The Childs restaurant chain was the creation of Samuel and William Childs. They revolutionized the American restaurant chain by creating a uniform look to each of their branches in order to make their restaurants recognizable. Their “brand” relied heavily on the portrayal of their establishments as sanitary, clean, and modern; the interiors were outfitted with white tile floors and walls, and even the waitresses and other workers dressed in white uniforms. The Childs brothers were also the fathers of the modern cafeteria, influencing another bygone NYC chain, the Horn & Hardart Automat. They would probably bristle if you compared them to McDonalds or Burger King, as the fare was more upscale than that, but it wouldn’t be outlandish to compare them to, say, the old Howard Johnson’s chain.
Child’s Restaurants peaked in the 1920s and 1930s, and William Childs lost control of the company after a revolt from investors after he imposed his own vegetarian preferences on the menu. Child’s became the Hotel Corporation of America in 1955 and was acquired in 1961 by the Riese Organization, which today operated restaurant chains like T.G.I. Friday’s and Applebee’s.
I don’t know when the last Child’s Restaurant closed, but I have a vague memory of one in the Times Square area in the 1980s. Can anyone back me up on that?
There are a number of former Child’s Restaurants remaining in NYC, or at least the buildings where they were located. As we’ll see, some of them are instantly recognizable as Child’s branches, but the earliest ones aren’t, yet they are recognizable as buildings that have stood for a long, long time.
815 Broadway, between West 11th and 12th Streets, Union Square, 1897
Though this building (housing a hummus restaurant on the ground floor) was constructed in 1897 . Child’s did not move in until 1910. One wonders what goes on behind those red curtains these days.
36 West 34th Street, Midtown Manhattan between 5th Avenue and Broadway
One of West 34th’s surviving older structures in the shadow of the King of All Buildings, this 4-story building currently home to a shoe store on the ground floor went up in 1904. Midtown has some ancient gems if you look under the garish storefronts and neon signs. Child’s moved in after the Empire State Building opened in 1931 and remained for over 20 years. Squint and you will see a pair of copper urns placed on both dormer windows, an original design touch that perseveres to this day.
The ubiquitous Daytonian in Manhattan has much more on this building.
1208 Surf Avenue at West 12th Street, Coney Island
Coney Island has two iconic Child’s restaurant buildings, to be expected in the longtime “People’s Riviera.”
The building was originally constructed in 1917 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style for Child’s. After the restaurant moved out, the building became the home of a nightclub and restaurant known as the Blue Bird Casino. In the 1950s, the building changed uses again when it became David Rosen’s Wonderland Circus Sideshow, a legendary Coney Island attraction.
The sideshow tradition continues in the building today with Coney Island USA’s Sideshows by the Seashore, a traditional “ten-in-one” circus sideshow. Coney Island USA operates many other Coney Island favorites out of its building, including the Coney Island Museum, the Mermaid Parade, and other annual programs and events. For many years, Coney Island USA was just a renter of the former Childs Restaurant building, that is, until a few years ago when, with the City’s help, it purchased the building and made it its permanent home. Coney Island USA has since undertaken a restoration of its ground floor exterior and interior, revealing long-covered storefront arches and creating the Freak Bar.
Posters showing some of the Sideshow’s attractions are hanging on West 12th Street.
530 Fulton Street in Brooklyn, near Flatbush Avenue, is well-hidden these days under a beauty supplies billboard and neon sign. The building went up in 1919 and Child’s was here in the 1930s.
377 5th Avenue between East 35th and 36th Street, Midtown
Child’s Restaurant was in the building now host to the gift shop. It was constructed in 1921 and still retains some original features, including a pair of decorative urns on the roof. Child’s was apparently one of the first occupants.
219 South 4th Street, Williamsburg, between Roebling and Havemeyer Streets
This looks like an uncharacteristic location for a Child’s Restaurant, and it looks way too small for one. Nonetheless, it has an etched concrete plaque above the second story windows that reads “219 Child’s 1922.” If it was a Child’s, it was a very small branch.
