh at least 7,000 pounds EACH (maybe even as much as 12,000 lbs. but I’ve got conflicting reports). They are pinioned to their base through a perforated metal screen. The screen is decorated with a bent stalk of wheat motif, and was designed to be illuminated from within, while the wings were intended to be flood-lit from below.

Here’s an interesting tidbit: When George Eastman’s Kodak Tower was constructed in 1914, it had 16 stories and a flat roof and was Rochester’s tallest building. However, it lost this status when the “wings of progress” sculpture was added to the Genesee Valley Trust building. Not to be outdone, in 1930, Eastman ordered the addition of three stories to his tower – re-obtaining the status of Rochester’s tallest building.

Thanks to Ryan Green for submitting
this amazing photo series!

You can view Ryan’s entire Flickr set here

Ryan is from Albany and went to undergrad for Chemical engineering and Electrical engineering at SUNY Buffalo. While in Buffalo he caught the “industrial history/architecture/urban exploration bug” and he volunteered with the Buffalo Central Terminal restoration efforts. He’s now attending University of Rochester for a Masters in Materials Science. Ryan joined the University’s UrbEx club for leisure and stress relief. This past fall he’s gone on tours of the subway, to the top of Rush Rhees library, Times Square, and a few other interesting places.

Tags: Cutler mail chute, downtown Rochester, Elwood Building, Genesee Valley Trust, George Eastman, Gmelin and Walker, James G. Cutler, Kodak Tower, Richard Calabrese Jr., Rochester, Rochester NY, Ryan Green, skyscraper, speakeasy, Times Square Building, University of Rochester, urban explorers, UrbEx Club, Voorhees, wings of progress

This entry was posted on Monday, January 7th, 2013 at 8:05 am and is filed under Rochester Destinations, Rochester History, Rochester Images, Urban Exploration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

37 Responses to “A Tour of Rochester’s Times Square Building”

David Kavanagh says:

January 7, 2013 at 9:08 am

That’s fascinating! I love seeing what’s in this old building that I’ve marveled at since childhood. Imagine, drywalling over marble? Unbelievable!
I’d love to join the urban explorers!
Phyllis Schirano says:

January 7, 2013 at 12:24 pm

Too bad no one has documented the spaces in the Sibley Bldg that are still intact. The wood work is incredible. I would love to see some original pictures of the interior of the Sibley Bldg back in its day.
Malcolm says:

January 7, 2013 at 4:10 pm

Tear it down, I say, tear it down! Who needs old buildings, anyway? What we need in Rochester is more parking, more proprietary architecture, places constructed with planned obsolescence as the primary goal, and cars, cars, and more cars. Tear down the damn thing. Give more money to “developers,” especially absentee landlords, I say. Give them all the money from the City treasury, the County bank, and Regional Economic Development Council! Open your coffers, boys, and let them renovate the structures that they have received for $1 and/or sat on without concrete plans to move forward, as they have occupied our communities, our neighborhoods, our fair City of Rachacha. What the hell is wrong with this town?!
RochesterSubway.com says:

January 7, 2013 at 4:42 pm

I was just reminded by a friend, that the Cutler mail chute was actually invented here in Rochester in the late 1800’s. It was designed by architect James G. Cutler, originally for the Elwood Building at State & Main Streets (demolished in 1967). Cutler later became mayor of Rochester in 1904. Of course, the Cutler Union (which he also designed) is named for him.
ELF says:

January 7, 2013 at 5:48 pm

The University of Rochester has the Cutler Mail Chute Company Papers.
patsy6 says:

January 7, 2013 at 6:23 pm

What an interesting tour and great pictures as well. I would strongly urge anyone who is interested in Rochester’s peregrine falcons to check out http://www.rfalconcam.com, as is mentioned in the article. The falcons are around, although they are not currently in the nestbox, which is on the northeast side of the building. To see them in person, bring your binoculars downtown starting in April and stand on the sidewalk on the Broad Street Bridge. You’ll see Beauty, our resident female, and Dot.ca, our resident male, flying all around the nestbox. They also like to perch right beneath the building’s wings. What an awesome sight!
Wing Goose says:

January 7, 2013 at 7:05 pm

WOW! That was great. Thanks to all.
Donna says:

January 7, 2013 at 7:41 pm

What a great building. I’ve been there and have just stared at it for like all day. Of course, I was watching the falcon juvie, Orion up there. The wings are special. Oh and hey Rich, soon falcon babies again and you know what that means!!!
Dan Howell says:

January 8, 2013 at 12:03 pm

Great shots – thanks for sharing! I wish there had been an Urban Explorers group when I was in college. Or now!

