Cluett Building, 22 W. 19th St. (2008)

The Cluett Building is a mid-block structure that runs through to 18th St. with the addresses 19-23 W. 18th St. as well as 22-28 W. 19th St. The building was constructed in 1901/02 as the New York headquarters of Cluett, Peabody & Co. of Troy, NY. They were collar manufacturers and created the Arrow brand of detachable shirt collars. According to the Free Dictionary, "About 1905 the company began an advertising campaign that featured an idyllic young man wearing an Arrow shirt with the detached collar... Hundreds of printed advertisements were produced from 1907 to 1930 featuring the Arrow Collar Man. The fictional Arrow collar man became an icon and by 1920 received more than 17 thousand fan letters a day."

On a side wall of the Cluett Building: Waist Band / Co (click for image).

This is the remaining fragment of a sign for the American Waist Band Co., located here from 1920 to 1929. They were a garment "trimmings" business, the term "waist band" defined in Webster (1913) as, "The band which encompasses the waist; esp., one on the upper part of breeches, trousers, pantaloons, skirts, or the like." The founder was Mendel Wenglinsky (1867-?), and the company was also known as M. Wenglinsky & Sons. The sons initially were Max Wenglinsky (1889-?) and Isidore Wenglinsky (1891/92-?). Later a third son, Samuel Wenglinsky (1894-?), also joined the firm. All were immigrants from Russia/Poland around 1900/1902. When they registered for the World War I draft in 1917, Max and Isidore specified their birthplace as Petrokow, Russia. This was the modern Piotrkow, Poland, located approx. 26 miles southeast of Lodz. Samuel Wenglinsky specified Belchatov, Russia, which is the modern Belchatow, Poland, slightly west of Piotrkow. In 1920 Mendel Wenglinsky applied for a passport in order to travel back to Poland to settle family affairs. An attachment to the application reads in part, "I have in the City of Belchakov (near Pietrikow) my aged father, 80 years old, an aunt, 70 years old, a sister, 50 years old and several neices [sic] and nephews..." This was written on stationery with the letterhead, M. Wenglinsky & Sons (click for image), where a previous address, 56 W. 24th St., had been marked out, and "19-23 W. 18th St. 22-28 W. 19th St." added. In April 1920 the 18th/19th St. address would have been new. American Waist Band Co. (aka M. Wenglinsky & Sons) were in business from 1911 until 1960.

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