Siegel-Cooper ca. 1975 When the Siegel-Cooper store opened its doors on September 12, 1896, 150,000 people attended for a glimpse of what the New York Times called "a shopping resort." The store, which ran from 18th to 19th street on Sixth Avenue, and could be reached by the new El, sold everything from feather boas to feather dusters, abdominal bands to zephyrs, as well as live animals and birds, on four selling floors and a basement. The fifth and sixth floors were stockrooms, and a conservatory could be found on the roof where plants were for sale. Adjacent to the conservatory was a photography studio and a staircase which led to a public observatory on the roof. The tower at the top of the building housed a searchlight with a lens thirty-six inches in diameter, "the largest ever made," whose light could be seen for 30 miles and was used "for the benefit of the public in signaling the results of elections and like matters, and for the benefit of the Big Store by throwing advertising announcements upon the lower surface of clouds by night." Services included a bank, telegraph office, dental parlors, a barber shop were "especial attention is paid to children's haircutting," and a restaurant which could seat 350 people.

38 East 14th Street, June 15, 1938. 14th Street (across foreground), at the S.E. corner of University Place, showing the former Springler Hotel under demolition. It will be replaced by a 2 story commercial structure. It is on a part of the old Brevoort farm of 22 acres that Elias Brevoort sold about 1758 to John Smith and whose heirs four years later sold to Henry Springler. The demolished building was originally a private dwelling and became a hotel after the Springler House of No. 5 Union Square burned down in the 1870's. It was a favorite rendezvous for actors playing at the old Academy of Music, Tony Pastors, the Union Square and other theaters of the vicinity. Tradition has it that well known Thespians lived here and that the "Lambs" had their inception here, though that organization has no record of having formally used these rooms.

Tiffany and Company Building, 1903. The origins of Tiffany & Co date to 1837 when Irish immigrant Charles Lewis Tiffany opened a stationery and fancy-goods shop. Within a few decades Tiffany's was one of the most prominent jewelry stores in the country. In 1869, the business began construction on a new store on Union Square, The new building at 15 Union Square West (it is the first full building at left in the photograph) was designed by John Kellum. Clad in an elaborate cast iron facade, it was an imposing sight on the square. The New York Times called it a "palace of jewels." Louis Comfort Tiffany, the son of the founder, became the firm's first Design Director in 1902, creating jewelry with glass, enamel, and gemstones. Tiffany & Co. moved further uptown in 1906. The building on Union Square was then home to a number of garment companies and factories before becoming the headquarters for the Amalgamated Bank in 1925. In 1952 a piece of the cast iron facade fell from the building and struck a pedestrian, who later died. Following this accident the bank hired an architect to stripe the building of its projecting ornamentation and cover all the rest. The end result was a simple (almost Brutalist) white brick structure. In 2008 the building was sold and redeveloped in condos. The original structure was surrounded by dark glass and black aluminum framing, and an additional six stories were constructed.

The Margaret Louisa Home located at 14-16 East 16th Street is part of the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. It was commissioned by YWCA-benefactor Margaret Louisa Shepard, daughter of William H. Vanderbilt. It was built in connection with the YWCA to serve as a temporary home for Protestant women seeking employment. Robert Henderson Robertson designed the six-story home to accommodate 100 female residents. Construction was completed in 1891.

(1875, Mortimer C. Merritt; expanded 1895) As early as the 1860’s, the West 20s above Union Square had a reputation as a shopping district for a new class of retail consumer, primarily women with disposable income and leisure time to spend on shopping for ready-made clothing and goods. The Hugh O’Neill Dry Goods Store is perhaps the most visible department store on this stretch of Sixth Avenue. With its domed corner towers and central pediment, it is among the finest examples of cast-iron architecture in the city. The original fourstory, French-inspired Renaissance Revival design was expanded in 1895 with a fifth floor. The domes and pediment were temporarily removed and then reinstalled on top of the addition. Adding stories or whole new bays on cast-iron fronted buildings was a fairly frequent occurrence, and pointed up the advantages of cast iron as a modular construction technology in which standardized, mass-produced facade components and ornament could be replicated and installed with relative ease.