From one of the smallest Child’s, we go to what many consider the Child’s flagship location…
2102 Riegelmann Boardwalk at West 21st Street, Coney Island
This Child’s on the boardwalk and West 21st Street is an otherworldly confection that has to be seen to be believed. The graffiti demons that are attracted to it like ants to a picnic can’t mar its grandeur. It was built by architects Ethan Dennison and Frederic Hirons in 1924 with an exterior of soft stucco with four marble columns emphasized by four multicolored rondels depicting King Neptune, rising from the sea waving his trident, a Venetian galleon, the Golden Hine, flagship of Queen Elizabeth’s fleet, and two fish swimming in rough seas. This Childs branch closed in the 1950s and later became a candy factory. In 2003, it was, thankfully, declared a landmark and will not share the fate of the almost-equally ornate Washington Baths, which stood on its left side for many years.
The restaurant is currently being restored and will be part of the new Seaside Park and Community Arts Center by 2017. The restoration will likely spell the doom of another of Coney Island’s secret alleys, Highland View Avenue, so named because the NJ Highlands can be seen on the horizon.
A close look at the terra cotta ornamentation will reveal that every possible nook and cranny is stuffed with representations of sea creatures such as crabs, lobsters, snails, grimacing, squirming fish and the like. A bearded figure with seaweed for hair is likely another representation of Neptune.
In the ensuing decade, most new Child’s restaurants would be built with a terra cotta nautical theme, and this was likely the prototype.
604 5th Avenue, between West 48th and 49th Streets
This former Child’s restaurant, opened in 1925 in an ironic twist, is now a TGI Friday’s, owned by the Riese Organization, which snapped up the old Child’s chain in the early 1960s.
It was an innovative structure when designed by architect James Van Alen in 1924. Note that the windows curve on the left side of the building. In the past, there had been a setback next to a church (since replaced by the Massachusetts Municipal Life Building at #600 5th Avenue) on the left side, which was completely visible. According to the NY Sun, the building was the first structure anywhere to be constructed without corner columns.
Both its flanking structures, #600 and #608 5th Avenue, the Goelet Building, have been accorded with NYC Landmarks status. Christopher Grey, in the NY Times: “The grimy white and red-striped advertising awnings are a particularly cruel touch for a structure with the elegance of a Parisian dress shop.”
This Child’s branch at 63-09 Roosevelt Avenue at 64th Street from 1925 looks very much like other Child’s that followed it over the next decade. The roofline is ringed with terra-cotta sea horses and there are always one or two cartouches featuring sea life, and urn and Neptune.
Here’s a look at a particularly well-preserved example on Broadway and 36th Street. An oval terra cotta “window” is ringed with sea life: fish, snails, clams, etc. and topped by a wriggling fish beneath an urn. Various representations of Neptune appear under the “window.”
421 7th Avenue at West 33rd Street
This 14-story office building featured a Child’s on its ground floor when opened in 1926. In later years, Child’s moved to the adjacent #425. In recent years this has become a tacky fast food and cheap electronics row between Macy’s and Penn Station. Many older buildings in Midtown have found a second function as stanchions for huge electronic billboards.
Full view of the Child’s at 36-01 Broadway in Long Island City. The Rite-Aid recently closed, so it’s looking for a new tenant; hope it’s not demolished. Built in 1928.
67-09 Fresh Pond Road, Ridgewood
By 1930 the template for new Child’s restaurants had been set, but this one is a variation on the theme, with terra cotta faux coat of arms replacing the fish window-with urn device. The seahorses remain intact. This branch was placed propitiously, on Fresh Pond Road just south of the M train station of the same name.
811 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) at West 28th Street, Midtown
This ex-Child’s branch has been hiding for years, as it was extensively updated when it became a McDonalds outlet a few decades ago. A close look, though, reveals telltale seahorses!
534 Flatbush Avenue, Lefferts Gardens
A former Childs’ restaurant branch on the NW corner of Flatbush Avenue and Lincoln Road. A central “fish window” with urn faces Flatbush Avenue, constructed in 1931, a golden year for Child’s restaurant construction.
Lincoln Road is the second thoroughfare in Brooklyn named for the 16th President; Lincoln Place runs from Park Slope to Brownsville, interrupted only by Grand Army Plaza. Lincoln Road actually begins at East Drive in Prospect Park and runs east (though it’s one way facing west) as far as New York Avenue, where it gains some width and becomes East New York Avenue. There’s been some variation in street names in Lefferts Gardens since the early 20th Century; Tulip Street became Rutland Road and Robinson Street was changed to an eastern extension of Parkside Avenue.