Every time I pass Times Square at night (either on city street or on 490), I state that the wings should have flood lights and the center should be lit. It would be nice to see that happen at some point down the road. I think our skyline would look even better if it was lit proper at night!
Rich Calabrese says:

January 8, 2013 at 10:49 pm

Wow, such nice comments! Thank you all. We’ve had fun renovating the building and uncovering a few great features that have been hidden and thankfully not completely demolished. A couple of things….
The first Cutler mail chute was installed in the Wilder Building(Main and Exchange) from what a historian told me.
The total height of the wings are over 70 feet.
We’re looking at lighting the wings more effectively. Falcons… Soon they’ll be nesting! We will find body parts of birds they preyed on such as heads, torsos, wings, talons,etc. I look for them near the front doors every day.
Rich Calabrese says:

January 8, 2013 at 10:55 pm

Oh, one more quick story. The foreman that oversaw the construction of the wings died in August, 2011. Phil Interliccia was his name, he was 98. I was lucky enough to show him the wings from the rooftop about five years ago. I called the TV stations and the D&C to meet us there. When we walked him out on the roof and he turned around, he looked up at the wings and stayed silent. Then he said (as he got emotional) “Wow. I never thought I’d see the day I’d get this close to these wings again.” Needless to say, everyone was choked up at that moment. It’s a story I’ll tell forever.
Russ Shaner says:

January 9, 2013 at 8:41 am

There is/was equipment to light the wings. I recall that it was restored and working perhaps 20 or so years ago. The looked spectacular all lit up at night. It would be nice to see it restored/updated (Color changind LEDs perhaps) again.
I had a friend in the early 70s who worked for “Rochester Bronze Co,”. He said that they had built the wings. Are you sure they are cast aluminum or could they possibly be bronze?
Rich Calabrese says:

January 9, 2013 at 8:52 am

Hi Russ! Yes, the wings are aluminum, Phil Interlichia told me. He said it was the best produce out there because of its weight. There’sa steel support structure inside the wings. Rochester Bronza may have been the contractor, I’m not sure. We have the meeting minutes from the construction meetings, that should give us a ton of information.
Christopher Brandt says:

January 11, 2013 at 10:01 am

Just to clarify further on the comment pertaining to Cutler. Cutler Union, part of the University of Rochester’s Women’s Campus, and now the Memorial Art Gallery, was NOT designed by James G. Cutler. It was dedicated in his honor. This stemmed from the disagreement Cutler and others had when building the new U of R river campus in the early 1920s. Cutler desired for the new River Campus to be designed in the Collegiate Gothic style much like Yale and Princeton. However, the final decision of course was with the Neo-Classical style that dominates River Campus. Cutler Union built posthumously in 1926, was designed as a kind of homage to Cutler, with the nod toward his desires for River Campus in its Collegiate Gothic design (courtesy of Gordon and Kaelber).
Russ Shaner says:

January 14, 2013 at 7:57 pm

Rich,
Not to beat dead horses, but it sure would be nice if the lighting equipment could be resurrected and updated. When they were operating some years ago the sight of them at night was spectacular.
Russ Shaner
Jeff Freeland says:

March 1, 2013 at 4:13 pm

These are not entirely captioned yet but I wanted to get them posted in time for peoples tour tomorrow. Sorry I get an invitation to be joining you:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=one_set72157632884429950
Rich Calabrese says:

March 1, 2013 at 4:19 pm

Guys and gals, There’s no tour tomorrow. I wasn’t informed of one and I’d be the one giving the tour, I don’t want to have anyone freezing outside standing in the wind and cold. We’ll get one together, don’t worry.
Jeff Freeland says:

March 1, 2013 at 4:24 pm

I did considerable research on Ralph Walker’s masterpiece Genesee Valley Trust/ Times Square building about ten years ago.

As you can tell from the tall windows on the south side (Broad Street), the banking room was a two story high space with the Carl Peters mural centered in a niche on the west wall, opposite the front doors, and the focus for the nave-like room. You can also see from the windows along Broad Street that there were two mezzanine floors at the east and west ends of the banking room. Windows of the lower east mezzanine still look into the lobby.