154 West 14th Street ca. 1917 One of the few Viennese Secession-style buildings in the New York, 154 West 14th Street has anchored this bustling corner for nearly one hundred years and appears today almost exactly as it did at the time of construction. 154 West 14th Street was constructed in 1912-13 for lawyer-banker and real estate developer Leslie R. Palmer as a speculative loft. It was built in anticipation of the extension of Seventh Avenue, completed in 1917, and the construction of the Seventh Avenue subway line underneath. This steel-frame structure employed the latest technology in loft construction with maximum allowance for light to the interior spaces, accommodations for automotive delivery and freight elevators. The architect responsible for the design was Herman Lee Meader (1874-1930) who after graduating from Harvard in 1898 worked for the architectural office of Ernest Flagg. In 1911 he established his own practice and had some notable commissions, all of which included terra cotta as a cladding material. These included the Cliff Dwelling Apartments (1914-17 – also for Palmer) at 339 West 96th Street and the Greenwich Village Theater (1916, demolished) at Seventh Avenue and Christopher Street which was an experimental theater for Marguerite Abbott Barker (daughter of the president of Eastman Kodak Co.) 154 West 14th Street conforms to a tripartite arrangement of base-shaft-capital differentiated by color and materials. The three-story base is entirely clad in the polychromatic glazed tile, which is also featured at the mid-section on the spandrels between the white brick piers and at the top section. The terra cotta was manufactured by the New York Architectural Terra Cotta Company which was the city’s only major producer of architectural terra cotta at the time. Palmer was a long-time director of the company and this building served as a virtual advertisement for the product.

Village Community Church ca. 1020 Greenwich Village may have a proud history of welcoming immigrants, but not all of the neighborhood’s residents was quite so willing to extend their open arms. In fact, one prominent Greenwich Village leader’s disdain for Catholic immigrants led to the coining of one of the most notorious slurs in American political history, and arguably changed the outcome of the hotly-contest Presidential election of 1884. In 1884, Democrat Grover Cleveland was running for President against Republican James Blaine. Blaine was embroiled in a bribery and corruption scandal that resulted in many Republicans jumping ship and supporting Cleveland, presenting the possibility of the first Democrat to win the White House since the Civil War. But Republican loyalists pushed back, fanning the flames of a scandal which soon engulfed Cleveland – that he had apparently fathered a child out of wedlock. Seeking to rally their base against the Democratic insurgent, Republicans led by the Rev. Samuel Burchard, leader of the 13th Street Presbyterian Church, gathered before the election to sound the alarm against a potential Democratic victory, warning loyalists not to support the party (in Burchard’s words) of “rum, romanism, and rebellion,” citing the party’s large constituency of Southern former Confederates and northern Catholics (who were thought to be particularly fond of drink). A Democratic spy at the rally reported the insulting alliteration to the press, which painted Blaine as anti-Catholic. In one of the closest Presidential elections in history, Cleveland won the electoral college by just barely winning New York State’s 36 electoral votes by a mere 1,000 votes cast or 0.1 percent. His edge came from high levels of support in heavily Catholic New York City, whereas he lost to Blaine in predominantly-Protestant Upstate New York. Cleveland would be the only Democrat elected to the White House between 1860 and 1912.

Hotel St. Germain ca. 1855 Though now long gone, the Hotel St. Germain certainly attracted some attention when it was built in 1855, especially when compared to the nearby stately Fifth Avenue Hotel. An 1862 Vanity Fair recounted a particularly critical exchange "What started that horse to run away?” asked the Architect. “I don’t know sir, he took fright up at the St. Germain Hotel.” “Took fright at the St. Germain? Sensible horse. I don’t wonder!” replied the Architect. This short exchange sums up the public's feelings about the Hotel St. Germain and it was eventually demolished by real estate investor Amos Eno to make way for better-loved buildings (though not that better-loved since they too were demolished around the turn of the century for the Flatiron Building).

