Empire City Iron Works
Phone Circle 1500
Empire City Iron Works is an ornamental iron manufacturer that is still in business in 2021 -- 117 years from its founding. -- although it is currently not in the coal-hole cover business. Read a story about the company in 2016 here. Walter Grutchfeld tracked the Circle 1500 telephone number back to 1915 through 1919 when the company had a office near 53rd St and 8th Ave. in Manhattan.
DESIGN:
The straight-forward design is similar to others from that era - see the cover by A. Perlman here . The center circle being a nice play on the telephone number within.
UTILITY:
The cover serves a building thought to be built in 1843, so is an improvement to the property that has lasted more than a hundred years.
RANGE:
This cover is located on East 9th St. near University Place in Manhattan
