REPAUPO, NJ — The Thursday, August 15 Summer Extravaganza at S&S Auction will be led by a monumental bronze master clock built for the Singer Sewing Machine Company building in Manhattan.
The clock, once situated on the central landing of the rear stairs of the lobby, controlled the hundreds of other clocks in the building, ensuring they all displayed the same time. Salvaged when the building was torn down half a century ago, it is estimated at $30,000-$50,000.
The internal mechanism of the clock was built by the Magenta Master Clock Co. of Switzerland. However, its primary appeal is its massive 8ft 6in by 3ft cast bronze case made to match the building’s extraordinary no-expense-spared interior.
The early years of the 20th century were the pinnacle of prosperity for the Singer Manufacturing Company. The 47-story office building at Liberty Street and Broadway, designed by Ernest Flagg and completed in 1908, was the tallest building in the world for a year.
Flagg’s Beaux Arts design was lavished with ornamentation but, as the building was intended to be fireproof, use of wood and other combustible material was kept to a minimum. Wood furniture was only used in executive offices on the 34th floor. Elsewhere, cast metal and plasterwork provided the interior trim.
More than 38 tons of ornamental bronze work was used to complement Pavonazzo and Montarenti Sienna marble in the lower floors of the building. According to the building’s chief engineer Otto Francis Semsch, “Nowhere … in recent work has greater advantage been taken of the possibilities of the enrichment of marble by the use of decorative bronze than in the Singer Building.”
Each of the columns in the lobby was decorated with a bronze medallion depicting either the Singer Company’s monogram or a needle, thread, and bobbin — emblems that also adorn the clock case. Period photographs show it in situ prior to its removal in 1968 when the building was demolished.
The clock is complemented by some good examples of French revivalist cabinetmaking from the late 19th and early 20th century. Described as ‘Linke quality,’ a marble-topped commode with flame mahogany veneers, marquetry scrolls, and crisp gilt bronzework is estimated at $4,000-$8,000, while an inlaid and bronze mounted side cabinet made to a design by Louis XVI-period cabinetmaker Adam Weisweiler has an estimate of $6,000-$9,000.
