1231 Broadway
In the oldest photo, the sign on the building reads Canadian Pacific Railway Lands.
And that is a tiny little office; I think itās just to have a New York Broadway address for correspondence and to handle the occasional walk-in prospective āsettlerā or emigrant, perhaps like a travel agentās office.
Mike says :
āThe word Lands perhaps refers to overseas destinations.ā
OK Vince/Mike ā the ads are cute, but where are the views of 458 Broadway āthen and nowā?
Pretty clear to me that the big business done out of that office was Canadian ālandsā of various kinds, not just for settlement but investment. Note the play in each advertisement for ābankersā who are āinterested ā¦ in study[ing] Canadian conditionsā (presumably interested by the pitch in each ad) to stay at the hostelries mentioned. I think the āoverseasā advertising done by CP would have involved different media in different ways. Most of the passenger stuff āoutsideā Canada would be handled through travel agents or the equivalent, not a real-estate office. Overseas direct āopportunityā would likewise primarily be transportation ā¦ do we have direct advertising for specific overseas projects of interest to CP, with the same reference to the New York office location? (Iād look very carefully at about 1905 to 1915 or so as peak years CP was doing things in foreign passenger serviceā¦)
The color photo on the bottom is ānowā. I assume Bread Kraft is either a bakery or a kitchen supply store.
Canadian Pacific Building
Note the implicit change in function: the office at 1231 Broadway held the āland, colonization, and development officeā at the point between 1907 and 1915 that the āold buildingā was pictured in use, but it moved to 1270 Broadway between then and 1921. (We need a picture of the latter building in that time period). The Canadian Pacific space in the 1915 building concerned both rail and steamship passenger operation.
The āCanadian Pacificā Building had to have been called something else by the early 1960s - I spent much of my youth around that area and donāt remember this at all. CP Ships has been owned by Hapag-Lloyd since 2005.
This might help
The Canadian Pacific Building has been replaced by a newer building. The stone and brick building just north of 44th St is still there.
99-year-old Canadian Pacific Building, only 2 years younger than the Hotel Commodore.
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/realestate/a-new-face-on-madison-avenue.html
