How ironic that a movie centering on The Washington Post gives all the glass glory to The New York Times! The Post is a historical political thrilled about the publishing of the Pentagon Papers set in the early 1970s.
This glass glimpse was a sight to behold, nestled among top notch performances by Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. Spotting authentic, historic, meaningful stained glass is the most joyous part of this pet project. And the deep dive I took to uncover the history of this window was highly rewarding...a real treasure hunt for a glass nerd like me.
The movie scene set the scene with a building's façade, ostensibly the New York Times office in New York City. Easy enough to find, I thought. However, I learned the Times' headquarters has moved several times through its 171 year history of production. And during the time of the movie's context, 1971, it was housed 229 West 43rd Street.
Using Google Maps Street View, I scouted the location of that building, but current day scaffolding covered the transom area above the door. Other clues indicated this was not the right building.
Not the building in The Post.
The next best way to scout it out was to look up the movie's filming locations. I should have done this in the first place. Thanks to IMDB, I saw that the setting for the building entrance was filmed at 20 West 44th Street in Manhattan. And wow, what a discovery!
This is it!
The building hosting the stained glass is actually The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York, a still functioning organization founded in 1785, that “continues to serve and improve the quality of life of the people of the City of New York through its educational, philanthropic and cultural programs including its tuition-free Mechanics Institute, The General Society Library, and its century-old Lecture Series.”
From their website.
Mystery solved, and history learned! I really enjoyed reading more about this organization and their mission. I found an interior photo of the stained glass taken in 2017 from Google Maps and others on the group's website.
photo by Rouslan Valonen
No copyright infringement intended.
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