The Krueger Cafe and Restaurant at No. 56 Union Square (later 213 Park Avenue South), ca. 1910. This space would later become the legendary Max's Kansas City, the venue of choice for New York School artists of the 1960s and Andy Warhol's coterie of avant-garde performers and hangers-on. Later, the bar was reinvented as a music venue, becoming a crucible of the city's nascent punk, post-punk, and no-wave scenes.

The Vanderbilt Restaurant at Broadway and 21st Street, February 26, 1920. The rear of the Flatiron Building is visible in the background, at left.

St. Francis Xavier High School, 30 West 16th Street, ca. 1928. Founded in 1847 by Father John Larkin, a professor at St. John's College (now Fordham University), the school was originally known as the College of St. Francis Xavier and offered instruction to boys from the ages eight to twenty-one. A military training operation began at Xavier High School in 1886 under the direction of the National Guard; membership became mandatory in 1892. In the years that followed, collegiate and secondary studies were separated, and the college level department at the school closed in 1912. From 1935 to 1968, Xavier High School acted as a Junior ROTC unit. Students took four years of military science and training, which was recognized upon enrollment in any branch of the United States Military. After 1971, participation in military studies was no longer mandatory. Today, Xavier High School is an independent Jesuit university-preparatory high school for boys. Since 1928, when the school was first accredited, Xavier High School has held membership in the Jesuit Schools Network, the National Catholic Education Association, and the New York State Association of Independent Schools.

Mortimer Building, 159 Fifth Avenue (935-939 Broadway), ca. 1977. Completed in 1862, The Mortimer Building was an early exemplar of the commercial architecture that would transform today's lower Flatiron District during and immediately after the Civil War. The Italianate-style department store, owned by the developer and stockbroker Richard Mortimer, is attributed to the prolific architect Griffith Thomas, whose later works include several cast iron-fronted loft buildings included in the SoHo Cast Iron Historic District. In its Ladies' Mile Historic District Designation Report (1989), the Landmarks Preservation Commission acknowledges the influence of the earlier, J.B. Snook-designed A.T. Stewart department store at Broadway and Chambers Street. In the immediate post-war period, department stores like Stewart's and Lord & Taylor began to open "uptown" outposts near Madison Square. The brownstone Mortimer building, with frontage on Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and East 22nd Street, blends with the area's previous residential architecture, while looking toward the neighborhood's future as a commercial district. Indeed, Mortimer's building was home to the very first offices of the American Institute of Architects, founded in 1866. Early commercial tenants included a variety of retail merchants (it's now a Restoration Hardware showroom). Apart from small changes to storefront window displays and cornice alterations, Thomas's design remains largely intact.

9th Regiment Armory, ca. 1921. The colossal granite fortress of the 9th Regiment Armory was built in 1894 to the designs of architects Edward Sargent and W. E. Cable. In addition to military use, the cavernous main hall was used as an exhibition space, athletic venue, and welfare administration center. The 19th-century redoubt was demolished in 1969, only to be replaced by a new armory for the 22nd Regiment, in 1971.

Trade and banking energized New York in the early 1800s, drawing new businesses and people. Growth fueled prosperity. And prosperity fueled more growth. Railroads were a vital part of this dynamic cycle—both a response to and catalyst for the city’s expansion. This story originally appeared in the Grand by Design virtual exhibition here.

Union Club, pre-1890. Established in 1834, the Union Club of New York City is the oldest men’s social club in the city. The origins of a number of New York's other private clubs can be traced to this organization. The Knickerbocker, Brook and Metropolitan Clubs were offshoots. Its best known descendant is the Union League Club, founded by Union Club members during the Civil War who were displeased with the club's unwillingness to dismiss its Confederate members. The Union Club has occupied six buildings over its 183-year history. The pictured building, at the northwest corner of 21st Street and Fifth Avenue, was first building constructed expressly as club headquarters. Completed in 1855, the club moved into their first permanent home in April of that year. (The previous locations were all on Broadway, Nos. 343, 376, and 691.) An impressive mansion surrounded by residential buildings (full of likewise wealthy citizens) when built, by the turn of the century the nature of the neighborhood had changes much to the chagrin of the Club members. In 1900, they purchased a plot of land on Fifth Avenue and 51st Street for $700,000 (about $16 million in today's economy). In 1903 the Club officially moved out of their 21st Street building into a new club house designed by Cass Gilbert (or John Du Fais, or both, the attribution is a little murky).

