The General Bronze Corporation (also known as General Bronze or GBC) was an American metals fabricator, primarily of bronze and aluminum, and the most recognized company in the architectural bronze and aluminum industry during the first half of the 20th century. It was known for New York City's Seagram Building on Park Avenue designed by Mies van der Rohe, the Atlas and Prometheus bronze sculptures in Rockefeller Center, the bronze doors for the United States Supreme Court, Commerce, and Department of Justice Buildings in Washington, DC, the aluminum windows for the United Nations Secretariat Building and Chase Manhattan Bank Building, and for the design of the Arecibo Radio Telescope suspension system. As American cities evolved, the need for architectural and sculptural bronze increased. An innovative and progressive company, General Bronze Corporation stepped up to supply that demand. It became the dominant leader in the architectural bronze industry for both bronze fabrication and bronze sculpture, and aluminum fabrication in the United States for over three decades. In the early 1950s, General Bronze was also at the forefront of the fledgling television radio industry as a major manufacturer of radio antennas, and one of the first to introduce automatic motorized antennas for the automobile industry. General Bronze's Brach Manufacturing subdivision offered electronics to the early radio telescope field, such as the Green Bank Telescope of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia and the Arecibo Radio Telescope.
Overextending their resources by diverting capital from bronze manufacturing to antenna and radio telescope research, concomitant with the declining use of bronze in the construction industry due to changes in architectural style, eclipsed General Bronze's main focus leading to their ultimate demise. In 1967, they were acquired by Allied Products of Chicago, IL, and ceased to exist.
History and establishment
General Bronze Corporation was founded as a reorganization of the John Polachek Bronze and Iron Company, founded in 1910 by John Polachek, a Hungarian immigrant. He became a supervisor overseeing bronze manufacturing at the Tiffany Glass Studios in Corona, Queens New York, which served as the basis for his future enterprise in bronze fabrication. Tiffany Glass Studios, made famous by Louis C. Tiffany commonly referred to his product as favrile glass or "Tiffany glass," and used bronze in their artisan work for his Tiffany lamps. In 1910, Polachek left Tiffany Glass Studios and opened his own bronze architectural company called the John Polachek Bronze Company. In 1912 he purchased a 1.75-acre site in Long Island City, Queens at 34–19 Tenth Street and grew it into one of the most important bronze fabricators in the field. In 1927, Polachek merged his new company with another metals fabricator, the Renaissance Bronze and Iron Works located in Long Island City, Queens. The new company became known as the General Bronze Corporation. In 1934, General Bronze Corporation was the largest company in the architectural bronze industry in the United States, employing a combined total of 1,200 workers from General Bronze, Renaissance Bronze and Iron Works, and Tiffany Studios with assets over $5 million.
Polachek's grand idea was to become the leader in the use of bronze for metal fabrication as he foresaw the worldwide demand for the metal alloy would only increase. This was due to a rise in the use of bronze in the architectural and art world, and Polachek leaped at the opportunity. The sought-after metal coincided with the timing of the Art Deco, Art Nouveau, and international art movements, in which it became popular to use bronze. Polachek's intuition paid off, as he cornered the bronze fabrication market. Bronze and aluminum became popular to use and were implemented in art, architecture, and the construction industry by artists, architects, and construction companies respectively. As General Bronze gained notoriety, the company quickly became the forerunner. General Bronze's most acclaimed entry to the construction industry was the bronze mullion I-beams for the Seagram Building, the no-set-back windows clad in aluminum for the United Nations Secretariat Building, and the Chase Manhattan Bank Building.
The company purchased the Brach Manufacturing Company of Newark, New Jersey, as one of its subsidiaries in the 1950s. General Bronze (GBC) intended to become a pioneer in the development of TV antennas. During this period, GBC was closely identified with the leadership of Aaron Saphier. He became general manager after the company's founding, and served as president from 1931 to 1959, remaining active as chairman of the board until the end of 1960.
During the 1930s through 1950s, the General Bronze Corporation's leadership as one of America's leaders in metals and especially the architectural bronze industry began to weaken as General Bronze expanded beyond their main focus with their developing interest in marketing consumer communications with antennas, as well as aluminum-manufactured products. As General Bronze began to face increasing domestic competition from international electronics firms like RCA, Sony, Philips, Matsushita and Mitsubishi, they continued primarily manufacturing aluminum windows, that which they were known for on prior construction projects, such as the Tripler Army Base Hospital in Hawaii. Although General Bronze's division for manufacturing aluminum windows for the American construction industry climbed after World War II, they suffered enormous financial losses and other failed projects including the loss of existing contracts with metal fabrication partners. This occurred simultaneously with the waning use of architectural bronze and the failed attempts to secure a bid for both the Arecibo Radio Telescope and the Green Bank Telescope in Green Bank, WV. The company slowly rebounded by the early 1960s, but never regained its former status. General Bronze was eventually acquired by Allied Products Corporation of Chicago in 1967, a company which was once owned by Jay Pritzker, the uncle of present Illinois governor JB Pritzker.
