New York: Warren Chemical & Manufacturing Co., [circa 1894].
Price: $4,600.00
Hardcover. Oblong folio. Measuring 12.5" x 10.5". [30]pp. Contemporary full dark brown calf, gilt lettering on front cover, black string-tie at gutter margin. Printed with "Compliments of Warren Chemical & Manufacturing Co." on front pastedown, printed contents page. Moderate rubbing on the boards, a little foxing on the card mounts, very good or better.
The album contains 29 glossy Woodburytype photos tipped onto thick printed cardstock leaves, each leaf with linen hinge, with printed text above and below the image. Most images ranging from 6.5" x 4.5" to 9" x 2.5". All images still very bright and crisp. Photographs of buildings covered with Warren’s Anchor Brand natural asphalt roofing advertising their roofing on buildings, factories, and homes in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama, and Canada.
A scarce and fascinating photographic catalogue promoting the Anchor Brand Asphalt Roofing from Warren Chemical. Warren Chemical was founded by Herbert M. Warren and his five brothers, who were the pioneers in developing the coal tar industry in the United States. In 1847, Samuel and Cyrus Warren discovered that coal tar, a waste product of the gas lighting industry, made an ideal adhesive for producing asphalt built-up roofs. Initially the gas companies paid them to haul the waste away, which established an invaluable resource to build up a thriving business. Herbert Warren, and his brother, E. Burgess Warren founded a branch of the family business in Philadelphia in 1852 which focused on roofing and paving, as well as drawing upon the extensive oil fields in Pennsylvania for raw materials.
This catalogue advertises many customers, owners of notable Gilded Age edifices, the Warren Chemical Co. had roofed. These include the Freight Houses of the West Shore Railroad Co. in Weehawken, New Jersey; The American Encaustic Tile Company in Zanesville, Ohio; the newly completed Allegheny County Court House and Jail in Pittsburgh designed by H.H. Richardson; the Thomson-Houston Electric Co. Factory in Lynn, Massachusetts built in 1888; the Victorian Romanesque Revival Union Depot in Detroit, Michigan with its massive four-clock tower; the Harmony Mills factory building in Cohoes, New York, which when it was finished in 1872 was the largest individual cotton factory in the world; Moerlein Brewing Co. Building, Cincinnati, Ohio which was completed in 1885; as well as the massive Henry G. Marquand Mansion completed in 1884, built by Richard Morris Hunt.
The Warren Company also roofed the Born Brewery in Columbus, Ohio, Cheney Brothers Silk Mills in Connecticut, The Pullman Building in Chicago, Louisville Tobacco Warehouse in Louisville, Kentucky, the Eastman-Kodak Factory in Rochester, The New York Tribune building, The Union League Club House and the United Bank Building, both in New York City, the Brooklyn Eagle Building, and many others. A pleasing and elaborate trade catalog. *OCLC* locates just two copies.
Item #399189