Flatiron Building 175 Fifth Avenue, 1901-1903 Architect: Daniel H. Burnham Developer, Structural Engineer, MEP Engineer, General Contractor, Original Owner & Tenant: George A. Fuller Construction Co. Current Owner: Flatiron Associates Current Tenant: St. Martins Press, Springer-Verlag Inc. Height: 285 ft / 87 m Floors: 21 The Flatiron Building, also called the Fuller Building, stands at 175 Fifth Avenue, at the intersection of 23rd Street, Fifth Avenue and Broadway. The client was Fuller Construction Co., who also built the 22-story, steel-framed triangular shaped building clad in limestone and terra-cotta. The eclectic decoration borrows form Greek, Gothic and Renaissance traditions. It is often mistakenly described as of the first skyscrapers or first steel-framed buildings. It is more aptly described as one of the first Chicago-style tall buildings in Manhattan with its unbroken, columnar block with a distinct base, shaft and capital instead of the more traditional New York-style skyscraper which features a tower rising above the building. The Flat Iron Building is 285 feet tall, but the rounded corner, like the prow of a ship featured in this view, is only 6 feet wide. When it was under construction it was nicknamed "Burnham's Folly" since its triangular shape was considered unsafe. Gawkers used to dawdle in front of the building to watch as the drafts created by the building lifted women's skirts as they passed. This is said to be the origin of the phrase "23 Skidoo" which police officers would shout out to disperse the gawkers. The entrances to the Flat Iron are in the middle of the long facades which houses retail space and elevator banks. When it opened, the building had an electric generator to provide its own electricity and heating and an early type of hydraulic elevator. There were no designated ladies' rooms since the restrooms of alternate floors were assigned to opposite sexes. On the left is Broadway and Fifth Avenue is on the right in this view. Behind the Flat Iron on the right is the dome of the Merchants Bank of New York, 141 Fifth Avenue (Robert Maynicke, 1897) at the southeast corner of 21st Street. Barely visible to the extreme right is the tower of Sohmer Building at 170 Fifth Avenue (Robert Maynicke, 1898) on the northwest corner of 22nd Street is seen behind it. Although they are rather short, both the Sohmer Building and the Merchants Bank are typical of the New York-style tall building.

The time-honored tradition of window shopping truly comes alive during the holiday season, when retailers pull out all of the stops to make their window displays ever more eye-catching, festive and uplifting. Countless visitors and New Yorkers alike participate in this yearly ritual, which has its roots in the Gilded Age. That era of rapid economic growth and industrialization, which began in the 1870s and lasted until around 1900, generated the building technology that made window shopping in the city possible.

The Fifth Avenue Hotel, across from Madison Square Park, following an 1899 snowstorm. "The Fifth-Avenue Hotel has borne a conspicuous part in the public life of the metropolis, and has been identified with the most notable local events of the generation since its opening, in 1859. The house fronts upon Madison Square, the most charming of the smaller parks of the city, at the junction of Broadway and Fifth Avenue the two great thoroughfares. It is unequalled in the number and spaciousness of its corridors, halls, and public rooms, and the commodious character of its guest rooms." This description by King's Handbook of New York (1893) demonstrates The Fifth Avenue Hotel's luxurious reputation. When Amos Eno built the hotel in 1859, the neighborhood was still dominated by town houses and it was thought to be so far uptown that it was called "Eno's Folly." Luxurious touches including a fireplace in every bedroom, private bathrooms, lavish public rooms, an Otis elevator and four hundred servants and fifty conveyances standing ready to serve the hotel's 800 guests, compensated for its location and assured its success. The hotel was razed in 1908, ahead of the construction of the Toy Center Building on the same site.