The mural was used as a cover illustration for a history of Rochester. It was the best reproduction I was able to find. A copy of the book was recently on eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1934-ART-DECO-ROCHESTER-NY-BUSINESS-COMMERCE-HISTORY-BOOK-CHAMBER-COMMERCE-/221154550378?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&nma=true&si=sn%2B2wKKEusNoNaezKa6CDP1IchM%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

The mural could be found racist by some. An Native American sits alone and dejected, crouched down in the lower left, being pushed out of the picture by the happy, and productive, white settlers. From the 19th century foreground, a Rochester yet to be, as imagined in 1930, rises behind them. Unfortunately the cover photo is in black and white. A true shame as Peters was a brilliant colorist.

The room’s colors were lighter shades of glass green (like the edges of thick glass the remaining lobby chandelier) and terra cotta (like the lobby ceiling and marble) accented with golden bronze, red marble, and aluminum leaf. The Peters mural, if like his other work, would have had relatively bright colors from across the spectrum and must have been striking. I’m guessing that like the other furniture originally in the room, there’s black walnut and ebony beneath the pale yellow paint of the check writing desk shown.

There was also to be a bronze bas relief over the main door by the same scultor who did the stone carving above the Exchange Boulevard windows, Leo Friedlander. Titled “The Dawning of a New Era” it was to show the Native American people being “invited” to leave the Genesee Valley by pioneer white men. The plaster cast of this sculpture received considerable national attention and was held up as an excellent example of the “new” (Art Deco) style in architectural sculpture. Somewhat bizarrely, the Native Americans are dressed like Dakota Sioux, a fault obvious, at the time, to anyone in Rochester where Iroquois costume was well known. I can find no evidence that this bronze was ever cast or installed, just imagined architectural renderings showing it, and Friedlander’s plaster maquette.

The banking room walls were paneled in Australian lacewood, a fancy grained wood with a pattern often described at resembling bees wings. I believe the wood shown around the vault in Ryan Green’s photos is the same.

The banking room was divided horizontally sometime in the 1950’s or 60’s to give additional floor space. After the demolition of Claude Bragdon’s railroad station, the loss of this space is arguably Rochester’s greatest architectural tragedy

The building was published in one national journal, and there were also numerous local newspaper articles and an opening day booklet which explained the architect’s intent. Unfortunately there are only very grainy or very small images of the space. But we can hope that perhaps in a forgotten album or slide carousel in an attic somewhere….

The story of seashells as inspiration for the Wings of Progress continues to be repeated on the internet. It seems to be a bit of creative rationalization, traceable to a single late 20th century source. Architect Ralph Walker’s inspiration was not recorded in any literature from that time. Further research needs to be done.

Three other points:
1) Ryan’s “hallway leading to nowhere” is a security feature allowing a guard to check and see that no one was tunneling into the vault. Mirrors set at 45 degrees in the corners (visible in the photo– the tall black shape at the end of the hall) allowed the guard to see around the corners and thus all the way around the vault at a single glance. Somewhat like a, hallway sized, horizontal periscope.

2) A monograph was published last year about Walker the architect largely responsible for design in the partnership of Voorhees, Gmelin, and Walker. One of his chief aesthetic goals was to express the curtain wall of the skyscraper as folded planes, and as the basis for decoration. Almost origami-like geometric forms, and room and ceiling shapes, were the result. One Wall Street (for the Irving Trust Co.) and the Barclay-Vesey Building (for the New York Telephone Co.) are his pinnacle achievements and can still be seen, largely intact, in Downtown Manhattan. But, the Rochester Building exhibits many of his typical and best design features.

http://www.amazon.com/Ralph-Walker-Architect-Kathryn-Holliday/dp/0847838889/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358052950&sr=8-1&keywords=ralph+walker+architect+of+the+century&tag=yjtv-20

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/LM/LM051-BANKOFNEWYORK.htm

3) Christopher Brandt is correct. Cutler Union is by Gordon and Kaelber, who were also responsible for the original River Campus buildings, and Rundell Library. Cutler *was* an architect, but made his fortune, as wags proclaimed, “by patenting gravity”.
RochesterSubway.com says:

March 2, 2013 at 9:48 am

@Jeff, WOW, lots of great information. Thanks for digging up the reproduction of the Carl Peters mural. Wish I could see it in living color.

