Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Northam Warren Corp. 1939-1960
• Northam Warren Corp., Div. of Cheesebrough Ponds 1960-
• Pitney Bowes

Use (Historic)

• Rubber & Chemicals

Largest Documented Workforce

500

Historic Narrative

The Northam Warren Company was one of several established manufacturers that relocated from New York to Stamford between the World Wars. Of these, it was one of two cosmetics concerns to begin operations here in 1940, joining the community’s long established chemical industries. The company was founded in 1915 by chemist Northam Warren (1878-1962) to produce Cutex Cuticle Remover which he had patented in 1911. Having worked in sales and distribution for drug maker Parke, Davis and Company in Chicago and New York, Warren marketed a broad array of cosmetics including nail polish (1917), cold cream (1919), polish remover (1927), lipstick (1935) and other feminine personal care products under the Cutex brand assisted by a pioneering national advertising campaign, innovative packaging and acquisitions of small manufacturers. Between 1911 and 1939 Northam Warren expanded its product line and distribution to a global network of branch factories and distribution centers in thirty-two foreign countries. Having outgrown several locations in Manhattan, Warren moved his company’s headquarters and domestic manufacturing and distribution operations from 191 Hudson Street in New York to Stamford. The new plant was located on the former residential Burley estate between the former rolling mills site in Waterside and Innis Arden golf course in Old Greenwich. The property was leased for 21 years from its developer, Union Estates, Inc., which erected the new building from plans drawn by Irwin S. Chanin (1891-1988) to meet Northam Warren’s specific requirements. The setting, design and layout of the new plant were architecturally innovative for an industrial plant. Approached from Barry Place by a circular drive cut through a grass lawn retaining mature trees, the main entrance tower marked the east elevation as the principal façade. The glass block tower, suggesting the company’s distinctive bottles and opening to a spacious lobby demonstrated the effort '...made to include in the design of the building a reflection that the company manufactures luxury products' as noted by Architectural Record in 1940. Outwardly, the building suggested a headhouse-production loft arrangement of interior spaces, but the interior arrangement was atypical, with a grand entrance lobby and stairs leading to executive offices, research laboratory, color matching studio and employee lunchroom on the second floor and production and warehousing spaces downstairs behind the lobby. The building appears to be the only surviving industrial building designed by New York architect and developer Irwin Salmon Chanin (1891-1988). After receiving a degree in civil engineering from Cooper Union, Chanin established a partnership with his brother Henry in 1919, developing Broadway theaters in the 1920s and Art Deco skyscrapers including the Chanin Building (1929), Majestic (1930) and Century (1931). The Chanins invested in industrial properties in Connecticut in the 1940s after designing and building this plant for Northam Warren and another nearby for Union Industries, investing in the former New Departure plant in West Harford’s Elmwood section. Northam Warren’s manufacturing is also closely associated with World War II. During the war, the plant manufactured 'sniff kits,' an aid in training civilians to detect and identify by scent chemical weapons: mustard gas, phosgene gas, chloropicrin, Lewisite and tear gas. The kits consisted of five glass-stoppered bottles containing harmless synthetics labeled with the information on the form and persistence, effects, and first aid and neutralization instructions in accordance with the Chemical Warfare Service and Office of Civilian Defense. Northam Warren also retooled and trained its largely female workforce to operate drill presses to make radar and communications devices under the name Airadio, Inc. building another plant nearby after VJ day (see resource 3953). The building was occupied by cosmetic manufacturer Cheesbrough

Number of Existing Buildings

One (1) block.

Dates of Construction

1939

Architect

Irwin S. Chanin

Builder

Dyker Building Co., New York

Building Type

• Loft

Architectural Description

The building is comprised of a single block built in 1939 enclosing about 164,000 square feet. The overall footprint measures 242’ x 520’ in plan, massed to suggest a two story production loft in the front (east portion) and one story production shed at the rear. The main entrance is through a three story tower centered on the east elevation. The tower is asymmetrically massed as two engaged vertical rectilinear blocks of different height. The south tower block was originally built of glass block, divided at the height of the first story by a cantilevered concrete slab sheltering the main entrance below. The glass block was recently replaced by a plate glass curtain wall. The north tower block was originally faced with square precast concrete panels arranged as a regular grid. The north block and adjacent cantilevered slab are now faced with bronze-colored metal panels arranged in a bands of varying widths. Elsewhere, the exterior was mostly glazed with tall steel ribbon sash that turned all corners except for the northwest. On the first floor of the north elevation, the ribbon sash is broken by original side entrances. Elsewhere, the sash is continuous except for the projecting tower at front and projecting loading docks at the north end of the west elevation. The second floor of the east portion is arranged as a courtyard surrounding three roof monitors that lighted and vented production and shipping rooms below. The second floor area housed the administrative offices, a laboratory and lunchroom, and the walls were continuously glazed on their interior elevations overlooking the monitors. The west portion, a large warehouse for raw storage, was lighted by two additional large monitors. The outer elevations have been modified by replacement sash, continuous but shorter in height than the original sash, and the brick spandrels have been re-surfaced with composite panels of greater width.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick

Structural System(s)

• Concrete Slab
• Structural Steel or Iron

Roof Form

• Flat
• Monitor

Roof Material

• Other: Modified bitumen

Power Source

• Electricity

Condition

Good

Condition Notes

The buildings are in good condition and appear to be structurally sound. Building 1 retains its original massing but its original glazing has largely been replaced and modified in design, and original masonry claddings have been covered.

Specific Location

One legal parcel totaling 11.77 acres on the west side of Barry Place south of Melrose Place.

Adjacent To

• Railroad

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 003/ 1399 / Link →

Acreage

11.77

Use (Present)

• Commercial

Form Completed By

Wes Haynes

Date

September 2016

Bibliography

1. Sanborn Map Co., 1951.
2. 'A cosmetic factory moves to the country,' in K. Reid, comp. Industrial Buildings: The Architectural Record of a Decade. New York: F. W. Dodge, 1951, 430-432. Reprinted from Architectural Record, September, 1940.
3. 'Nine Factories Sold by General Motors: Chanins Head Syndicate in Deal Near Hartford, Conn,' New York Times, January 3, 1941.
4. 'Northam Warren Co. Caters to Old Need,' Stamford Advocate Tercentenary Edition, June 7, 1941, 52.
5. 'Sniff Kits’ Will Help to Detect Poison Gas,' New York Times, June 4, 1942.
6. 'Connecticut Firms Stress Labor Need,' New York Times, October 5, 1945.
7. M. Kane. 'Northam Warren, pioneer in manicure field,' The American Perfumer & Essential Oil Review, February, 1946, 43-44.