138 West 14th Street ca. 1928 144 West 14th Street (aka 138-146 W. 14th St.) is “a grandly-proportioned Renaissance Revival-style loft building” and was built between 1895-6. As described in its designation report, the structure is: “Faced with limestone, tan brick and terra cotta, it was designed by the architects Brunner & Tryon in 1895-96. Seven stories tall, the street facade is articulated through a series of monumental arches, embellished with handsome classical details.” The building served as a workshop for many different stores and products over the years, including Macy’s and Les Paul. Eventually in the late 90’s, the building was acquired by Pratt and now serves as their Manhattan campus. “Since its completion, many commercial tenants have occupied various floors, including R. H. Macy’s, which produced flags and silk underwear here, the silversmith Graff, Washbourne & Dunn, as well as Epiphone, a leading manufacturer of stringed instruments. In 1941, the noted American jazz guitarist Les Paul assembled a “solid-body” electric guitar in the company’s workshop; it became the prototype for many electric guitars played today. 144 West 14th Street was acquired by Pratt Institute in 1999. Restored by Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut & Kuhn Architects, it now serves as the school’s Manhattan campus.”

Edith Jones Wharton (1862-1937), one of America’s most important authors, lived at 14 West 23rd Street, Manhattan at a time when 23rd Street marked the northern boundary of fashionable New York. There, in her father’s extensive library, young Edith Jones discovered the world of literature. Wharton wrote with authority on gardens and design, but was most celebrated for her fiction. Her novels and stories are characterized by her intelligence, perception and the great beauty of her prose. Wharton lived in France for the latter part of her life, but the complex world of patrician New York remained the source of her greatest fiction. This includes The House of Mirth (1905) and The Age of Innocence (1920), for which, in 1921 she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature.

"Sixth Avenue, north from and across West 18th Street, showing mainly the west side of this Avenue, 1939. The corner building with the A. Shulte store was formerly part of Altman's Department Store. This bears No. 615-9 Sixth Avenue and is at the N.W. corner of W. 18th Street. The store covered the entire block front from 18th to 19th Streets. The New York Times of March 7, 1939 reports the 1st transfer of this holding since 1817 when it was acquired as farmlands by John Tonnele." (text from the photographer P.L. Speer) The neo-Grec structure was opened in 1877 as the B. Altman store and within the next decade additions were added on 18th and 19th Streets to house the expanding department store. This store was a mainstay of the Ladies' Mile, a section of the Flatiron neighborhood that became a prime shopping district (with most of the larger stores on 6th Avenue) during the late 19th and early 20th century. Interesting features of the building when it opened included an ornate cast iron facade, pneumatic tubes for the movement of money and paperwork, and electric lights.

By the late 19 century, not only were unmarried working-class women toiling in factories, mills, shops, and various trades, but middle-class women were employed in new white-collar jobs as clerks, secretaries, stenographers, journalists, and telephone operators. An 1879 report of the Association for Inquiry into the Condition of Professional and Business Women estimated that there were about 50,000 women pursuing “professional, literary, and artistic pursuits” in and within 50 miles of New York, while there was only accommodation for 500. The need for housing was so great that the LCU and similar organizations were turning away three applicants for everyone they could house.

31 Union Square West ARCHITECT: Bruce Price DATE: 1902-03 STYLE: Neo-Renaissance A limestone-faced bank and office tower, the Bank of the Metropolis, a columnar tripartite skyscraper, is a representative example of the major New York architect Bruce Price’s neo-Renaissance commercial architecture. The design incorporates classical elements which were traditionally associated with American bank architecture. Notable features include the bowed two-story portico with monumental polished granite columns, lions’ heads, consoles, foliated spandrels and spandrels with open-mouthed lions.

