John B. Snook

John Butler Snook (1815–1901) was an American architect who practiced in New York City and was responsible for the design of a number of notable cast-iron buildings, most of which are now in and around the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, as well as the original Grand Central Depot, which preceded the current Grand Central Terminal.

Born in England, Snook emigrated to the United States with his family as a child. He was trained as a carpenter in his father's carpentry business, and worked as a bookkeeper and draftsman there as well. He was largely self-taught as an architect. His first work in the field was in partnership with William Beer from 1837–40, then in 1842 he joined the firm of Joseph Trench. Within five years he was the junior partner in the firm, which became Trench and Snook, in which capacity he was the designer of the A. T. Stewart department store (1846) at 280 Broadway between Duane and Rector Streets, the first department store in America. The store was the first Anglo-Italinate style building in New York, and a significant factor in introducing that style to the United States. Its "palazzo mode – borrowed from Charles Barry's London clubs" set a style for New York commercial hotels that lasted until mid-century.

In Snook's partnership with Trench he was also the architect of the brownstone-sheathed Metropolitan Hotel (1851–52) – erected in the same "palazzo" style – on Broadway at Prince Street; the Boreel Building (1849–50), a full block building bounded by Broadway, Cedar, Thames, and Temple Streets, the site of the former City Hotel, which Trench and Snook's palace hotels had rendered out-of-date; and the marble-clad St. Nicholas Hotel (1854) on Broadway between Broome and Spring Streets; although the design of the last has also been attributed to Griffith Thomas.

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