59-37 Queens Boulevard at 60th Street, Woodside
By 1931 the designers had really got into a groove with the terra cotta Child’s template, as this one combines the seahorse and coat of arms motifs with the urns found on previous entries in the series.
This one has found a multitude of uses in its old age, and contains a laundromat, bodega, sports bar, and a pizzeria/Italian restaurant. Who needs a mall?
45-02 43rd Avenue at 45th Street, Sunnyside
This corner Child’s from 1931 is a second home or former home to a Rite Aid drugstore branch.
15-02 College Point Boulevard, College Point
By 1931 Child’s was expansing to several out-of-the-way outposts such as College Point, north of Flushing. In 1931 it still had a dedicated LIRR branch, but it would close the following year. Flushing Airport acted as a buffer between College Point and Whitestone, but now the Whitestone Expressway does an even better job.
This Child’s has no seahorses, but it does have a “fish window” and Neptune on the 15th Avenue side.
729 7th Avenue at West 49th Street, just north of Times Square, had a long-gone Child’s that lasted well into the 1950s. It was just north of the old Brass Rail restaurant. Like many Times Square buildings, it acts as a billboard background these days.
1801 Avenue M between East 18th and 19th Streets, Midwood
This fairly large Child’s occupied a long, narrow front along Avenue M.
245-01 Jericho Turnpike, Floral Park
This former Child’s on the Nassau County border has lost its old Child’s identity on the Jericho Turnpike side (it’ll always be Jamaica Avenue to me) but a telltale fish window, seahorses and Neptune show up on 246th Street.
That’s all I know about, but I’m sure there are a dozen more or so I know nothing about. For example I could have sworn I saw seahorses on White Plains Road in the Bronx. And Staten Island must have had some Child’ses.
Most images from Google Street View (it would take weeks for me to jump all over town and shoot these).
I am unsure about some of the buildings shown here as I do not have documentation.
7/26/15
34 comments
I think you are leaping to conclusions on these nautical theme sites all over Queens and other areas. None of the ones in Queens show up in the phone books from 1929 to 1933 yet all of them can be shown to have been built around 1931. A trip to the Buildings Dept in Kew Gardens should confirm this one way or another. You also seem to have never noticed the building on the corner of Roosevelt Ave and 69th St in Woodside. This was a catering hall for many years called Queens Terrace. It burned in 1969 and photos of the fire show the exact same style as the other supposed Childs sights in Queens. I suspect you didn’t know about it because it is not visible today, not because of any research you have done. Also, your 811 Sixth Ave sight is not listed in the 1940 Manhattan Directory although there is a long list of Childs in that book.
Agreed with first comment:
Is there a source for the “Child’s” conclusion in Queens besides the architecture? I have been trying to source a Child’s restaurant in Queens for weeks and nothing. Absolutely nothing. No references in directories, newspapers, trade journals, books, obituaries one out of twenty people seem to list working at a Child’s), history books, photo archives, digital memories. There was nothing. They have other locations, around the country and in Canada, listed on their numerous and easy to find menus, in directories, in pictures that can be sourced easily. You can find Child’s in Syracuse and Jacksonville, FL, twenty years earlier. Why wouldn’t I be able to find one in Queens after 1930? Also the architecture in Queens only very slightly resembles Coney Island‘s boardwalk building. Honestly it barely resembles the Coney Island building. It’s like comparing the 1st Coney Island building to the Lundy’s in Sheepshead. Sure it’s basis is the same architectural style but then the similarities end. Nothing else in other Child’s buildings match the “unsourced” Childs in Queens.
Throughout Childs history, they built with clean design in mind, ignoring the 2nd Coney Island building, all of their architecture had clean lines and subtle ornamentation. The first Coney Island Childs building is done in a Spanish/Mission style, that when you take off the paint from the building as it stands now, it becomes a beautifully simple design. Here’s a rumor listed thru history, the first building was announced by newspapers to have been razed. Yet it still stands there. The 2nd Coney Island building resembles no other Child’s architecture throughout the country.