In the Gilded Age, this was the area where America went to shop. If today, New York's iconic shopping district is midtown Manhattan, in the 1880s and 1890s it was Ladies' Mile, the area extending between 15th and 24th streets from Broadway to Sixth Avenue. As a popular guidebook noted in 1892: "Ill fares the rural or provincial purse whose owner ventures before these attractive windows, extending for miles on miles, ever diversified and varied." Indeed between just 19th and 22nd streets on Broadway you could purchase a French velvet or antique Oriental rug at the carpet emporium, W. & J. Sloane (now ABC Carpet & Home); a silver punch bowl carved with twisted vine handles and lion paw feet at the silver maker Gotham Manufacturing Company; and a bespoke or ready-made suit at Brooks Brothers. It was Lord & Taylor that not only showcased the season's most luxurious fashions, but helped turn shopping into a social activity and form of entertainment. The store-which opened at 20th and Broadway in 1871-beckoned shoppers from the sidewalk. Its large plate-glass windows were a marvel-according to a guidebook, one of Broadway's greatest sites filled with the "richest and rarest good of every description." The windows were set in a five-story structure that architecture critic Montgomery Schuyler called "by far the most beautiful, sensible, and perfect iron building yet erected in New York." Once inside, visitors could take a ride in a passenger elevator. The innovation was less than two decades old-and Lord & Taylor was the first department store to have one. An article in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper toned the elevator as "luxurious as the grand saloon of the first-class steamboats." Though some went just to browse, those who shopped at Lord & Taylor were mostly from the so-called "carriage trade"- the middle class and wealthy who could afford a carriage ride rather than depend on mass transit. The store had grown from a small dry goods shop on Catharine Street in 1826 to an emporium compared to those in Paris. the New York Times routinely reported on the items in a new season's collection- such as brocaded silk and fur-trimmed boots; a white satin evening dress trimmed with Fedora lace; and a street costume featuring a jacket with matching jockey cap and muff in camel's hair. Lord & Taylor remained a premiere destination on Ladies' Mile until 1914, when it followed other stores upton to its current location at 38th and Fifth Avenue. Shortly thereafter, the owners of the location in front of you put up an interior wall separating off the section of the building fronting Broadway, and created the new stone facade you see on that half of the building today.

Third Cemetery of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, June 11, 1933. This cemetery is one of the burial places of the oldest Jewish congregation in North America, Congregation Shearith Israel. While the exact location of the first cemetery for the congregation has been lost (it might have been near the African Burial Ground), two other graveyards for this community pre-date this one and remain extant. They are located at Chatham Square and just east of Sixth Avenue on West 11th Street, established 1682 and 1805, respectively. Due to the encroaching city development and changes in the law regarding burials in Manhattan, both of these cemeteries were unfit for the community's needs by the 1820s. Referred to as the 'Third' Cemetery or the 21st Street Cemetery this plot was established in 1829 to move the disinterred graves from the 11th Street location. The active period of this cemetery was brief, as the city banned burials below 86th Street in 1851. The congregation looked to the outer boroughs (a popular cemetery locale by that time). Joining with two other Jewish congregations they founded the Beth Olam Cemetery in Ridgewood, which is still active today.

29 Union Square West when it was Jason's Restaurant, 1978. In the 1890s this plot was the location of a five-story brick building that housed the Bank of the Metropolis. In 1903 the bank moved across the street to a new building at 31 Union Square West (where they had been founded in 1871). The building at no. 29 was demolished by 1928, and a one-story structure was erected on the site (likely as a taxpayer during the years of the Depression). The current blue-walled midcentury mundane building currently on the lot rose in 1959. It is unknown when the iconic coffee sign was installed. In the 1960s it was a coffee shop called Chase, and it was Jason's in the late 1970s and 1980s. The Coffee Shop, a dependable late-night spot opened in 1990. Slinging coffee, cocktails, and Brazilian fare, the locale became a well-known spot for a diverse crowd of students, East Villagers, scenesters, and celebrities. It often appeared on the show, Sex, and the City. After 28 years the restaurant closed in mid October 2018. A rumor the next week suggested that the location was to become a Chase Bank (ironic given that its first coffee shop tenant was Chase too)

Trench prepared for the installation of the high pressure water system on Fifth Avenue, south of Madison Square; undated photo. 20th Street crosses Fifth Avenue in the middle ground. At right is No. 127-129, the second storefront south of the southeast corner of the intersection. The loft space was leased by Lord & Taylor between 1906-1914, and the brand name is visible above the storefront.

