Of the three structures built by Albert Ledner for the National Maritime Union, the two at 9th Avenue were originally built as an annex to its headquarters, what is now known as the O'Toole Building (owned by St. Vincent's Hospital). These buildings served as living quarters, instructional (The Upgrading and Retraining School), medical and recreational space for members of the union. In the early 1950's the National Maritime Union decided to embark on a project to erect hiring halls/union headquarters for the union throughout the United States. Kathleen Randall writes in Curran/O'Toole Building Backgrounder for Docomomo, that the Union sought, \"...to make visible the progress of the union in its fight for fairness and professionalism in hiring and respect for the seamen." Of these union headquarters, the first was to be erected in New Orleans where the National Maritime Union tapped a young, local architect, Albert Ledner, who had studied under Frank Lloyd Wright. Ledner went on to design headquarters for the NMU across the country in various cities including Mobile, Alabama (1955), Baltimore, Maryland (1956), Houston, Texas (1958), and Galveston, Texas (1959). Randall writes that, "Ledner was key to creating a modern image for the Union and NMU officials believed it was the right image.

which Randall writes was

with over 100

..."the country's busiest port

Joseph Curran / National Maritime Union \"When the National Maritime Union was founded in the 1930s, it was democratic and so egalitarian that the salaries of its officials were tied to those of its union members. By the 1960s, however, it had degenerated into a racket run for the personal enrichment and greater glory of its first and only president, Joseph Curran. Curran was the president of the union for thirty-six years. He and his cronies broke the relationship between their own salaries and those of their members so thoroughly that in 1969, when a working seamen might earn around $6,000 a year, Curran was paying himself $102,637, in addition to a rent-free luxury New York apartment and a chauffeur-driven limousine. A New York Times labor specialist described Curran's offices as 'one of New York's most sumptuous executive suites...No shipping tycoon can boast a more impressive penthouse, from the verdant plants and flowers that grow out of an indoor stream to the pebbled terrace outside the glass walls of the executive suite.' This penthouse suite was situated at the top of the Joseph Curran Building, built with money raised from the dues of NMU members. The original union hall was renamed the Joseph Curran Annex. The new building cost over $13 million, which was taken out of the pension and welfare funds of the union. The ordinary seamen who had paid for the building and wanted to visit their own union headquarters were forced to use the back door." (Ethics Into Action: Henry Spira and the Animal Rights Movement, by Peter Singer, 2000, Page 36)

000 seamen assigned to ships annually." In 1964 the National Maritime Unions headquarters at 7th Avenue between West 12th and 13th was completed. Randall follows that "The success of the project and the growth of the union led to two more New York projects that Ledner designed for the NMU: the Seamen's Training School and Dormitory on 9th Avenue at 17th Street

completed in 1966

a low-rise addition to the school/dormitory tower

completed in 1967."

The first of the two buildings

built in 1967

the Seamen's Training School and Dormitory

fell in step with the pop-art nautical theme Ledner followed for his prolific NMU commissions. The structure was 12-stories