By the mid 1920-early 1930s, Childs was changing its approach to architecture. Moving from it’s old roots of the fancy Child’s script and completely white look. They were experimenting with Art Deco styles like the 34th street and Times Square stores. They were looking to modernize their style and Deco was clean like their previous style. Considering their architectural and design approaches during the period, I am certain they did not build the Queens buildings. They are beautiful but showy like frosted cakes. The opposite of Childs style. See the Child’s Atlantic City and see the clean lines?
I’d like to get down to the bottom of this, is it because of the wiki page that people assume this architecture relates to Childs? Why are there no sources for this judgement? How am I seeing “preservationists” references but absolutely no sources. Is this just a result of Wiki misinformation?
I ate in a Child’s on E.42 Street near Madison in the 60’s…They were slightly more upscale than Howard Johnson’s which to me was more like a Dennys….Very decent prices….Many of the Child’s in your pictures were gone even before 1950…especially the Coney Island Boardwalk view…that Childs on Flatbush Ave near Lincoln Road was gone before my time…
I ate at the Child’s on E42 street as well when I was working in NY City in 1972. I wonder if it’s still there? Nice restaurant, fast paced and lots of people.
I wonder if any remain today as a restaurant?
I recognize the need for Google street view images but they’re not so easy on the eyes.
An uncle of mine worked as a short order cook at the 7th Ave / West 49th Childs for many years.
Once upon a time, he took yours truly and his daughter (my cousin) to the Radio City Christmas Show. He then brought us to Childs for dinner.
I don’t remember what we ordered. But I do remember that he inhaled his entire meal — including dessert and coffee — in less than four minutes flat. All without removing his hat.
Although he wasn’t on the clock that day, old work habits clearly died hard.
I frequently noticed from the Brooklyn elevated J and M trains there is a building that closely resembles the Child’s type architecture. It a triangular building on the east side of Broadway where it meets Graham Ave (just north of Flushing Ave). I have found no evidence that it was a Child’s. The official NYC DOITT map lists it as 725 Broadway, and that it was built in 1931 (estimated).
Ignore the “1931” date. As I stated in another post, DOB uses that date when it doesn’t have a definite YOC. If you look further into the DOB page for that address, alterations were made to this building in 1901. If you check the Certificates of Occupancy. One was issued in 1928. It lists a pool hall in the basement, stores on the first floor, a restaurant on the second and a school and offices on the third.
http://a810-cofo.nyc.gov/cofo/B/000/053000/B000053875.PDF
I’ll check some old business directories to see if I find any more information.
I always noticed those terra cotta buildings dotting NYC. (I pass by the one on Broadway at Graham every day).
In the 80’s, I was intrigued to find one with that design down in Norfolk, VA. twas the Birtcherd Dairy plant, but they eventually tore it down for a parking lot, IIRC (as they did a whole lot down there).
The last image of the building on Jamacia Avenue/Jericho Turnpike , Floral Park, has always been referred to as Bellerose by local residents. This (north) side of the street is in Queens and the south side is in Nassau County. For many years at least starting in the early/mid 1950’s the building had a variety store similar in concept to Woolworth’s. I remember my friends and I as adolescents would walk over from the west end of the village of Floral Park and buy our 1/25th scale model cars there, as well as the glue and paint to build them. They also had a great display of Dinky toys and sometimes we would get one of those too if we had enough money. The owner was a large bald man with glasses. Name of the place was May’s or Maze. Next door was a bakery where you could get day old cookies that were still semi fresh for 2 cents each and a few stores down a fish store that also sold freshly cooked thick crinkle cut french fries .
IAWTP – The North side of the road is in Queens. It was/is called Bellerose as far East as Little Neck Parkway. The original Village of Bellerose was on the South side of the road down to the LIRR tracks. Floral Park (Queens) does not start until East of LNP.
My father worked/managed a Childs at the NY 1939 Worlds Fair. I still have some of his items from the job.
Kevin, nice bird-dogging. Feast on these: http://www.metrohistory.com/dbpages/NBresults.lasso
My first and only visit to a Child’s was in the Radio City area in 1968 so I’m guessing that it must have been the one at 7th Ave & 49th St. I was newly arrived in NY and my aunt and uncle took me to Radio City (movie was “Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?”). Tasted pastrami for the first time and was hooked.
My father was Mgr of two of the Childs restuarants both before the war and after.He met my mother there,she being a waitress.
