New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
HOISTING A PIECE OF HISTORY
Former ACME Furniture building to become ‘green’ apartment complex
NEW HAVEN — Two pieces of New Haven industrial history were preserved Monday as a giant crane lifted locally made elevator mechanisms dating back to 1877 and 1916 off the roof of the former ACME Furniture building at 33 Crown St. to clear the way for an 18-unit, mass timber “green” apartment building.
A crane operator and riggers from Smedley Crane & Rigging of Branford joined developer Jeff Spiritos and brothers Robert and Rick Greenberg, whose grandfather moved ACME into the building decades ago.
The 1877 elevator mechanism, said to be the oldest of its kind, and the 1916 elevator mechanism, built by Eastern Machinery and the late Fredrick Farnsworth, who once served as mayor of New Haven, were hoisted off the roof of the four-story ACME building and lowered gently onto a flatbed truck parked on Crown Street.
After an early start, the roof above the older elevator mechanism, which does not have a brand name, was removed about 9:45 a.m., with the elevator following shortly before 10:30 a.m. Greenberg said that elevator originally was used by S.H. Street Co., which made baking sodas.
The second, newer elevator was placed on the flatbed at 1:23 p.m., as onlookers checked out the scene within the city’s Ninth Square neighborhood.
Farnsworth’s great grandson, Paul Farnsworth, who still runs what now is the Torrington-based Elevator Service Co. Inc., was on hand to watch the work take place. The elevator his family built was still in operation until a couple of months ago, said Rob Greenberg, whose father formerly owned the building.
Both elevators will now go to a new, nonprofit Lost in New Haven museum that Rob Greenberg, an artist, preservationist and city historian, is creating at 80 Hamilton St. — the former Joseph Cohn Paint building — where they will be set up in vignettes about early New Haven
elevator history, Greenberg said.
“These are vital to tell the story of the immigrants that built New Haven,” Greenberg said as two newer immigrants, Jose Vicente Torrez and Marlon Gonzalez — both Bridgeport residents who were born in Nicaragua — continued to work on freeing the second elevator.
In September, a contractor working for Spiritos will begin adding two more stories and a roof deck to what will become the “ACME Timber Lofts,” using “mass timber,” a type of lumber using layers of cross-laminated timber, or CLT, that are as strong as concrete.
The project, with groundfloor retail, will use panels as long as 60 feet, with pre-cut holes for plumbing, sprinkler and electrical utilities. The technology came from Austria, jumping to the U.S. in 2005-08, Spiritos has said. The wood is more durable, healthier and can build projects 20 percent faster, yet only costs 5 percent to 7 percent more, he said.
It also will employ passive environmental design.
Why would a New Yorkbased developed like Spiritos go through the trouble and expense of preserving antique machinery?
“I just support what Rob is trying to do to save New Haven history and since there’s an opportunity to preserve them the way that Rob wants to,” it’s worth doing, Spiritos said as Greenberg and two laborers for a contractor worked to separate the roof over the older elevator so it could first be hoisted up and out of the building and onto the flatbed. With regard to the expense, “I would just say that I’m pleased to be able to work on a 150-year-old building” and “yes, there are extra costs, but in the scheme of the overall cost, it’s not significant,” Spiritos said.
“Jeff is doing what should be done,” Greenberg said. “What Jeff Spiritos is doing is an example of what we should be doing in New Haven.”
“I’ve been working on this project since before my father sold the building,” said Greenberg. He said his grandfather bought the building in the 1940s, originally operating the store as Central Furniture, then changing it to ACME Office Furniture when his father took over in 1968.
The Farnsworth family built the newer elevator in its former factory at Gregory and Ashmun streets.
According to a log entry in a book Farnsworth had with him, it was installed in the building on Oct. 20, 1916. It was in continuous use for 106 years, Farnsworth said.
“I’m thrilled” to see the elevator preserved, said Farnsworth. “I’m the fourth generation of my family to be in this business” and “the elevator was in full-time operation 2-3 months ago. In fact, I did a service call earlier in the summer.”
Smedley, the crane company, was founded in New Haven in 1860.
Rob Greenberg, a history buff — and particularly a fan of New Haven industrial history — pointed out that he was using New Haven-made tools to separate the elevator mechanism from the roof and housing.
“They’re the strongest made!” he said. “They’re the only ones that can do it!”
He pointed out that one tool he was using was forged in New Haven by The Belden Machine Co. and another was made by the K & B Co., also in New Haven. Both had the names and manufacture cast into the metal.
“I mean, it’s a great story,” Greenberg said. “Only New Haven tools can take apart a New Haven machine!”