La Harris Brothers Company fue uno de los negocios más grandes de su clase en Cuba y se dedicó a la papelería, efectos de escritorio y agentes manufactureros. El negocio comenzó en 1898 como agencia de bicicletas “Columbia”.
Los edificios de la compañía ocupaban la parte alta de la calle de O’Reilly, cerca del Parque Central, y tanto sus vastas existencias como la excelencia de su organización y administración, revelaban el espíritu moderno de la empresa.
Además de papelería y efectos de escritorio el negocio abarcaba varias secciones de la actividad industrial, las que ilustran admirablemente el espíritu emprendedor de los hombres á cuyo talento comercial estaba encomendada su administración.
Ninguna casa de las Antillas contaba con una existencia tan grande de mercancías, como la de los Sres. Harris Bros. En papelería podía satisfacer los gustos más exigentes, y en artículos deportivos y atléticos contaba igualmente con una extensa variedad.
La firma estaba en condiciones de realizar toda clase de trabajos de óptica; este departamento estaba en manos de peritos con gran práctica. La compañía empleaba más de cien hombres. Era la única casa de las Antillas que fabricaba el papel ferroprusiato usado por los ingenieros y arquitectos para dibujos.
También comerciaba extensamente en artículos fotográficos, siendo agente en Cuba de la conocida firma Eastman Kodak & Co. El sr. T. H. Reid quien dirigía el departamento fotográfico era un consumado artista.
La firma contaba con grandes existencias en molduras y marcos. Los Sres. Harris Bros, también comerciaban en carburo, para la manufactura del gas acetileno, y eran únicos agentes en Cuba de la Union Carbide Co.
Entre otras importantes agencias se contaban las siguientes: L. C. Smith and Bros., Typewriter Co., Eaton Crane and Pike Co., A. G. Spalding Bros., Gunn Furniture Co., Yawman and Erbe Manufacturing Co., Gillette Safety Razor Co., National Cash Register Co., Baush and Lomb, y G. Cranmer Photografic Dry Plate Co.
El personal de la Harris Brothers Company se componía de los Sres. T. H. Harris, presidente; Isaac L. Harris, vice-presidente; E. G. Harris, tesorero; y W. F. Champlin, secretario.
Podemos leer desde la Revista The Cuba Review que en 1911 posee la Harris Brothers Company la mayor parte de las acciones de la Compañía Atarés Muelle y Almacén. Eran entonces los directores del negocio T. H. Harris, I. L. Harris, E. G. Harris, Jacob Lychenheim, L. C. Cole, R. R. Ellis de la Habana, L. C. Lupton de Wilmington, Delaware, y U. M. Weir de Montreal, Canadá.
New Home of the Harris Brothers Company.
Notable addition to Havana’s business structures marks an epoch in merchandising methods.
New Year’s Day, Nineteen Hundred and Fifteen, finds the Harris Brothers Company installed in its new home at Numbers 104, 106 and 108 O’Reilly street, and Numbers 61, 63 and 65 Monserrate street, facing Parque Jerez.
lt was built by the Whitton-Wheeler Construction Company, Incorporated, and is one of the city’s finest structures. The occasion is significant as marking the sixteenth anniversary of the Harris Brothers Company’s entrance into the commercial and mercantile life of the city.
The new establishment, which takes first place among Havana’s great stores, has risen from the ashes of the burned structure which was for so long the home of the Harris Brothers Company.
Complete in every detail and embracing the most modern and efficient appliances for merchandising, it is an eloquent testimonial to the public spirit and efficiency of a firm of business men which, undaunted by disaster, set immediately to work and built a magnificent new structure on the wreck of the old.
The work has been accomplished in record time. Neither effort, money nor painstaking attention to the minutest detail has been spared in erecting a building and housing a business of which Havana and Cuba may well be proud.
The Building.
The Harris Building is the most modern and best-equipped structure of its kind in Havana. The cost was in excess of $100,000. Virtually every aid to efficiency and every comfort and convenience to clients and employees has been thought of and installed.
The construction is of reinforced concrete throughout. The building has a frontage of seventy-five feet in O’Reilly street and seventy feet in Monserrate street, in the heart of the shopping and business district. It consists of four stories and basement and, deducting the room occupied by the three large patios, has a floor space of 40,000 feet.
Only the best materials have been used in its construction and equipment; the idea being the incorporation of both quality and strength in all essential elements.
The specifications were worked out between the members of the Harris Brothers Company and the builders and assiduous care and attention was paid to every detail. The interior plans were drawn by the builders.
The facades, which were designed by Mr. Arthur Lobo, of New York, who drew the plans for the new Bank of Nova Scotia building (described in the November number of The Times of Cuba), are of beautiful simplicity rather than cheaply ornamental.
The construction was conducted under the supervision of Messrs. Francisco Andreu and Luis I. Nattes, local architects. Credit is also due to Mr. A. J. Dana, representing the owners.
The floors are all of mosaic tile of beautiful design and the trim through out the entire building is of solid mahogany —more costly than other woods but more beautiful and enduring and certain to enhance in value instead of depreciate. Even the railings and the shelving, of which there is over 25,000 square feet, are of mahogany. The effect is one of richness and permanence.
The building is served by modern American Electric Company elevators furnished by Charles H. Thrall, who also supplied the electrical installation. There is not a loose wire in the building, all being enclosed in metal tubes.
Electrical power is furnished for the mechanical department. The lighting fixtures of bronze and art glass and porcelain are artistic and beautiful.
Bibliografía y notas
- “Harris Brothers Company”. Impresiones de la República de Cuba en el Siglo Veinte. Historia, Gente, Comercio, Industria y Riqueza, Editado por José Plá Cárceles, Lloyds Greater Britain Publishing Co. Ltd., 1913, p. 436.
- “New Home of the Harris Brothers Company”. The Times of Cuba. Tercer año, núm. 1, enero 1915, pp. 36-43
- Personalidades y Negocios de la Habana.
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