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{{Short description|Building complex in the Bronx, New York}}
{{Featured article}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox building
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The '''American Bank Note Company Printing Plant''' is a repurposed printing plant in the [[Hunts Point, Bronx|Hunts Point]] neighborhood of [[the Bronx]] in New York City. The main structure includes three interconnected buildings.<ref name=":0" group="note" /> The Lafayette wing, spanning the south side of the block, is the longest and tallest, incorporating an entrance at the base of a nine-story tower. The lower,
The plant was built in 1909{{Ndash}}1911 by the American Bank Note Company contemporaneously with their corporate headquarters at [[American Bank Note Company Building|70 Broad Street]], Manhattan. The design by [[Kirby, Petit & Green]] (who also designed the Broad Street building) incorporated advanced engineering ideas such as the [[Saw-tooth roof|sawtooth roof]] and large windows for improved lighting, unit drive electric motors in lieu of [[line shaft]]s, and increased electrical capacity; layout was based on a design philosophy of specifying the [[production line]]s first, followed by the building which could enclose them. A small detached garage at the rear of the block was added in approximately 1911 and the Barretto wing was added to the east side of the property in 1912. Several building expansions took place between 1912 and 1928.
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A wide variety of financial documents, including international [[currency]], were printed at the plant. At one point, over five million documents were produced per day, including half the [[Security (finance)|securities]] being traded on the [[New York Stock Exchange]]. Although the plant printed money for countries around the world, it was best known for producing currencies for countries in [[Latin America]]. The plant also housed a research department which worked to improve materials and processes to deter [[Forgery|forgeries]].
The plant was the target of a terrorist bombing in 1977 with the site chosen specifically because it was printing currency for Latin American countries. The facility was used by American Bank Note until about 1984 after which the property has changed hands several times, undergone a series of renovations, and been designated a [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|New York City landmark]]. {{As of|2024|}}, it has been subdivided, with major tenants including the [[John V. Lindsay Wildcat Academy Charter School]] and the [[New York City Human Resources Administration]].
==Previous land use==
[[File:Woodside Mansion circa 1913.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Woodside Mansion, sometime before 1913 (New York)|alt=Historical photograph of Woodside Mansion with trees surrounding it. The front of the house has six columns in the Doric style, two stories tall. The ground slopes up gently from the photographer's location to the building.]]
Until the late 19th century, the land where the plant stands was part of the [[West Farms, Bronx#History|village of West Farms]] in [[Westchester County]].<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://6tocelebrate.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Hunts-Point_web2.pdf |title=A Guide to Historic New York City Neighborhoods: Hunts Point, The Bronx |date=2023 |publisher=Historic Districts Council |page=3 |access-date=December 13, 2023 |archive-date=August 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230812150909/http://6tocelebrate.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Hunts-Point_web2.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> The area that is now the Barretto Street block was part of the {{Convert|85|acre|ha|abbr=|adj=on}}<ref>{{Cite map |title=Towns of West Farms and Morrisania, Weschester Co., N.Y. |date=1872 |publisher=J.B. Beers & Co. |publication-place=New York |url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/417d9680-29d9-0134-a8e8-00505686a51c |access-date=January 5, 2024 |via=[[New York Public Library|New York Public Library: Digital Collections]] (image id 56815703) |archive-date=December 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217215119/https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/417d9680-29d9-0134-a8e8-00505686a51c |url-status=live}}</ref> estate of wealthy tea merchant [[Edward G. Faile]], where the Faile Mansion (known as Woodside) was built in 1832.<ref name="book_Vale">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QjNDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA445 |title=Valentine's Manual{{!}}Valentine's Manual of Old New York |publisher=[[Valentine's Manual|Valentine's Manual Inc]] |year=1920 |editor-last=Brown |editor-first=Henry Collins |volume=
