Rather than bristle at the workers’ insolence, Dudley Sicher was moved. In the spring of 1913 the garment industry was hit with a general strike. He introduced the idea of a company cafeteria and a “clubroom” in which workers had “community sings” to alleviate the monotony of their work day. His own workers, accustomed to wages above scale, ultimately refused to join the labor organizations and Sicher’s factory paradoxically became a union shop in principle and an open shop in practice. In 1912 he pleaded with other factory owners to participate in collective bargaining and to recognize the union. Sicher, on the other hand, was compassionate. Unusual for factory buildings of the time, large windows on the second and third floor gave sewing girls exceptional sunlight. Contrasting with the red brick were carved limestone pediments and window framing, and quoins. Expansive windows on the second and third floors allowed sunlight to flood into the work areas. The upper floors were dedicated to office and factory space. Two heavy stone entrances flanked the long salesroom space at street level. Composed of red brick with limestone trim, it rose six floors from the pavement. Completed in February 1909, it was an exceptionally handsome industrial structure. The firm hired architects Goldwin, Starrett & Van Vleck to re-do the damaged building. “The removal of this concern…from Wooster Street to Twenty-first Street is a striking illustration of the northward migration from the older mercantile district,” it said, “and will probably be not without influence in bringing about other removals.” The article projected that Sicher would spent about $100,000 to renovate the building and install its new factory. Three days later The New York Times added its take. On September 13 the New York Tribune reported that the company purchased both buildings. When one of the loft buildings on West 21 st Street was heavily damaged by fire in 1908, Dudley D.
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