John H. Young Studio

536 West 29th Street | Chelsea | built 1904

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1904
February 12
John H. Young builds a scenic design studio on West 29th Street
Early in 1904 scenic designer John H. Young buys a two-story frame house at 536 West 29th Street. On February 12 architect Arthur G. C. Fletcher files plans for a new brick and concrete studio costing $8,000. Young needs the space for his growing collection of scale set models and reference books, and uses it to paint scenery for stage productions.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
1919
Young reorganizes his studio as Cirker & Robbins
John H. Young restructures his scenic design business as Cirker & Robbins Studio, Inc., taking on partners Mitchell Cirker and Robert N. Robbins. The reorganized firm keeps working out of the West 29th Street studio that Young had built fifteen years earlier.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
1944
Young's death brings in Eugene B. Dunkel Studios
After John H. Young dies in 1944, the building becomes home to Eugene B. Dunkel Studios, another theatrical set design firm. Dunkel had designed sets for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo between 1930 and 1940. By 1982 the music video firm Spectrum Associates occupies the building.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
2019
The studio building is renovated into a private residence
A renovation completed in 2019 turns 536 West 29th Street into a three-bedroom private residence, and nothing of the old studio space remains. The fashion firm Lopez Knudsen had moved into the building by 2011.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

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