| Curtis Building | |
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| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
 Curtis Building on Independence Mall
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| Location: | Sixth and Walnut Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates: | 39°56′53.52″N 75°9′6.48″W / 39.9482°N 75.1518°W |
| Built/Founded: | 1 |
| Governing body: | Private |
The Curtis Publishing Company, founded in 1891 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, became one of the largest and most influential publishers in the United States during the early 20th century. The company's publications included the Ladies' Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post, The American Home, Holiday, Jack & Jill, and Country Gentleman. In the 1940s, Curtis also had a comic book imprint, Novelty Press.
The company was formed in 1891 by publisher Cyrus Curtis, who published the People's Ledger, a news magazine he had begun in Boston in 1872 and moved to Philadelphia in 1876. He had also established the Tribune and Farmer in 1879, from the women's section of which he fashioned the Ladies' Home Journal under the editorship of his wife, Louisa Knapp in 1883. These publications were taken under the imprimatur of the new company.
In 1897, Curtis spent $1,000 to buy The Saturday Evening Post, which would become one of the nation's most popular periodicals, known for its timely articles and stories and frequent cover illustrations by Norman Rockwell. The advent of television in the late 1940s and early 1950s encroached upon the popularity of general interest periodicals like the Post and the Journal, and in March, 1962, Curtis Publishing's president Robert A. MacNeal announced that the company had lost money for the first time since its incorporation, more than 70 years before.[1] In 1968, Curtis Publishing sold the Ladies' Home Journal, along with The American Home, to Downe Communications for $5.4 million in stock.[2][3] Curtis sold The Saturday Evening Post, the last of its magazines, in 1982.
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Curtis Center
For its headquarters, the company built a building at the intersection of Sixth and Walnut Streets near Independence Hall. An example of Georgian Revival architecture, it holds a famous Tiffany glass mosaic, "The Dream Garden," made for Curtis by the Louis C. Tiffany Studios. The 260-color mosaic was based on a painting by Maxfield Parrish. In 1998, the mosaic was sold to casino owner Steve Wynn, who planned to move it to one of his casinos. This was blocked by local historians and art lovers who raised $3.5 million to prevent the move.[4]
In 2006, the building's owner, Arthur Jackson, fired the building's 40 unionized[5] janitors so they could hire other workers more cheaply. [6]
See also
- Curtis Hall Arboretum, Curtis family estate in Wyncote, Pennsylvania
External links
- Curtis Publishing Company website
- Listing and photographs at the Historic American Buildings Survey
- http://www.ushistory.org/districts/washingtonsquare/curti.htm
- Flickr photos of the Curtis Building
- Old postcards of the Curtis Building
- Curtis Institute of Music website
References
- ^ Friedrich, Otto. Decline and Fall. Harper and Row, 1970, p. 10
- ^ Bedingfield, R. E. Curtis Publishing Sells 2 Magazines; Downe Paying $5.4-Million in Stock, The New York Times, August 15, 1968, Business and Finance section, p. 54.
- ^ Anonymous. Too Few Believers. Time. Friday, Aug. 23, 1968
- ^ TheStar.com | entertainment | Eakins painting to stay in Philadelphia
- ^ Salisbury, Stephen (2006-12-19). "Can city protect art treasures?". Philadelphia Inquirer: p. E01. http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/15421808.htm.
- ^ Kurtz, Paul. "Curtis Bldg. Janitors Fuming After Mass Firing". KYW Radio. http://www.kyw1060.com/pages/76149.php?contentType=4&contentId=197139.
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