The Salvation Army Headquarters is a building at 120–130 West 14th Street in the Chelsea and Greenwich Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. The building, owned by charitable organization the Salvation Army, is composed of a four-story auditorium named the Centennial Memorial Temple, a 12-story office building, and a 17-story dormitory named the Markle Evangeline. All three sections were designed in the Art Deco style by Ralph Thomas Walker of Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker and were constructed from 1928 to 1930 as the headquarters for the Salvation Army. The auditorium and office building are also New York City designated landmarks.
The building contains a facade of cast stone and buff brick. The office wing on 14th Street is sparsely decorated, although Walker used brick and cast stone, as well as stepped archways, to create a textile-like appearance. East of the office wing is the Centennial Memorial Temple, with a triple-story opening whose design was intended to welcome visitors. The dormitory, in the rear of the building, contains setbacks to comply with the 1916 Zoning Resolution. The building's main auditorium had between 1,600 and 2,000 seats, while the dormitory had 220 rooms that were originally reserved for women. The building also had a recreation center and offices for the Salvation Army.
After the Salvation Army's cofounder Catherine Booth died in 1890, members decided to build a New York City headquarters in her honor. Catherine Booth's son Ballington Booth acquired land on 14th Street in 1893 and hired Gilbert A. Schellenger to design an eight-story headquarters, which was officially dedicated in June 1895. The Salvation Army also added a women's home at the rear of the building in December 1900. In its early years, the building hosted various programs and events, causing the existing headquarters to become overcrowded by the 1920s. Walker designed a new headquarters for the structure, which was built in stages from October 1928 to June 1930. The new building was the Salvation Army's national headquarters until 1981 and was a regional headquarters until 1990. The Salvation Army continued to use the structure to host events and renovated the building in the early 21st century.
Site The Salvation Army Headquarters building is located at 120–130 West 14th Street, on the southern sidewalk between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, in the Chelsea and Greenwich Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. The land lot covers and is irregular in shape, stretching through the block to 13th Street. The building has frontage of on 14th Street, with a depth of ; only the eastern portion of the lot extends south to 13th Street. The Salvation Army Headquarters shares the block with 144 West 14th Street (the Pratt Institute School of Information) and 154 West 14th Street to the west. In addition, entrances to the New York City Subway's 14th Street/Sixth Avenue station and the PATH's 14th Street station are east of the building.
The Salvation Army had developed its first building on the site in the 1890s, at which time the adjacent stretch of 14th Street was largely commercial. At the time of the original building's opening, 14th Street was a busy entertainment district with many theaters, hotels, and stores. The building formerly faced a New York Army National Guard armory across 14th Street, prompting The New York Times to write that "two rather different military groups face each other across the busy street".
Architecture The Salvation Army Headquarters consists of a four-story auditorium and 11-story office building on 14th Street, as well as a 17-story dormitory on 13th Street. All three buildings were designed by the firm of Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker for the Salvation Army, a charitable organization, in the Art Deco style. Ralph Walker of that firm was largely responsible for the design. According to architect and historian Robert A. M. Stern, the building's design signified a "refinement" of his tendency to use Dutch and German Expressionist elements in his structures.
Form and facade
The office wing on the northwestern corner of the site is sparsely decorated, deriving much of its ornamentation from the treatment of the brick and stone surfaces. Walker used brick and cast stone layers, as well as stepped archways, to create a textile-like appearance. The office facade is divided vertically into seven bays by stepped piers. The facade is clad with cast stone up to the third story, except in the easternmost bay, where the cast stone rises to the fourth story. At ground level are six doorways. In the third and fourth bays from the west is an entrance with three glass and metal doors, surrounded by a granite frame and topped by an awning. Another entrance, with four glass and metal doors, is in the easternmost (leftmost) bay. The top of the entrance contains a grille with an eagle sculpture, and there is a vertical sign and three flagpoles above the doorway. On the upper stories, the facade is made of brick. Most of the window openings are one-over-one aluminum sash windows, which replaced the original windows in the 1970s; some of the openings contain ventilation grilles. Though most of the building is 11 stories high, the northeast corner rises an additional story.
East of the office wing is the auditorium, known as the Centennial Memorial Temple. Its facade consists primarily of a three-story-high stepped opening, which was intended to welcome visitors. At the bottom of the opening, a set of wide stairs ascends to a bronze gate, and there is a display board on either side of the steps. The rear wall of the opening contains the Salvation Army's insignia, below which are bronze letters. The ceiling of this opening contains recessed spotlights. There are doorways on the left and right walls, which lead to the auditorium's main level and balcony. To the east, or left, of the opening is another entrance on 14th Street, which a double door made of glass and metal. The auditorium facade is largely made of layered cast stone. The top of the facade is stepped and is made of brick with a stone parapet. The roof contains heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems.