The area was [[City of Greater New York|annexed to New York City]] in 1874.<ref name="arch_TheL">{{Cite web |last=Hilton |first=Alexandra |date=May 27, 2017 |title=The Last County: The Bronx |url=http://www.archives.nyc/blog/2017/5/25/the-last-county-the-bronx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507184451/https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2017/5/25/the-last-county-the-bronx |archive-date=May 7, 2019 |access-date=February 3, 2018 |work=NYC Department of Records & Information Services}}</ref> In 1904, the estate was sold to the [[Central Realty, Bond & Trust Company]] for about $1{{nbsp}}million (equivalent to ${{format price|{{inflation|US|1000000|1908}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}),{{Inflation/fn|US|group=note}} including 1,299 lots "bounded by Dongan Street, Intervale Avenue, Southern Boulevard, Longwood Avenue, Lafayette Avenue, Hunt's Point Road, Gilbert Place, and the Bronx River".<ref name="book_Real">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJ5RAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA842 |title=Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide |date=October 22, 1904 |publisher=F. W. Dodge Corporation |location=New York |page=842 |access-date=February 3, 2018 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In September 1908, a portion of the estate comprising "over 400 lots" was acquired by the George F. Johnson's Sons Company, a real-estate developer building two-family houses in the Bronx.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 27, 1908 |title=Big Bronx Operation: Thirty Two-Family Houses to be Built in the Hunt's Point Section |language=en-US |page=12 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1908/09/27/archives/big-bronx-operation-thirty-twofamily-houses-to-be-built-in-the.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=November 21, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In November of that year, 123 lots were resold to [[ABCorp|American Bank Note]], including "all the property on the northerly side of Lafayette Ave, from Manida St. to the tracks of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad{{nbsp}}... all the property on both sides of Garrison Ave, from Manida St. to Lafayette Ave{{nbsp}}... all the property between these boundaries except eighteen lots on Manida Street{{nbsp}}... upon which two-family houses are being erected."<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 21, 1908 |title=The Real Estate Market: Bronx |page=20 |work=[[New York Post|The Evening Post]] |location=New York |url=https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=evpo19081121-01&dliv=userclipping&pageoid=1.20&cliparea=1.20%2C1289%2C3862%2C733%2C1254&factor=3&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------- |oclc=02260927 |access-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121161759/https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=evpo19081121-01&dliv=userclipping&pageoid=1.20&cliparea=1.20,1289,3862,733,1254&factor=3&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------- |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1910, the size of the Barretto Street block was increased as a result of a land swap between American Bank Note and the city government. The block gained a strip of land on the northeast side of the property and Barretto Street was moved slightly north of its original location.<ref name="nyc.lpc-report">{{Cite report |url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/American_Bank_Note%20.pdf |title=American Bank Note Company Printing Plant |date=February 5, 2008 |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |id=Designation List 400, LP-2298 |access-date=February 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207232957/http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/American_Bank_Note%20.pdf |archive-date=February 7, 2017}}</ref>{{Rp|page=11|location=}}
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In 1908, American Bank Note built [[American Bank Note Company Building|a new building at 70 Broad Street]], Manhattan, into which they moved their administrative and sales offices. In parallel with this effort, the company was looking for a separate location into which they could move their production facilities; they felt that housing administration and production in separate locations would increase efficiency.<ref name="landmarks-70-broad">{{Cite web |date=June 24, 1997 |title=American Bank Note Company Office Building |url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/americanbank.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316182624/http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/americanbank.pdf |archive-date=March 16, 2018 |access-date=February 7, 2018 |work=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |language=en |id=Designation List 283, LP-1955}}</ref>{{Rp|page=2}} The search culminated in the 1908 purchase of a large tract of land including the Barretto Street block from George Johnson.