General Bronze Subsidiaries
Bronze art The General Bronze Corporation, with the acquisition of the Roman Bronze Works, became the primary company behind many of America's buildings and sculptures. Early man has used bronze throughout history. In the ancient Mayan, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman ruins, bronze tools, instruments, statues, and weapons has always been found in an almost perfect state of preservation. "Centuries hence there will undoubtedly be many fine works of bronze that will bear eloquent testimony to craftsmanship of our day." Visitors to Rockefeller Center have admired the bronze statuary such as the art deco Atlas by Lee Lawrie, and the Prometheus by Paul Manship." Other Rockefeller Center sculptures admired worldwide are on display. These include the fountain figures by Rene Chambellan adorning the fountain flanking Manship's Prometheus statue; Lawrie's Atlas sculpture in the plaza of Rockefeller Center's International Building at its 5th Avenue entrance; and the aluminum "Spirit of the Dance" of William Zorach at Rockefeller Center's Radio City Music Hall, New York.
Roman Bronze Works
The General Bronze Corporation became the leader of the most famous bronze sculptures of the 20th Century, most notably after its acquisition of the Roman Bronze Works. The Roman Bronze Works "had seen many of America's greatest sculptors." The General Bronze Corporation purchased the Roman Bronze Works in 1928. This ownership lasted for twenty years, up until 1948. General Bronze's newly purchased foundry produced “virtually all of the sculpture for Rockefeller Center, numerous national monuments, and many sculptures for the W.P.A, in addition to its usual complement of private commissions." The Roman Bronze works excelled in the lost-wax casting method and permitted large works to be cast in one piece. Most of the sculptures at Rockefeller Center, like the statues of Prometheus and Atlas, were cast at the Corona, Queens building. Gallery
Early on, the Roman Bronze Works’ use of the lost-wax casting technique, was eyed by Polachek as he once worked there. Begun in 1899 by Riccardo Bertelli, an immigrant who attained technical knowledge of European methods of casting bronze in wax from his native Genoa, Italy, flourished under his management while casting primarily art sculpture. In 1928, the prized foundry was purchased by John Polachek of General Bronze, not only for its workers and workmanship but for the sizable physical plant in Corona, Queens. It was then purchased by General Bronze Corporation and became a subsidiary. Under General Bronze's leadership, Roman Bronze Works produced America's finest patriotic monuments, statues, and most ornate public doors. The factory was the old Tiffany Studios in Corona, Queens, at the southwest corner of 43rd Avenue and 97th place, where it was used to cast art sculptures of bronze designs for sculptors, and bronze architectural elements such as floor registers, door jambs, window casings, lamps, and sconces, most notably for Tiffany. The building had undergone a metamorphosis of name changes, beginning with the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company, in 1892. Arthur J. Nash, apparently became Tiffany's partner, as Nash applied the favrile glass technique learned from his hometown of Stourbridge, England to the glassworks produced by Tiffany. Thereafter, its name evolved from being called the Stourbridge Glass Company in 1893 (in deference to the technique learned from Nash's hometown), to the Tiffany Glass Furnaces, and finally to the Tiffany Studios. Stourbridge Glass Company was absorbed by Tiffany into the Tiffany Furnaces in 1902. "Within this complex, Tiffany carried out experiments in glass colors and pottery glazing, perfected techniques of assembling stained glass windows." “By 1901, Tiffany was at the peak of his profession. But Tiffany's glass fell out of favor in the 1910s, and by the 1920s a foundry had been installed for a separate bronze company. In 1932 Tiffany Studios filed for bankruptcy. Ownership of the complex passed back to the Roman Bronze Works, which had served as a subcontractor to Tiffany in prior years.” In 1948, General Bronze relinquished ownership of the Roman Bronze Works foundry and was brought back under family control rather than remaining corporate. General Bronze Corporation sold off the subsidiary to a family member of a prior employee of the Roman Bronze Works to the Schiavo family, who had once been employed by Roman Bronze Works. The largest and most ornate bronze fountain known to be cast in the world was by the Roman Bronze Works and General Bronze Corporation in 1952. The material used for the fountain, known as statuary bronze, is a quaternary alloy made of copper, zinc, tin, and lead, and traditionally golden brown in color. This was made for the Andrew W. Mellon Memorial in Federal Triangle in Washington, DC. Another example of the massive, ornate design projects attributed to General Bronze/Roman Bronze Works were the massive doors to the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, DC.
Architectural Bronze and Metals
When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, the federal government required metal for use in the war effort. General Bronze Corporation began assisting in the manufacture of weapons, such as machine gun emplacements. General Bronze became a major manufacturer to the American war effort. Upon its founding, General Bronze Corporation was one of the largest metal fabricators in New York City.
Seagram Building