To reiterate what Rich said about a tour… there was a call put out on Facebook a few weeks ago for anyone interested in going on a tour. An official date has not been set and only the first 20-30 people were contacted. If you were not contacted please do not show up expecting a tour. There was an overwhelming response and not nearly enough space for everyone. Keep following on Facebook for future tours and updates.
Jerry Fretto says:

January 15, 2014 at 9:49 pm

I love those wings ! Thank you for the very interesting tour you just gave me and the public ! GOD bless you .
Rich Calabrese says:

January 16, 2014 at 12:45 pm

Someone named Jason sent an email to 13WHAM–FOX news about their logo on the new TV show called Good Day Rochester and they copied me in on it. They mentioned the logo was missing key buildings such as Times Square, First Federal and Kodak Tower. I wonder if they’ll change the logo.
RochesterSubway.com says:

January 16, 2014 at 2:13 pm

@Rich, I have noticed that graphic designers give more attention to the buildings on the east side of the river, when clearly the more interesting “skyscrapers” are on the west side. I’m sure some people will debate me on that point. But as a designer myself, I’m guilty of this too. Maybe it’s because we subconsciously associate power, money and economic growth, with those more modern/shiny big box towers. But also, the modern buildings are way easier to draw as a simplified logo-form.

Regardless, I agree with Jason’s point in general 😉
Rich Calabrese says:

January 16, 2014 at 2:24 pm

Interesting view, hmmm.
Here’s a shortened version of the email to 13WHAM that I was CC’d in…

Hello everyone,
I’m writing to you with feedback about Good Day Rochester. First, let me tell you I’ve been a huge fan of 13WHAM and the morning and evening news shows.
As for the feedback,it’s about the logo. There’s something missing from it. Rochester has such a great skyline and some incredible and unique skyline landmarks. When I look at the GDR logo, I get the feeling it’s an industrial city, not our city. Take a look at the flat roofed buildings on the left and right. They’re rather boring frankly.

Buildings such as the Times Square building (the building with the interesting wings atop) would be a great addition to the logo. So would Kodak Tower, First Federal Plaza. and even the river could be woven in. It appears that Bausch and Lomb is in the logo, that’s a notable structure.

So, that’s my two cents. Thanks for listening.
Keep up the great work on the air!

Jason Sumner
Mary Vale says:

May 18, 2014 at 7:49 pm

My grandfather, Angelo Salemi, was a bricklayer and project manager for construction and placed the bat wings on this building in 1929-1930.
Rich Calabrese says:

May 18, 2014 at 8:45 pm

Jeff Freeland, your information is incredible. Thanks for teaching us so much!

Mary Vale, is your grandfather still alive? If so, we need to bring him to the roof to see the wings again! Plus, I’d love to hear some of his stories. We took Phil Interliccia, (one of the men that worked with your grandfather), to the roof about eight years ago. It was very emotional for him and everyone including the reporters that attended. When we got him to the roof, he turned around and looked up. He then said (as we all held our breath waiting for his words) “I never thought I’d see the day where I’d be this close to those wings again.” He broke down and so did a few of us. It’s a story I’ll tell forever.
Rich Calabrese says:

May 18, 2014 at 8:57 pm

By the way, for those of you who have never seen the main lobby, here’s a video that Google shot when their crew was in town a few months back. It’s a fully scrollable video, up, down, left to right. Play with it, it’s pretty cool. I hope you enjoy it….
http://goo.gl/z6LWYw
Mary Vale says:

May 18, 2014 at 10:04 pm

Thank you so much for replying! I currently live in Calgary, Ab canada. Grew up in Rochester and then later attended Mcgill in Montreal. Met my husband who is Canadian and rest is history. I’ve always had a fascination with these wings and hearing my grandfather talk about them unfortunately both father and grandfather are deceased.My dad went on to be asst director of special ed for the city of Rochester. When my grandfather died the D&c published a small article titled “batman died”. I think my grandfather died in 1967 but I would have to look him up. He’s buried at Holy sepulchre cemetery. I would have loved to have seen this view, he spoke about the massive wings and view. Too bad he’s not alive today.
Rich Calabrese says:

May 19, 2014 at 8:30 am

Thanks Mary. Phil Interliccia died in August, 2011 I believe. He was 97 or so. I met a woman last year during a tour who is a great aunt of a personal friend. She was one of the elevator operators back in the day. She rode with people such as Rochester dignitaries, the governor at the time and others. There were no push button elevators, they were hand cranks, just like the current freight elevator we use now. If anyone knows of someone that’s still alive from that generation that has a connection to the building, I’d like to know. Thanks!
Ruth Nederlk says:

January 3, 2015 at 2:11 pm

Amazing inside had to have been beautiful. As for the wings I looked up at them all the time Another old friend like Mercury So many things from the past is so interesting. Thank You .
Richard Long says:

January 28, 2015 at 3:58 am

There was into the 60s a small room inside the base of the wings equipped with a small desk, phone and swivel chair. It was the office of the City Smoke Inspector who could with his binoculars see every industrial smoke stack in the City. Ernie Brundage was the last man I know of who held that job. If your power plant was making smoke you could count on a call from Ernie within half an hour. He would give you that much time from when he saw smoke to get it under management. If necessary Ernie would come out and help find the problem if the plant Engineer couldn’t. Ernie knew every Engineer in the City and had good relationship with all.

