Page 105 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript Americana - Sale 2310 - April 16, 2013

222 ● (NEW YORK CITY.) Pair of project logs from the Crimmins excavation
firm. 276, 155 manuscript pages. Oblong folio, original 1/2 calf, worn; internally clean and
legible with minor wear, one leaf detached.
New York, 1891-97 and 1901-05 [2,000/3,000]
John Daniel Crimmins (1844-1917) was a prominent New York excavating and paving
contractor, and one of the city’s most prominent Irish-American citizens. He took over his
father’s contracting business in 1873 and expanded it rapidly; at its peak, he employed as
many as 12,000 men.
These work logs offer comprehensive information on hundreds of Crimmins projects, often with
detailed plat maps, diagrams, copies of contracts, and notes on each project’s progress. As a sampling,
the first three projects described are the foundations for William Waldorf Astor’s Netherland
Hotel; the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (the future site of the Empire State Building); and the
Schaefer brewery on 51st Street. Other projects include the Tiffany lamp factory-studio at 102
East 25th Street—the building now adjacent to the Swann world headquarters (page I:51); the
Metropolitan Club building designed by McKim, Mead & White (page I:53); the New York
Athletic Club (page I:170); and Brinckerhoff and Milbank Halls at Barnard College (pages
I:176, 224-6). The volume also includes long running daily work logs for the Third Avenue
Cable Road (pages I:81-89) and pay lists of individual stone breakers on the Lexington &
Columbus Avenue Cable and related projects (pages I:100-5, etc.).
The second volume dates from after the 1897 retirement of John D. Crimmins, when the firm
was operated by his sons under the name T.E. & Thomas Crimmins. Interesting projects
include homes for statesman Elihu Root (page II:86) and brewery magnate Jacob Ruppert
(II:155).
WITH—the personal diary of John D. Crimmins. 59 manuscript pages in three distinct hands,
apparently transcribed by secretaries or family members from his notes. Describes meeting ex-
president Cleveland at a Reform Club dinner (24 April), a birthday dinner with Archbishop
Michael Corrigan (15 May), construction on the family’s homes at 40 West 68th Street and
in Noroton, CT, and almost daily trips on the rented steam yacht Calypso in July and August.
Vp, 19 April to 27 August and 1 to 2 October 1897.