<ref name="time_competing-plans">{{Cite news |date=May 23, 1909 |title=Completing Plans for Immense Plant of American Bank Note Company |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1909/05/23/106718233.html?pageNumber=14 |url-access=subscription |access-date=February 3, 2018 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=September 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924192544/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1909/05/23/106718233.html?pageNumber=14 |url-status=live}}</ref> In his 1913 history of the Bronx, Harry Cook noted that "The choice of its present site in the Hunt's Point section of the Bronx was the result of a [thorough] canvas of all the available sections in Greater New York".<ref name="Cook-1913">{{Cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Harry T. |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/14001375/ |title=The Borough of the Bronx 1639–1913 |last2=Kaplan |first2=Nathan J. |publisher=Harry Cook |year=1913 |location=New York |oclc=806671 |access-date=September 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531050614/https://www.loc.gov/item/14001375/ |archive-date=May 31, 2023 |url-status=live |via=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref>{{Rp|page=41}} One factor in the site selection was proximity to the [[New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad]] line; discussions were held with the railroad to ensure they would be able to handle the plant's "considerable freight delivery needs" totaling {{Convert|10000|ST}} per year of paper and other supplies.<ref name="nyc.lpc-report" />{{Rp|page=3}}
The sale closed on November 20, 1908. ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote that they expected the Trinity Place plant would be sold once the new Bronx facility was in operation. The total cost for the project was to be greater than $2{{nbsp}}million (${{format price|{{inflation|US|2000000|1908}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}), with American Bank Note having a current [[
American Bank Note engaged the architecture firm of [[Kirby, Petit & Green]] (who also designed the company's downtown headquarters) for the building design.<ref name="nyc.landmark">{{Cite web |last=de Bourbon |first=Lisi |date=February 5, 2008 |title=Commission Mints Securities Printing Plant in The Bronx as New York City Landmark |url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/press/02_05_08.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224113336/https://www1.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/press/02_05_08.pdf |archive-date=February 24, 2017 |access-date=February 1, 2018 |work=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |id=No. 08-01}}</ref> Kirby, Petit & Green designed several printing plants around this time, including San Francisco's Hearst Building in 1908, housing the printing plant for the ''[[San Francisco Examiner]],'' and a plant in [[Garden City, New York|Garden City, Long Island]], for the [[Doubleday (publisher)|Country Life Press]] in 1910.<ref name="landmarks-70-broad" />{{Rp|page=2}} The firm was preparing preliminary plans before the land purchase was completed.<ref name="time_plant-2500" />
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These were the fiftieth and fifty-first attacks attributed to the group in the previous three years.<ref name="nyti_A.L." /> The next day, a second [[bomb threat]] against the plant was phoned into the ''[[New York Daily News|Daily News]]''. This turned out to be a hoax by a local resident who was distraught over personal issues. The man drove up to the plant while the police were sifting through rubble from the previous day's attack, announced that he had a [[hand grenade]], and dropped it. The grenade failed to explode and was found to be a harmless practice device.<ref name="nyti_Thre">{{Cite news |date=March 22, 1977 |title=Threat of a 3d Bomb A Frightening Hoax |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/22/archives/threat-of-a-3d-bomb-a-frightening-hoax.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=February 3, 2018 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180220101632/http://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/22/archives/threat-of-a-3d-bomb-a-frightening-hoax.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
==Post–Bank Note==
By 1984 or 1985 (sources differ), with the plant having only about 500 employees, American Bank Note moved their printing facilities to a new site in [[Blauvelt, New York]].<ref name="nyc.lpc-report" />{{Rp|6}}<ref name="nyti_Stre" /><ref name="Siegal-2000">{{Cite news |last=Siegal |first=Nina |date=April 10, 2000 |title=At a Long-Vacant Plant, Dabs of Life |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/10/nyregion/at-a-long-vacant-plant-dabs-of-life.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227170012/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/10/nyregion/at-a-long-vacant-plant-dabs-of-life.html |archive-date=February 27, 2020 |access-date=December 3, 2023 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 1985, the site was purchased by Walter Cahn and Max Blauner who repurposed it as the ''Bronx Apparel Center.'' The purchase and renovation costs
