AWNING CARPET

New Jersey

Thanks to Slippery When Wet, Bon Jovi procured the sort of world domination dreamt of by demented European dictators and Bond villains--at which point the band decided that they didn't really want to rule the planet. Though New Jersey contains several Jovi stadium anthems, including the single "Bad Medicine," and though the album's videos showed that the intricately layered and feathered coiffures were intact, this is where Bon Jovi began changing. The title offers a broad hint as to what Jon Bon Jovi in particular was trying to change into: short of renaming the album I Come from the Same Place as Bruce Springsteen, he could scarcely have been more obvious about his intentions. "Living in Sin," indeed, takes Bon Jovi's increasing obsession with Springsteen to the verge of pastiche. --Andrew Mueller

Downtown Brooklyn

Founded in 1883, the New York and New Jersey Telephone and Telegraph Company served the ever-increasing populations of Long Island, Staten Island and northern New Jersey.

The fast growth of the city and the company created the need for a large headquarters building for this local service provider of the Bell system.

This elaborate and elegantly designed Beaux- Arts style building served as a major statement of the company’s expansion in the area, providing offices and telephone switching in the heart of Brooklyn’s expanding business district.

The company installed and maintained telephone wires and provided telephone service to more than 16,000 subscribers in 1897 when this building was constructed. Designed by leading Brooklyn architect Rudolphe L. Daus, the building’s distinctive ornamentation establishes a strong presence on this busy street corner. Daus drew on his classical French training to create a dramatic structure, epitomized by the rounded corner accented by an elaborate cartouche and a deep, projecting cornice. These design features are balanced by oversized arches resting on engaged columns and broad rustication of the lower floors.

The New York and New Jersey Telephone Company Building occupies an almost square site at the corner of Willoughby and Lawrence Streets in downtown Brooklyn. Eight stories tall, it is faced with light tan brick, limestone and terra cotta and terminates in a broadly projecting copper cornice. The two street facades are almost identical, each having three bays, with an additional bay located at the rounded corner where the two sides join together. Most of the bays (except where there are building entrances) hold three, paired windows. The main entrance to the building is in the easternmost bay of the Willoughby Street facade, and the Lawrence Street facade has an altered service entrance on the ground floor of the central bay. All the windows have been changed to 1/1 double-hung aluminum sash. Stone cornices divide the building horizontally above the first, fourth and sixth stories.

There is an additional narrow service bay to the east of the building’s main entrance on Willoughby Street, slightly recessed from the main plane of the building. The facade treatment of this additional section is very plain, with unadorned single window openings and plain brick facing, except for a continuation of the stone cornices above the first, fourth and sixth stories. A plain, non-historic service door is located at the ground floor of this section.

The ground story is faced with rusticated stone which has been given a cement coating. On Lawrence Street, the central bay has a metal stoop leading to a pair of replacement metal doors surrounded by cement infill. The rest of the ground story windows are partially covered by deep fabric awnings. The central window of the corner bay has been replaced by a glass door, reached by cement stairs with modern metal railings. The flanking windows have fixed, single-pane sash. The double-height, main entrance to the building is located in the eastern bay on Willoughby Street. It consists of a large, rounded, deeply-set archway which is framed by a full entablature. Its cornice is engraved with the words, “Telephone Company.” The side piers, which support this cornice, are adorned with terra-cotta ornament in the form of early telephones with intertwined wires and ear pieces. Above each of the capitals of these piers is a spread-wing eagle perched on an embellished medallion. The rounded archway is fronted by moldings and a keystone with a head. Its reveal is coffered and it is supported by double columns with Corinthian capitals. Within the arch, the rectangular door opening is surrounded by a wide molding ornamented with emblems related to telephones, such as wires, early receivers and earpieces. A triangular pediment rises above the doorway, within the arch.

Stone cornices are located below the second and above the fourth stories, which are faced with brick laid to suggest rustication. Each bay has three paired windows with continuous stone sills, and lintels formed by flat brick arches. Above the fourth story, the wide stone cornice is punctuated by ornate terracotta medallions mounted between each bay. At the rounded corner bay, this cornice projects slightly and is carried on paired brackets. The fifth and sixth stories are linked by double-height, engaged columns set on stone bases. The center window of the fifth story is topped by a triangular pediment supported by smaller columns. Above the sixth story, another deep cornice rings the building, recessed slightly within -5 - each bay and projecting between them. Each bay of the seventh story holds a large rounded arch with moldings and an elaborate terra cotta keystone. Tripartite window are set within each arch. The rounded corner bay at this level is pierced by a large oculus window enhanced by ornate terra-cotta ornament including a head, volutes and foliage.

The faded and painted-over old sign for the defunct Hoboken Florist can be seen in a certain light above the current storefront for Classic Cleaners, on the corner of Grand and 6th. Hoboken, NJ, 05/08/10