I have a vintage matchbook from a Child’s Restaurant. It is circular. Very vintage!!!
These are great! Thanks for digging all this up and making sense of it.
As my last name is Childs also, all the ill-placed apostrophes (Child’s) are pretty annoying to me. Would love to see this article with the name of the restaurant accurately written. Otherwise, good stuff.
Back in 1957, on my first visit to NYC, a friend, his father and I ate at the Childs (not Child’s) in Times Square. It shows up in old movies and photos. We ate there because my name is Childs and, all my life (I was 17) many adults who met me would say, “Oh, you must be part of the restaurant family,” which, alas, was not the case. We ate in a lower level area that had, as I recall, somewhat cheaper (not cheap) food than upstairs. I had my first pastrami sandwich – didn’t even know what I was getting – and it was bountiful and delicious. We, who were teetotalers in a near-dry state, marveled at the role of alcohol in Manhattan (“Cocktail” neon signs everywhere). I was satisfied to have the place bear my name.
Did the Childs chain include restaurants in Canada? If so, where? My father supposedly was a Childs manager, we didn’t move to the U.S. till 1951.
Childs did have restaurants in Canada. The only one for which I have a definitive address was at 279 Yonge Street, Toronto. It closed by 1963. There were likely others. So it is very possible your father managed a Childs in Canada prior to 1951.
Please see the Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childs_Restaurants#Architecture for a fairly comprehensive list of known extant locations. Which I largely compiled.
Childs has restaurants in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, & Winnipeg.
My Father, his father and 2 brothers worked for the Child’s Restaurant back in 1920’s.
Breaking news, a “new” old Childs. I mean it was probably built in the early 1930s, and I found it about 3 years ago, but I am only publicly revealing the address today. It is at 26 S Highland Ave, Ossining, New York. (Highland Avenue is US Route 9, “Broadway”). It is the only one I know of in Westchester County, and in fact the only one outside Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.
I have no documentary evidence, but look at that exterior: seahorses, urns, fish windows … there is no other explanation:
https://goo.gl/maps/yd5fgLZMXwT2
I meant only one in the NYC area that is outside Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. I know of others in other cities.
Childs restaurants never had a “seahorse” design element. Check out the original Coney Island building, you will find no seahorses anywhere in the building. The Queens buildings holding the Neptune reliefs have been mistakenly identified and have absolutely no historical sources.
The Child’s location on the Coney Island Boardwalk does not have seahorses, though it shares several other design elements with the later nautical theme restaurants, such as urns, downward-pointing fish, and seashells. The first Childs with seahorses was in Atlantic City. It still stands at Boardwalk and South Carolina Ave. Here is a picture of it in 1937 with Childs signage on it: https://repository.duke.edu/dc/outdooradvertising/XXX3615
So the Coney Island Boardwalk (1923) building inspired the Atlantic City building (1927) which inspired the nautical theme buildings.
I agree that the lack of solid documentation for the nautical theme buildings in Queens and Brooklyn is disturbing. I believe these were built during an expansion that quickly bankrupted the company just as the Depression set in, and many if not all of the buildings were sold prior to being occupied by Child’s. But that is speculation. I will try to find more information.
My favorite Childs location was 59th street and 3rd ave, Manhattan. The spot was immaculate and upscale. The year was 1969-70.The chef and I had a standing order of grilled ham and cheese sandwichs in exchange for books.I worked the Bookmasters chain around the corner at 999 Third avenue. The food in general was great and the grilled ham and cheese were to die for.I’m sure the food quality and ambience were just as the Childs intended it to be.
There was a Childs on W.58st just west of 8th. Ave on the south side of the street.It was there as late as 1969. Maybe later.
I worked at the NYColiseum from 1977 until it closed which was around 1984 never saw a childs
Broadway and 43rd, if you’re a Beatles fan
https://www.beatlesbible.com/1969/12/15/john-lennon-yoko-ono-war-is-over-poster-campaign-launched/
Child’s Times Square Restaurant can be seen in the opening scene of The Odd Couple
movie with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau-1968
My father works at the Childs Restaurant back in the 1920’s wondering if here are any photos of the employees.
Yes there are numerous. At the NYPL there are in-house magazines from 1915-1919. You can find some in newspapers as well. Email me childsrestaurants@gmail.com and I can send you some of what I have. ✌