Brill Building
The Brill Building is an office building at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood. It was built in 1931 as the Alan E. Lefcourt Building, after the son of its builder Abraham E. Lefcourt, and designed by Victor Bark Jr.[1][2] The building is 11 stories high and has approximately 175,000 square feet (16,300 m2) of rentable area.
For the related genre, see Brill Building (genre).Brill Building
1931
11
175,000 sq ft (16,300 m2)
Victor Bark Jr.
March 23, 2010
The Brill Building is famous for housing music industry offices and studios where some of the most popular American songs were written. It is considered to have been the center of the American music industry that dominated the pop charts in the early 1960s.[3] The "Brill" name comes from a haberdasher who operated a store at street level and subsequently bought the building. The Brill Building was purchased by 1619 Broadway Realty LLC in June 2013 and underwent renovation during the 2010s. A CVS Pharmacy opened on the first two floors of the building in 2019.[1][4]
Before World War II, the Brill Building became a center of activity for the popular music industry, especially music publishing and songwriting. Scores of music publishers had offices in the Brill Building. Once songs had been published, the publishers sent song pluggers to the popular bands and radio stations. These song pluggers would sing and/or play the song for the band leaders to encourage bands to play their music.
During the ASCAP strike of 1941, many of the composers, authors and publishers turned to pseudonyms in order to have their songs played on the air.
Brill Building songs were constantly at the top of Billboard's Hit Parade and played by the leading bands of the day:
Publishers included:
Brill Building composers and lyricists during the big band era included:
In popular culture[edit]
The 1996 film Grace of My Heart is in part a fictionalized account of the life in the Brill Building. Illeana Douglas plays a songwriter loosely based on Carole King. Similarly, Broadway musical Beautiful depicts King's early career, including her songwriting at 1650 Broadway.
In Sweet Smell of Success, J.J. Hunsecker and his sister Susie live on one of the upper floors of the Brill Building. The title of the 2014 New Pornographers power pop album Brill Bruisers is a reference to the 1960s-era Brill Building studio sound.[14] In the HBO series Vinyl, the fictitious record label American Century is headquartered in the Brill Building.
Jack Dempsey's Broadway Restaurant was located in the Brill Building's first floor on Broadway.
It features in several episodes of the Broadway themed NBC musical drama Smash.
Stephin Merritt makes reference to the Brill Building on the Magnetic Fields' "Epitaph For My Heart" from their 1999 release 69 Love Songs.
Renovations and current use[edit]
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the Brill Building as a landmark in December 2010.[15][16][17]
In 2017, Jimmy Buffett's hospitality company considered the building for a Margaritaville restaurant. It had investigated taking 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2) across the ground floor, second floor, and 11-story roof. The deal fell through when CVS Pharmacy leased some of that space instead.[18][19] The CVS opened in 2019. In 2020, the LPC approved a proposal by Bruno Kearney Architects to add LED signs to the Brill Building's facade and modify a ground-floor storefront for TD Bank.[20]
In July 2023, Brookfield Asset Management transferred the deed to the Brill Building to lender Mack Real Estate Group in a transfer valued at $216.1M.[21]