Building Description Merrill Silk Mill, Hornell New York
The site was developed and buildings 3,4,5,6,7 and 9 were constructed between 1900 and 1902. Buildings 1 and 2 were built in 1910. (There were no buildings numbered 8.) Building #7 was demolished sometime between 1939 and 1961.
The buildings are of red brick construction and are one, two and three stories in height.
The structure contains five separate but connecting wings. The front of the building along Canisteo Street contains two/three story sections connected by a two-story section. A two-story wing occupies the frontage along Pleasant Street while a three-story wing occupies the frontage along Spruce Street. These two wings are connected by the Canisteo Street section previously described and by a two-story wing at the rear paralleling Grand Street. The intersection of the four perimeter wings creates an interior courtyard in the middle of the structure. An attached garage structure is located at the corner of Canisteo and Spruce Streets. Also, there is a separate freestanding structure in the rear along Grand Street.
A City map, dated March, 1915 illustrates the positions of the buildings in the original complex and the various processes and functions located within. As illustrated in Map #2, the first floor of Building #1 contained the weaving operations with the warping and sewing operations on the second floor. The first floor of Building #2 also contained warping operations with additional sewing functions on the second floor. The passageway between Buildings #2 and #3 was a clasping room. Building #3 was an engine room and machine shop on the first floor, with a storage room on the second floor and a cutting room on the third floor. Within Building #4, the first floor contained offices and the shipping area. The second floor was a finishing room and the third floor was a stock room. Adjacent to the rear of Building #1 were the dye house and finishing operations.
