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Frank Pagliaro Construction Records Collection

Call Number

PR 282

Date

1914-1971, inclusive

Creator

Extent

9 Linear feet

Language of Materials

The documents in the collection are in English.

Abstract

The Frank Pagliaro Construction Records Collection contains materials from 1914-1971 (bulk 1960-69) relating to the Pagliaro family concrete contractor and sub-contractor businesses. Materials include, but are not limited to progress photos, financial documents, correspondence, blueprints, artist renderings of sites, and promotional materials.

Biographical Note

Ignazio Pagliaro (c. 1876-1938) immigrated to the United States from Italy at the age of 14 and ran the concrete sub-contractor business known as Knickerbocker Inc. in partnership with its founder Luigi Gerbino (d. 1930s). Ignazio continued to run the business as a joint venture after Luigi's death, sometimes assuming the name of the deceased.

Ignazio's son, Frank Pagliaro Sr. (1900-1999), studied civil engineering at Cornell University in the early 1920s and inherited the family concrete sub-contracting business from his father after graduation. During Frank Sr.'s tenure the company grew from sub-contracting to general contracting. Knickerbocker Inc., functioned as the parent company of many incorporated businesses such as Knickerbocker Construction Co.; Knickerbocker Fireproofing & Concrete Co., Inc.; IP Co. (Ignazio Pagliari Co.); Contel Construction Co.; and various incorporated businesses named after the address of a management/construction site (e.g. Fifth Avenue & 46th Street Corp.). Knickerbocker Inc. is believed to be the largest family-owned North American concrete construction company of its time.

Knickerbocker Inc. was dissolved in the 1970s. The Pagliaro family has cited pressure from the Italian Mafia--widely known to control aspects of concrete/construction contracts at the time--as the primary reason for the company's demise.

Arrangement Note

The collection is ordered into 13 series.

The first 7 series are records related to specific construction sites and are arranged alphabetically by state, city, and project. The remaining series consist of general business records, architectural publications, and miscellaneous personal papers.

Breaks in box number continuity occur when oversized materials did not fit into the general organization (i.e. bound, matted, oversized materials).

Missing Title

  1. Series I: California Construction Sites
  2. Series II: Massachusetts Construction Sites
  3. Series III: New York Construction Sites
  4. Series IV: Pennsylvania Construction Sites
  5. Series V: Virginia Construction Sites
  6. Series VI: Washington D.C. Sites
  7. Series VII: Unidentified Sites
  8. Series VIII: Construction Corporations
  9. Series IX: Miscellaneous
  10. Series X: Frank Pagliaro Personal Effects
  11. Series XI: Louis (Luigi) Gerbino Personal Effects
  12. Series XII: Cornell University Exam Books
  13. Series XIII: Architect Publications

Scope and Contents

The Frank Pagliaro Construction Records Collection contains materials from 1914-1971 (bulk 1960-69) relating to the Pagliaro family concrete contractor and sub-contractor business.

Materials include progress photos, financial documents, correspondence, blueprints, artist renderings of sites, and promotional materials.

Records in the collection relate to projects in the United States with a focus on New York City sites. Highlights include the Chrysler Building, the United Nations Building, Shea Stadium, and the Huntington Hartford Gallery on Columbus Circle in New York City, and the Court House & Federal Office Building in San Francisco. While this collection contains extensive records on certain projects and companies, it does not represent a complete set of records for either. Most extensive are the progress photographs on the Court House & Federal Office Building in San Francisco and year-end expense ledgers detailing the annual cash expenditures of Knickerbocker Inc. from 1953-1957.

The collection also includes some personal effects of Frank Pagliaro and Ignazio Pagliaro. Noteworthy is a series of Frank's graded Cornell University College of Civil Engineering Exams dating from 1921-1924.

Access

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Portions of the collection that have been photocopied or microfilmed will be brought to the researcher in that format; microfilm can be made available through Interlibrary Loan.

Conditions Governing Use

Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.

Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.

Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions

Reproductions

Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to the Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024, email: rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Permission to reproduce or quote text from this collection in a publication must be requested from and granted in writing by the Library Director, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024.

Citation

This collection should be cited as: Frank Pagliaro Construction Records Collection, PR 282, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.

Location of Materials

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Provenance

Gift of the Selz and Pagliaro families, 2010.

Permission to Reproduce

Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to the Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024. Permission to reproduce or quote text from this collection in a publication must be requested from and granted in writing by the Library Director, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024.

Sources

The concrete industry board of New York city...its Purposes, Methods and Accomplishments (1959). Retrieved January 28, 2011, from ftp://66.151.101.167/woc/C590715.PDF
Gerbino, Luigi/Ignazio Pagliaro Obituary, New York City, Herald Tribune, June 7th, 1938, p. 14.
Pagliaro, Ignazio Obituary, New York City, New York Times, June 7th, 1938. Retrieved January 28, 2011 from http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10913F73F55157A93C5A9178DD85F4C8385F9
Pagliaro, Frank Obituary, New York City, New York Times, June 24, 1999. Retrieved January 28, 2011 from http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/24/nyregion/frank-pagliaro-99-concrete-contractor.html?scp=1&sq=frank%20pagliaro&st=cse
Magnuson, Ed, Hitting the Mafia. [Electronic version]. (2001). Time.com. Retrieved January 28, 2011 from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101860929-145082,00.html
Realty Notes, New York Times, November 4, 1921. Retrieved January 28, 2011 from http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10913F73F55157A93C5A9178DD85F4C8385F9&scp=1&sq=ignazio%20pagliaro&st=cse
Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide, v. 93, no 2415: Articles: June 27, 1914. New York: F.W. Dodge Corp., p. 1032.
Rowan, Roy, The Mafia's Bite of the Big Apple: Byzantine Building Codes and Horrendous Logistics Help the Mob Control New York City Construction –at a Price That the Big Developers Have Been All Too Willing to Pay. [Electronic version]. (1988). CNNMoney.com. Retrieved January 28, 2011 from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1988/06/06/70628/index.htm
Manning, Vice Admiral John J., The Concrete Industry Board of New York City…Its Purposes, Methods and Accomplishments, Publication #C590715, 1959. Retrieved January 28, 2011 from ftp://66.151.101.167/woc/C590715.PDF

Collection processed by

Aaron Stempien

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:47:03 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is in English.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024