On 13th Street, there is a 17-story dormitory for women, known as the Markle Evangeline. The dormitory, originally known as the John and Mary R. Markle Memorial, contains setbacks to comply with the 1916 Zoning Resolution.
Features
The building's main auditorium had either 1,600, 1,700, or 2,000 seats. The seats are spread across a main level and a balcony in the rear. The primary decorative feature of the auditorium was its ceiling, which had faceted shapes as well as grilles for illumination. The main auditorium also contains a large pipe organ, which was manufactured by the Estey Organ Company and was salvaged from the Salvation Army's first building on the site, completed in 1895. The building also contained a secondary auditorium with 500 seats. There were multiple meeting rooms in the basement. The main building also had a recreation center with several game rooms, a gymnasium, a swimming pool.
The women's dormitory originally contained 220 rooms, which could fit more than 300 women per night. There were dining rooms, laundry rooms, a gymnasium, and a swimming pool in the dormitory. When the women's dormitory was completed in 1930, it catered to women below the age of 35 with weekly salaries of no more than $35. By the 2010s, the dormitory had 199 rooms and catered to a wider range of women between the ages of 18 and 50.
History The Salvation Army was founded in London by William Booth and his wife Catherine Booth in 1865. Over the years, the Salvation Army expanded outside the United Kingdom to other countries, including the United States. The Salvationists, as the Salvation Army's adherents were known, formed a New York City outpost at the intersection of Bedford Street and Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, known as "Fort Salvation", in 1882. The Salvation Army's growing U.S. operations prompted the organization to open a new headquarters on State Street in Lower Manhattan during the late 19th century. William and Catherine Booth's second-oldest son Ballington Booth, along with Ballington's wife Maud Charlesworth, began managing the Salvation Army's U.S. operations in 1887. The next year, the Salvation Army moved to 111 Reade Street, which by the early 1890s was cramped.
Original buildings
Construction and opening After Catherine Booth died in 1890, American Salvationists began raising money for the construction of a regional headquarters in her honor. Ballington Booth acquired an approximately site at 120–124 West 14th Street in March 1893 to erect a six-story building dedicated to his mother. Ballington also bought an approximately lot on 13th Street, connected to the 14th Street site by a trapezoidal gore. At the time, the Salvation Army occupied a barracks on part of the 14th Street lot. In May 1894, Gilbert A. Schellenger completed plans for an eight-story headquarters building for the Salvation Army, which was published in The War Cry magazine two months later. A groundbreaking ceremony for the headquarters began on June 28. 1894, and the cornerstone of the original 14th Street building was laid on August 15, 1894. The building was expected to cost $120,000, excluding the $200,000 cost of the land. That November, Ballington Booth received a $200,000 mortgage from the Dime Savings Bank of New York to fund the building's construction.
The Salvation Army's first 14th Street building formally opened with a two-day ceremony on June 4, 1895, as the headquarters of the Salvation Army in the United States. The headquarters had cost $350,000 in total (), with the building itself having cost $150,000. The building itself was designed in the Romanesque Revival style and evoked a military fortification, with a central tower flanked by turrets. The lower stories were clad in gray stone, while the upper stories were made of buff brick. The central entrance was through a stone-framed wooden door with turrets and insignia, as well as a balcony above it. The entrance led to an entrance hall, stores, a meeting room, stairs, and elevators on the ground floor. The upper stories were used as offices. There was also a lecture room on the ground floor and a 2,800-seat auditorium on the second and fifth floors. According to historian Diane Winston, the new structure was intended to be a "stronghold and staging ground" for the Salvation Army.
In its early years, the building held events such as the Salvation Army's National Congress, as well as loud concerts that prompted complaints from residents. Ballington and Maud Booth split from the Salvation Army in early 1896 after a dispute over whether the Booths should mortgage the headquarters to raise money for the Salvation Army's overseas operations. They formed a splinter group—God's American Volunteers, later Volunteers of America—to attract Salvationists. Ballington ultimately handed over ownership of the building to his sister Emma Booth-Tucker and brother-in-law Frederick Booth-Tucker in May 1896. By the end of the decade, the Salvation Army had already outgrown its new headquarters. The building contained a shoe store, tailoring department, millinery room, printing plant, engraving room, photography studio, and general store for Salvation Army merchandise.
Early 20th century