The Century Building, East 17th Street, ca. 1975. William Schickel’s Queen Anne style headquarters for the Century Publishing Company was built in 1880-1, facing south toward Union Square.

Constable Building, ca. 1900. While the earlier building and extensions of the Arnold Constable flagship store in the Ladies' Mile shopping district were designed by architect Griffith Thomas in the 1870s, William Schickel was involved in the 1880s expansions of the monumental emporium complex. He designed the Renaissance Revival annex on 18th Street in 1884, as well as the 12-story structure at the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 18th Street, seen here, completed in 1895.

12-14 West 12th Street ca. Architect Alexander Jackson Davis was born on July 24, 1803. Davis, one of the most successful and influential American architects of his generation, is perhaps best known for his association with the Gothic Revival style of architecture and rural settings. Though many surviving examples by Davis exist in upstate New York and at other locales along the East Coast, some very prominent examples of Davis’ fine work once stood on lower Fifth Avenue. In 1849, Davis designed two matching Italianate mansions on West 12th Street, Nos. 12 & No. 14. A description of these buildings can be found on Daytonian in Manhattan: ” …abutting the churchyard of First Presbyterian Church, which had been completed three years earlier. The handsome brick residences reflected the refined neighborhood. Each two bays wide, they featured arched entrances four steps above the sidewalk and a cast iron, second floor balcony that ran the width both structures. Brownstone lintels and a simple cornice added to the understated elegance of Davis’ design.” These mansions survived into the mid-20th century, changing hands a couple of times throughout their lifespan. Most famously, No. 12 was the home of Thurlow Weed, an influential statesman. After the death of Thurlow, ownership of No. 12 fell to his daughter Harriet, and after her passing both buildings were taken over by the First Presbyterian Church, becoming their parsonage. However, in 1958, the church, in need of a modern church house, made the decision to tear down Nos. 12 & 14. A necessary decision for the church proved to be an unpopular one with the community, as reported by The Times: “Though church folk dislike the idea of having the old mansions torn down, and architects in town frown on the notion, too, they know they must go. The space is sorely needed for the children. So, one by one, the master works of great architects vanish from the city.” Davis, who worked along with the architect Ithiel Town, had a hand in other architectural works within the Village, including a portion of the now-demolished Brevoort Mansion on 5th Avenue, and the designs for Colonnade Row. However, with the loss of Nos. 12 & 14, the city lost a truly wonderful example of Davis’s designs. As lamented by The Times, “All that will remain of his dreaming on paper when the Twelfth Street mansions go down in rubble…will be a few villas up in Hudson River Valley.” Architect Alexander Jackson Davis was born on July 24, 1803. Davis, one of the most successful and influential American architects of his generation, is perhaps best known for his association with the Gothic Revival style of architecture and rural settings. Though many surviving examples by Davis exist in upstate New York and at other locales along the East Coast, some very prominent examples of Davis’ fine work once stood on lower Fifth Avenue.

Greenwich Village may have a proud history of welcoming immigrants, but not all of the neighborhood’s residents was quite so willing to extend their open arms. In fact, one prominent Greenwich Village leader’s disdain for Catholic immigrants led to the coining of one of the most notorious slurs in American political history, and arguably changed the outcome of the hotly-contest Presidential election of 1884.

