User:JPRiley/Horgan

The former 50th Police Precinct Station in Kingsbridge Heights, completed in 1902.

Horgan & Slattery was an American architectural firm based in New York City. Active from 1889 until 1910, the firm was closely associated with the Tammany Hall machine, especially during the administration of Robert Anderson Van Wyck, the first post-consolidation Mayor of New York City. The named partners of the firm were Arthur J. Horgan (1868–1911) and Vincent J. Slattery (1867–1939).

Partners and history

Arthur J. Horgan was born in 1868, and circa 1882 he joined the office of architect Arthur Crooks, his godfather. Circa 1887, at the age of 19, Horgan left to open his own office. Early in 1889 Horgan formed Horgan & Slattery with Vincent J. Slattery. Slattery was not a trained architect and had previously been in the coal business. For about the first nine years of their partnership they frequently acted as the developers and builders of their projects, and were typically referred to as builders and not architects. Horgan & Slattery experienced financial difficulties in 1893, and were heavily in debt. In 1894 they incorporated the firm, with their wives, Martha W. Horgan and Fannie G. Slattery, holding all of the shares in order to protect their own interests.

Both men were members of the Tammany-affiliated Democratic Club and Slattery had strong ties to the larger Tammany system. In 1897 Robert Anderson Van Wyck, a Tammany Hall-affilliated lawyer, was elected Mayor of New York City, and he entered office in 1898. This put Horgan & Slattery in a strong position to get public work. Horgan & Slattery began their first project for the City in September, when they were appointed to design the cell wing of the new Tombs prison. Eventually the original architects, Withers & Dickson, were fired, and Horgan & Slattery finished the building. Over the next three years Van Wyck and Tammany Hall funneled almost all new City architectural work to Horgan & Slattery, who became known as the unofficial "City Architects." In 1901 they were controversially appointed architects of the Surrogate's Courthouse following the death of original architect John Rochester Thomas. Under their supervision, construction continued for five years and costs ballooned.

Horgan & Slattery were heavily criticised by reformers and other architects, and the New York Times wrote in protest of the "Horganizing and Slatterifying" of the city's municipal architecture. Several of their works were, however, favorably received by the architectural and building press. After two terms Van Wyck was replaced by reformer Seth Low, who attempted to cancel all of the firm's contracts, including those for both buildings under construction and those not yet begun, but was only partially successful. Following this Horgan & Slattery were substantially kept from new City work, with the exception of a single public bath built during the administration of George B. McClellan Jr., another Tammany politician. Upon McClellan taking office in 1904 Horgan & Slattery petitioned the administration for $300,000 worth of fees for projects which they designed but which were never built. In 1910 they were awarded about a third of that sum, and they dissolved their firm shortly thereafter.

After the firm was dissolved, Horgan retired to his home in Deal, New Jersey. He died September 17, 1911 in Purling, New York. Slattery returned to property development, and in later life his Church Engineering Corporation would become notable as builders of skyscraper churches, including the Calvary Baptist Church and the Second Presbyterian Church. He was also involved in the construction of the Beaux-Arts Apartments. Slattery retired from business in 1934 and died December 30, 1939 in New York City.

Legacy

Horgan & Slattery were widely reviled as political hacks in their time. In the twenty-first century this reputation has been reevaluated. In 2007 the architectural historian and critic Christopher Gray wrote that "their work rises far above the hack category into which it is . . . often dumped."

At least one building designed by Horgan & Slattery has been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places, and two others have been designated New York City Landmarks.

Architectural works

• First Battery Armory (former), 56 W 66th St, New York City (1900–03, NYCL 1989)
• 48th Police Precinct Station (former), 1925 Bathgate Ave, Tremont, Bronx (1901, NRHP 1983)
• 50th Police Precinct Station (former), 3101 Kingsbridge Ter, Kingsbridge Heights, Bronx (1901–02, NYCL 1986)