Rochester Fire Department Headquarters and Shops - Rochester, NY
Posted by: 
sagefemme
N 43° 09.670 W 077° 36.197
18T E 288361 N 4782002
This, and the Little Theatre are the only remaining examples of low-rise Art Deco architecture within the Inner Loop Multiple Resource Area, according to it's NRHP nomination form.
Waymark Code: WMDD6R
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 12/28/2011
Views: 5
"The Rochester Fire Department Headquarters and Shop buildings complex is of exceptional architectural significance as one of the best expressions of Art Deco style architecture in the Inner Loop Multiple Resource Area and the city of Rochester. The two adjacent buildings incorporate the distinctive architectural featurs of the style including stepped-back massing, pilaster-defined window bays, the use of light-colored brick and stone at all exteriors and the use of glass block windows in hose and entrance towers, and maintenance areas. In addition, the Headquarters Building features one of the finest programs of releif sculpture and iconography of any historic building in the city, all of it executed in the highly stylized and architectonic character typical of the Art Deco style. Its distinctive sculptural elements immediately identify the use of this building and include pilasters fashioned in the shape of fireman, a window sill sculpted in a truck wheel motif, an architrave composed of a telephone dial, axes, pikes, chains and lanterns, and characteristic Art Deco relief lettering. The two buildings are the only Art Deco style Fire Department buildings in Rochester and are among the only three low-rise buildings designed in this style to survive withing the Inner Loop. The one other example, the 1928 Little Theatre, is also included as an individual component of the Multiple resource nomination."
"The entrance facade features a central, stone-faced entrance bay with a stepped parapet and pilasters carved in the form of stylized firemen. The double door entrance has a tall transom space with stylized floral iron grillework, above with is a stone frieze with low relief letters spelling "Headquarters". The second story incorporates a single window with stone wheel carvings below and incised horizontal lines in the lintel above. Attenuated, engaged columns flank the window with the words "Rochester Fire Department" in low relief stylized lettering between the columns in the parapet.
"The side elevations are articulated by flat pilasters, capped by a rounded stone coping. The original window openings remain intact; however, the windows themselves have recently been replaced with samll fixed sash and metal infill panels. At the western end of the building, a buttressed hose tower and chimney rises several stories above the building's flat roof. Glass block windows, framed between the buttresses admit light into the drying tower. An entrance at the base of the tower is recessed in a curved surround with a single door and a tall nine light transom. The architrave contains low relief carvings depicting the tools of the fireman's trade in a highly stylized fashion. Hose, chain, and pike pole pilasters on lantern bases reach to an entablature of axes with a central dial shield. Low relief lettering below the entablature spells out "Hose Depot." All the letering in this building is done in the graphic style associated with Art Deco design. The interiors are utilitarian, and feature no noteworthy detail or finishes."
"Constructed in 1936 by the firm of Stewart and Bennett, Inc., and designed by Rochester architect Joseph P. Flynn, the headquarters complex was made possible by funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA). PWA made projects such as this possible during the Depression by hiring uneployed architects and contractors. Flynn was born in 1896 in Corning, New York and was trained at Notre Dame University's School of Architecture, where he graduated in 1916. In that year, he moved to Rochester and worked in the office of Gordon and Madden until 1922. (In the interim, Gordon and Madden had become Gordon and Kaelber, one of Rochester's most prominent and prolific firms of the early twentieth century.) In 1922 Flynn established an independent office with continued in business into the early 1970's." (
visit link)