1600 Broadway

Today’s Times takes note of the imminent demolition of the 102-year-old Studebaker Building in Times Square:

The old Studebaker Building, which rose at the dawn of the last century over Long Acre Square (better known as Times Square), is about to come down. An apartment building will probably take its place.

Built in 1902 as a showroom for Studebaker Brothers vehicles – luxurious horse-drawn carriages like the Grand Victorias, dashing Spider Phaetons, smart single-seat traps and, for the truly adventurous, those self-propelled devices called automobiles – the once elegant 10-story building at 1600 Broadway, also facing 48th Street and Seventh Avenue, served over the years as the backdrop for countless postcards and snapshots of the Great White Way.

Here’s one such postcard — the Studebaker Building is the one with the Canadian Club and Coca-Cola billboards:

James Lileks’ site includes an old photo with the building in it — the one with the “Planters Peanuts” billboard to the left. (If you’re interested, his Times Square pages are very cool.)

I’m checking our skimpy Times Square Pages and I noticed we have this picture — hard to believe it’s the same block (it is, right?):