Starrett-Lehigh Building
| Starrett-Lehigh Building | |
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 Location within New York City
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | International Style/Art Deco |
| Location | 601 West 26th Street Manhattan, New York City United States |
| Coordinates | 40°45′06″N 74°00′24″W / 40.75167°N 74.00667°WCoordinates: 40°45′06″N 74°00′24″W / 40.75167°N 74.00667°W |
| Construction started | 1930 |
| Completed | 1931 |
| Renovated | 1998 |
| Cost | $6–9 million (est.) |
| Owner | RXR Realty |
| Height | 90.22 m |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 19 |
| Floor area | 2,300,00 square feet |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Cory and Cory |
| Website | |
| www |
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| Designated | October 7, 1986 |
The Starrett-Lehigh Building at 601 West 26th Street between Eleventh and Twelfth Avenues and between 26th and 27th Streets in Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City, is a full-block freight terminal, warehouse and office building. It was built in 1930–1 as a joint venture of the Starrett real-estate interests and the Lehigh Valley Railroad on a lot where the railroad had its previous freight terminal, and was designed by the firm of (Russell G.) Cory & (Walter M.) Cory, with Yasuo Matsui the associate architect and the firm of Purdy & Henderson the consulting engineers.
The building features large setbacks, polygonal corners, and alternating bands of steel strip windows, brickwork and concrete floorplates, creating a striking effect described by architectural critic Lewis Mumford in 1931: "the contrast between the long, continuous red-brick bands and the green-framed windows, with sapphire reflections or depths, is as sound a use of color as one can see about the city." The modernity of the building's design made it one of the few American structures not designed by a major architect cited in the 1932 "Modern Architecture: International Exhibition" show of the Museum of Modern Art, – from whence derives the name of the International Style of architecture.
Like the Terminal Warehouse Central Stores Building on the next block uptown, trains could be driven directly into the ground floor of the building, which included not only a rail yard, but also loading and unloading facilities for trucks, warehouse areas for storage, repackaging, redistribution, and manufacturing facilities as well as areas to display goods. The office section is above the north facade. The structural requirements for the building, which has 26 million cubic feet of space, 1.8 million square feet of which is rentable, necessitated innovative interior engineering. During construction, the geology of the site forced a change from the original plan of a uniform 15-story building to the current layout of a 19-story section in the middle, flanked by 9-story wing on the west, and an eastern one of 18 stories.
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