The Kitchen, Montross & Wilcox Store at 85 Leonard Street between Broadway and Church Street in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City was built in 1861 in the Italianate style for a company which dealt in dry goods. The cast iron for the building's facade came from James Bogardus' ironworks, one of the few surviving buildings for which that is the case. The building's columns are referred to as "sperm-candle style" from their resemblance to candles made from sperm-whale oil.
The design combines classically-inspired elements with the non-classical emphasis on lightness, openness, and verticality which characterizes cast-iron architecture.
The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1974, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It is located within the Tribeca East Historic District.
Famous quotes containing the words montross, wilcox and/or store:
“Drove she ducklings to the water,
Every morning just at nine;”
—Percy Montross U.S. poet. Oh, My Darling Clementine (attributed to Montross)
“Give us that grand word “woman” once again,
And let’s have done with “lady”; one’s a term
Full of fine force, strong, beautiful, and firm,
Fit for the noblest use of tongue or pen;
And one’s a word for lackeys.”
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1855–1919)
“Finishing schools in the fifties were a good place to store girls for a few years before marrying them off, a satisfactory rest stop between college weekends spent husband hunting. It was a haven for those of us adept at styling each other’s hair, playing canasta, and chain smoking Pall Mall extra-long cigarettes.”
—Barbara Howar (b. 1934)