I must have passed the sign for the Metallic Lathers Union on Third Avenue in Lenox Hill a hundred times before finally noticing it the other day.
There’s a little history on it: the current union came out of an original union of wood, wire, and metal lathers workers that was organized in 1897. But what really caught my eye was the street clock attached to the sign, with its streamlined, Art Deco look.
The clock hands could be tools of some kind, perhaps a tool a lather might use? (A lather installs the metal lath and gypsum lath boards that support the plaster, concrete, and stucco coatings used in construction.)
This lathe cutter looks something like the clock hands. Maybe it’s a stretch, but perhaps the clock reflects something about the work these union members do in an industry vital to the growth of the city.
Tags: Metallic Lathers Union Clock Sign, Old Signs NYC, Street Clock Third Avenue, Street Clocks Third Avenue, Union Sign NYC, Vintage Sign NYC
Ephemeral New York 
October 25, 2021 at 6:43 am |
Hello, great posts as usual!
BTW, a Lathe tool that you suggested, and pointed to the link is unrelated to lath work. Those are wood Lathe cutting tools. A wood lathe is a machine tool that spins a work piece on a horizontal axis. The lathe tool is brought in contact with the spinning piece, and used to shape it into a circular cross-section. The lathe is used to make stair, railing and furniture spindles, among many other applications.
I do agree, the clock hands do reference a lather’s tools. Not sure what tool. Some sort of knife I think. Regards Erwin
October 26, 2021 at 12:06 am |
Ah, thanks for this info! As you can see I don’t know much about lathe work, but I do admire the craftsmanship and tools that make it happen.
October 25, 2021 at 7:05 am |
Dear Esther:
Thanks for a terrific tour yesterday. Remember I told you that you kept posting about things I’d just noticed on the UES during the pandemic? Well, this sign is literally next door to my apartment building (The Siena 188 E. 76) and I never paid much attention to it! I’ll take a look at the clock hands today. I’m ordering a copy of your book today!
Best,
Shari
Shari I. Lusskin, MD
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics,
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October 27, 2021 at 10:58 pm |
Thanks much Shari, I’m so glad you enjoyed it…and the clock was an accidental find!
October 25, 2021 at 11:10 am |
I was reading that as lather, as in soap/shampoo lather. And I thought this was a straight razor. It’s not, of course, but I think you’re on to something. Let’s try to find some old plastering tools and see what we can find? Pargetter was the old term for a plasterer. Also in the same business– today’s stucco applicators. They also lay down laths or chickenwire underneath their stucco.
I looked at plastering tools and there is a narrow plastering trowel made to use in corners that looks quite like the clock’s arms.
October 26, 2021 at 12:10 am |
I didn’t even make the connection between lathe and lather, but I like this and that the tools might be some kind of razor.
October 25, 2021 at 1:01 pm |
Passed it many times. Know its on Third but exactly what Street in the seventies? Tell us
.
October 26, 2021 at 12:07 am |
I believe at about 73rd or 74th
October 25, 2021 at 3:30 pm |
You are way out of your depth!!! WAY. Look up the words before assuming knowledge. LATH AND LATHE ARE TWO ENTIRELY DIFFERENT THINGS.
…from the pen of PB
October 26, 2021 at 11:47 am |
“Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”
While the hands of a clock may look like what you would use to turn wood on a machine, the trade in this union does not use such a tool . I would believe the tools on the sign being the primary tools used would have been enough and the hands of the clock are just that.
October 27, 2021 at 2:57 am |
wow…
October 28, 2021 at 3:08 pm |
I live in this neighborhood and pass it many times, as well! I hadn’t noticed the arms on the clock, but I have tried researching the mural on the building. I noticed one of the images is of the 1939 World’s Fair Trylon & Perisphere. I couldn’t find anything about the mural or its artist. No signatures either.
October 30, 2021 at 8:48 pm |
i think the clock would be art moderne rather than art deco, maybe from around 1940 give or take. the hands are just hands as far as i can tell. i am in this union, but a different local, and frankly i do not know about the historic work of this local and how the technology or work jurisdiction evolved over time (like did they once do plaster and lathe work?), but today they are basically the ‘rod busters’ or the guys who handle and tie rebar together so as to reinforce concrete inside of form work, which i associate with the carpenters union. i don’t know if they do anything else at this point, now i’m curious.