Having recently built a model of the Bennett Building and explored other representations of the cast-iron type in SoHo, I could not resist having a closer look at another one of those unique architectural jewels I came across in Chelsea. I’m talking about the former B. Altman “dry goods” department store at 615-629 Sixth Avenue. The location is part of the former Ladies Mile, a neighborhood at the eastern edge of Chelsea a few blocks across away from the more industrial and less elegant West Chelsea.

The originally four-story building facing Sixth Avenue and West 19th Street was built in 1876 for Benjamin Altman’s store which opened a year later. The same owner added the building at 615 Sixth Avenue and West 18th Street that I’m modeling to the complex in 1889 in the same style as the original building. A new owner added a fifth story to it in 1924 in a completely different style.

The building in Neo-Grec style displays a wealth of details. Beautifully paneled pilasters separate the bays. The 15 feet high ceiling of the lower three stories and the unusually high windows result in a large proportion of glass. The mullioned slender columns between the windows further accentuate the elegant facade.

To decide if I could model the structure, I worked out the design by doing a simple facade. This proof of concept showed me that using a similar approach as for the Bennett Building, I could get a sufficiently detailed and deep facade. It convinced me that I could achieve an adequate representation of the prototype and so I decided to go ahead with a model.

Compressed Design of the Model

My planned New York Central Westside themed layout didn’t really have a space for a building located in the Ladies Mile neighborhood, but the same was true for the Bennett Building. Nevertheless, I used my license as a proto-freelance modeler to locate a spot on the second leg of my L-shaped layout and also determined, that placing the two buildings in the same block would be the best solution. That would leave me with only a slightly larger area than 3.5″ by a 5″.

To fit the building into that area I had to selectively compress it considerably. I chose the 1889 addition as a baseline for compression. I figured out that I could build a 2 by 3 bay long building with the shorter side as the front. While the addition has only 3-window bays, the older section also has shorter 2-window bays. I would use the 2-window bays for entrances. One compromise I made to simplify the design was to use the same design for the second to the fourth floor (the fourth floor has slightly different windows). I also decided to only include four stories with the top story height only about 80% of the lower ones. Finally, I did not include the later added fifth story. Added to the Bennett Building, the four stories of this structure will be as high as the six stories of its neighbor.

Design of the structure

Based on the proof of concept, I used the following layering for the three facade elements (see diagram below):

• Base (wall) layer with the window openings and the gaps for the horizontal moldings and cornices. The base layer also includes the delicately thin mullions and transoms of the large display windows on the ground floor.
• A second layer on top with the window arcs and bases for the mullioned columns. Like the base layer this one also has gaps for the moldings. These will have long enough tabs that insert into the two layers. This will result in perfectly overlaid layers when glued together. The mullioned columns will then be inserted as separate details and glued into the base layer.
• A third thinner layer that provides the decorative elements projecting from the wall, specifically the arched lintels and the bases of the columns. Details are engraved into that layer.
• Window frames and muntins will be part of a separate thin layer under the base.
• The window glazing will be the innermost (lowest) layer under the window frame.

Pilasters will be separately applied on top of the second layer. Simple paneling engraved into the acrylic sheet provides additional details. Corbels supporting the moldings are inserted as one entire piece from the back into the pilasters. They also serve as internal dividers and partial walls. Horizontal structures like moldings and cornices are separately cut parts that are inserted from the front. Obviously, my design would not capture all of the details of the architecture. I was confident, however, that I’d be able to create a model with a simplified design that would show the essentials of the prototype.

Construction

As material for the facades, I chose 1/16″ acrylic sheets, black for the walls, and clear for the window layer. For the pilasters and the corbels, I used the slightly wider white opaque sheets. They are slightly thicker than the black and clear sheets. For the top layer used for engraved details and for the window frame layer I used 0.017″ laser board.

Once the design was clear, I proceeded step by step with the layers. After I had lasered all three facade layers and moldings, I primed and spray-painted. For this I used both white and light gray Tamiya primer. I then glued the facade layers for the front and the sides using the tabs of the moldings as guides. This resulted in perfectly fitting facade sections. To glue the acrylic parts I used Plastruct Bondene. This worked very well and did not impact Tamiya-painted surfaces.

I then cut the columns of the mullions using the chopper from 1/16″ Plastruct clear acrylic rods. I then inserted and glued them into the space left on the second layer. With this, the resulting facade was complete and just had to get another coating of Tamiya light gray.

With all three facade segments completed, I was able to assemble the complete facade from the three separate pieces. Two adjacent segments would interlock by inserting the corbels into the holes in the wall and in the corner pilasters. Since I still had to be able to insert floors and needed to keep the side walls flexible I had to wait gluing everything together at the corners. Finally, I also added the moldings and cornices by inserting their tabs into the holes of the walls. The envelope of the structure was now complete as the right photo above shows.

I yet had to add the window layer, the glass panes, and the internal bracing. Just like before, I wanted floors and some walls as support. I didn’t need complete walls from front to back but I wanted a floor for every story. The large windows made the structure very transparent and missing floors would have been noticeable. I decided, however, to separate every floor. For both walls and floors I used black 1/16″ thick acrylic sheet. For lighting I left a rectangular area in all but the first floor open. As the last step, I inserted the combined walls and corbels from the back (interlocking with the floors) through the gaps of the glass pane, the window and wall layers. This was a tight fit but with a little help from a needle file, it worked perfectly. And I didn’t even have to use glue.

Dealing With an Open and Transparent Model

Looking at my half-finished model, I noticed that the big windows made the building very open. I did not want to spend a lot of time on designing an interior, nor would that have really worked in N scale. I needed an elegant and prototypical way to make the windows more opaque. For the transom windows above the entrances I had already used light engraving with the laser to fog the glass and that worked surprisingly well.

To take this idea a little further, I designed an engraving pattern based on some random curtains I found on the internet. I also tested various shapes and styles of curtains that would help avoid uniform windows. I had to apply the engraving of the curtains on the back side while the frosting of the transom windows had to be on the front side. Cutting and/or engraving with a laser cutter on both sides of a sheet is a challenge. I had to be very careful when manually flipping the cut glass pane between the two steps. A slight misalignment of the pane before the second step would lead to a visible mismatch of the curtains.

Fortunately, the symmetrical shape of the glass pane facilitated this step. Furthermore, I also found that by applying a light dusting of light gray spray-paint over the masked glass pane, the curtains became even more real. Both the clear and spray-painted versions made for excellent view blockers – problem solved.

Wrap-up

There are still a few missing pieces left. First, the display windows on the ground floor still show an empty room. I’ll have to fill that or at least block the view by some product displays. I will also have to add signs of course for the businesses in the building. And again, the building needs lighting.