Hahne and Company

Hahne and Company

Hahne's Department Store

Hahne & Co.

The Hahne and Company building is located in the corner of Broad Street and New Street, across the western edge of Military Park. This four story, brick and stone building was designed and constructed by New York-based architect Goldwyn Starrett of the Thompson-Starrett Company in 1901. Starrett is well known today for his work with Starrett and van Vleck, a prominent architectural firm which designed many Manhattan flagship department stores.
The main façade of the building fronting a busy thoroughfare, consists of a 13-bay symmetrical façade with a tripartite division of base, body and attic. The ground floor is dominated by shop windows occupying each bay and surmounted by transoms. A simple entamblature composed of an architrave, blank frieze and cornice, divides this floor from the second floor where colossal brick pilasters mark the bay divisions. These pilasters have glazed white brick bases and capitals. The fourth floor is a classical attic with smaller windows framed by paired short pilasters with scrolled bracket capitals and white brick bases. The façade is topped by a parapet wall with a sculptural pediment located at the center bay of the building elevation. The New Street elevation is similar to the Broad Street one.
The building had three entrances on Broad Street, one on New Street and one on Halsey Street. Each entrance on Broad Street lead to a vestibule through revolving doors. The main entrance lead to a four-story tall central court lit by a large skylight. The basement of the building contained a kitchen and restaurant, a men’s smoking room, a power and electric plant and an ice plant. The second floor contained a merry-go-round, an amusement hall and a nursery. The third floor was dedicated to furniture sale and the fourth floor to appliance, paint and offices of the management.
The Hahne & Co building was a complex building in scale, operation and innovation. It featured Newark’s first escalator, elevators, a central telephone system, telegraphic office, automatic parcel carriers, and a central water system that attested to its modernity. The building had an occupancy of around 1,200 employees.

1901

extant

The Hahne company was started by Julius Hahne, pocketbook maker from Germany, who started a toy store in 1858 on Broad Street. The Hahne brothers, Julius’s sons, continued and expanded his business and opened the Hahne and Company department store in 1901. Many alterations have been done on the interior through the years. The rooftop skylight was painted black during WWII, while the floors were extended to close the atrium and provide more selling space.
The store was closed in 1986 and the building became vacant. This abandonment caused deterioration and subsequent looting by vandals.
The Hahne & Company building is currently being redeveloped by L & M Development partners. It will open in 2017 and will include a Whole Foods Market, an arts center, and 160 loft apartments.

Gordon, Mark W., and Anthony Schuman, editors. Newark Landmark Treasures: A Guide to the Landmark Buildings, Parks, Public Art & Historic Districts in New Jersey’s Metropolis. Newark Preservation and Landmarks Committee, 2016, p. 10.

Mazzola, Jessica. "Leasing underway to find retail, office neighbors for Newark's Whole Foods." NJ.com (24 August 2016). http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2016/08/leasing_underway_to_find_retail_office_neighbors_f.html

National Register of Historic Places, Hahne and Company, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, National Register #94001005

Renaissance