In 1997, the [[John V. Lindsay Wildcat Academy Charter School]] opened their Hunts Point campus in the complex, occupying the fourth through sixth floors<ref group="note">Most sources describe the Lafayette wing as having four floors plus several basement levels which are partially above ground at the west end of the downward-sloping block. Some modern sources refer to six floors.</ref> of the Lafayette wing.<ref name="nyti_Scho">{{Cite news |last=Waldman |first=Amy |date=June 10, 1999 |title=School of the Second Chance; Turning Troubled Students Around at Wildcat High |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/10/nyregion/school-of-the-second-chance-turning-troubled-students-around-at-wildcat-high.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912051642/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/10/nyregion/school-of-the-second-chance-turning-troubled-students-around-at-wildcat-high.html |archive-date=September 12, 2017 |access-date=February 1, 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="Beekman-2009">{{Cite news |last=Beekman |first=Daniel |date=May 15, 2009 |title=Wildcat Academy Banks on Banknote |url=https://nypost.com/2009/05/15/wildcat-academy-banks-on-banknote/ |access-date=January 10, 2024 |work=[[The New York Post]] |issn=2641-4139}}</ref> The campus, which serves ninth and tenth grade students, includes the school's culinary internship program, the student-run ''JVL Wildcat Café'' and a [[hydroponics]] garden.<ref name="brie_Hunt_wildcat">{{Cite web |last=Carr |first=Shanice |date=August 28, 2013 |title=Wildcat Academy Students Win National Gardening Award |url=http://huntspointexpress.com/2013/08/28/wildcat-academy-students-win-national-gardening-award/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219022258/http://huntspointexpress.com/2013/08/28/wildcat-academy-students-win-national-gardening-award/ |archive-date=February 19, 2020 |access-date=February 1, 2018 |work=The Hunts Point Express}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Culinary & Hydroponics |url=https://www.jvlwildcat.org/culinary-hydroponics |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602194548/https://www.jvlwildcat.org/culinary-hydroponics |archive-date=June 2, 2023 |access-date=December 3, 2023 |website=John V. Lindsay Wildcat Academy Charter School}}</ref> The space was renovated in 2005 using a $1{{nbsp}}million grant from the [[Charles Hayden Foundation]],<ref name="hpexpress-charter-school">{{Cite web |author=Joe Hirsch |date=June 1, 2009 |title=Charter School Signs on to Stay in BankNote |url=http://brie.hunter.cuny.edu/hpe/2009/06/01/charter-school-signs-on-to-stay-in-banknote/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180205072641/http://brie.hunter.cuny.edu/hpe/2009/06/01/charter-school-signs-on-to-stay-in-banknote/ |archive-date=February 5, 2018 |access-date=February 4, 2018 |work=The Hunts Point Express |quote=Hunts Point's historic BankNote building will continue to be home to the John V. Lindsay Wildcat Academy Charter School, at least until 2022.}}</ref> at which time they added a {{Convert|5000|sqft|adj=on}} "professional-grade" kitchen for their new culinary program.<ref name="Beekman-2009" /> The school renewed their lease in 2009, citing the 2005 improvements as a major factor in their decision to renew. The initial asking price was about $25 per square foot, although the final agreed rent was not made public.<ref name="hpexpress-charter-school" />
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==Transportation==
The building is adjacent to the [[New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
The site is one block away from [[Bruckner Boulevard]] with private parking adjacent to the Garrison wing.<ref name="The BankNote" /> The nearest [[New York City Subway|subway stations]] are [[Hunts Point Avenue (IRT Pelham Line)|Hunts Point Avenue]] and [[Longwood Avenue (IRT Pelham Line)|Longwood Avenue]], providing access to Manhattan via the {{NYCS trains|Pelham local}}. The [[Bx6 (New York City bus)|Bx6]] bus line runs along Hunts Point Avenue. Bicycle access is via the [[South Bronx Greenway]].<ref name="nyc-edc-south-bronx-greenway">{{Cite web |date=November 16, 2015 |title=Mayor de Blasio, NYCEDC, Congress Member Serrano, Speaker Mark-Viverito, Council Member Arroyo And Borough President Diaz Jr. Announce Opening of Randall's Island Connector |url=https://edc.nyc/press-release/mayor-de-blasio-nycedc-congress-memnber-serrano-speaker-mark-viverito-council-member |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219185611/https://edc.nyc/press-release/mayor-de-blasio-nycedc-congress-memnber-serrano-speaker-mark-viverito-council-member |archive-date=February 19, 2020 |access-date=February 19, 2020 |work=[[New York City Economic Development Corporation]]}}</ref>
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[[Category:New York City Designated Landmarks in the Bronx]]
[[Category:Hunts Point, Bronx]]
[[Category:ABCorp|Printing Plant]]
[[Category:1911 establishments in New York City]]
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