I recall an elevated candy & news stand in the corner of the building entrance to the left as you entered. It was operated by a blind man.

Cutler Mail Chute continued to do business and probably manufactured in Rochester into the 1960s from a building just South of University Ave East of Culver Road.

Push button operated automatic elevators began appearing in Rochester in the mid 1950s, building owners were reluctant to install them not so much because of cost, but more because elevator operators were the building’s greeter and good will ambassador. Many tenants told building owners how they felt about automatics in no uncertain terms. Ike Gordon who owned the Powers Building delayed converting the second elevator until the operator was ready to retire.
BARBARA DIMMICK says:

May 20, 2015 at 10:57 pm

My husband’s grandfather was William James Simpson. WJ’s father died when he was 12, and he had to quit school and go to work. He got a job as a bank messenger boy, and as time went on he became a bank teller, bookkeeper, and finally president of the Genesee Valley Trust Company.

It was his idea to build this new building and his interest in the “new” architecture that gave Rochester such an interesting building. My husband has an extraordinarily ironic photo of the groundbreaking in which everyone is all smiles–literally hours before the stock market crashed.

Despite the runs on banks, and many bank failures, GVTC made good on all of its commitments, some of the money coming from William Simpson’s personal funds. Because of the general shortage of money, William Simpson was encouraged to eliminate the finer points of the building, especially the wings. But William Simpson was determined that the vision of the architect would be carried out in every detail, no matter the financial drain.

I truly appreciate everyone’s efforts in recording their information.
William James Simpson died 1932.
Rich Calabrese, Jr says:

May 21, 2015 at 1:07 pm

Wow, there’s a photo of the groundbreaking? Cool! How can I see it? Is it published somewhere?
Rich
Tina Cooney says:

January 10, 2016 at 7:36 pm

The man pictured on the top of the building is my father, David Pitt. It would be nice if you mentioned his name in the photo credit.
Russ Shaner says:

January 31, 2016 at 1:53 am

To Rich Calabrese,
Assuming that you either orchestrated or at least played a significant role in the recent relighting of the Times Square building, on behalf of everyone in Rochester, THANK YOU!
For far too many years this magnificent structure has been dark. While I’m not sure just when the lights were activated, I noticed them for the first time tonight as I crossed I490 on Clinton Avenue. I took a photo but I don’t know how to post it here. Hopefully Rochestersubway.com will get a good photo and add it to the site.
Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I hope you will be able to take the project a step further and light the wings from their interior.
Again, a heartfelt thank you for all you do to preserve and restore what I consider to be one of Rochester’s most iconic and important structures.
Russ Shaner
robert grassi says:

March 26, 2016 at 8:58 pm

Our Family ( the Grassi’s) owned the Times Square building in the 60’s. It was the headquarter of our families company.The Colonial Oil and Gas Company.
I remember how fond they were of this historic building. I also remember when the pipes burst.
We used to have elevator operators as well. We sold it to Max Farash. I was a young boy but went there many times.
Anthony Niger says:

March 30, 2016 at 4:18 pm

Dear Mr. Calabrese:
I saw the article in the D&C about the wings on the Times Square Bldg being lit recently. I was so happy to see that! I have many memories of that building. My grandfather, who I am named after owned that building with his partner Tom Grasse. Growing up I never knew my grandfather owned that building until he died in Oct. 1969, when the newspaper printed an article about my grandfather death of a heart attack. “Anthony P. Niger, co-owner of Times Square Building dies.” I was shocked to know he owned it. All the years I’d go up to his office in the penthouse office, I never knew he owned the building. I was a sophomore at Aquinas when he died. I’ve always wanted to go in the building & revisit some of my childhood memories. I would love for you to take me through the building if it is possible. Thank you, Anthony P. Niger 2nd.
Nicole Schaner says:

May 12, 2016 at 3:51 pm

Does anyone know who currently owns it?