72 Fifth Avenue ca. 1915 In 1847, on Bond Street in London, a young man named Philip Morris opened a small tobacco shop. Eight years later, Morris began to produce his own cigarettes. When, in 1873, he died, his widow Margaret and brother Leopold took over the business. In 1885, the company gained international fame and was officially named Philip Morris & Co. LTD. By 1902, Philip Morris was incorporated in New York. After some shuffling around and restructuring, in 1917, the business moved to 72 5th Avenue, at the northwest corner of 13th Street. This 7-story building was erected in 1893 as a warehouse. The masonry façade ornamentation and rhythm is very characteristic of loft warehouse buildings in this area at the time. In 1913 an alteration was performed by the architect Adolph E. Nast who worked for the firm of John L. Sands. In 1931, after disappearing from his New York hotel, Nast’s body was found in Baltimore with a pistol wound to the head. It was believed to be a suicide. Up until the 1930s the building was owned by the estate of Katherine Lorrilard and throughout the 1940s a bank was located in the storefront. In 1960, Ginn & Company publishers occupied three floors of the space, totaling 15,000 square feet. Philip Morris relocated to 5th Avenue and 19th Street in 1938, where they continued to grow. In 1954 the company launched a major campaign with Marlboro Cigarettes, marketing them specifically to men. In 1970 Philip Morris acquired Miller Brewing Company and in 1985 acquired Kraft. In 2003 the name Philip Morris disappeared when Altria Group, Inc. took over the company. Five years later the entire company was relocated to Richmond, Virginia.

The Macmillan Co. Building (later Forbes Building), April 1, 1925. Called a “pompous limestone cube” by the AIA Guide to New York, the Macmillan Co. headquarters was built between 1923-1925, in a collaborative effort by two firms known for New York City landmarks: Carrère & Hastings (New York Public Library, 5th Avenue) and Shreve & Lamb (Empire State Building). In 1965, the building was acquired by Forbes Magazine, whose Malcolm Forbes opened a small gallery there, showcasing his eclectic art collection. New York University purchased the building from Forbes in 2010.

Lord & Taylor Store ARCHITECT: James H. Giles DATE: 1869-70 STYLE: French Second Empire The Former Lord & Taylor Building is an impressive cast-iron structure handsomely designed in the French Second Empire style by the architect James H. Giles. It was constructed with the most up-to-date materials of the time, cast iron and glass, which were particularly suited to the design of commercial buildings. Its picturesque corner tower with tall mansard roof gives the building a highly distinctive and striking character.

23 Skidoo. Today crowds gather around the Flatiron Building to admire its architecture and place in New York history, but back in the early part of the 20th century, men gathered there for a vastly different reason. As many New Yorkers know, the Flatiron sits at the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue, directly across from Madison Park; the layout of the streets and the park, combined with the building’s placement, can create gusts of wind strong enough to lift women’s skirts. Back in an era when showing any part of one’s legs was risqué, men would gather on 23rd Street hoping to catch a glimpse of a woman’s ankle or maybe even a little more. A contemporary viewer may not conclude that the man in the postcard to the left is admiring the woman’s ankle; I initially thought he was looking at her posterior, but a fellow cataloger clued me in. While it isn’t used heavily today, some say the phrase “23 skidoo” came from this phenomenon. Popular in the early part of the 20th century, getting the “23 skidoo” refers to either leaving an area quickly or being forced to leave. Apparently, the effect of the wind at this intersection was well known and crowds of men would gather in hopes of seeing some skin. As Andrew S. Dolkart in his online article Birth of the Skyscraper: Romantic Symbols describes, so many men loitered in this area that police would eventually come to 23rd Street to usher the crowd away: In the early twentieth century, men would hang out on the corner here on Twenty-third Street and watch the wind blowing women’s dresses up so that they could catch a little bit of ankle. This entered into popular culture and there are hundreds of postcards and illustrations of women with their dresses blowing up in front of the Flatiron Building.

Cadillac Cafeteria, ca. 1922. Despite extensive research, little can be discovered about the history of the Cadillac Cafeteria, a dining establishment on 23rd Street just east of Broadway. But upon closer inspection this photograph taken circa 1920 happily captures the cafeteria's architect, Louis Abramson (second from right) and three unnamed companions. The dining spot was no longer operating in 1966 when a fire tore through the basement of the building behind this one on 22nd Street. Unaware that the two structures shared a basement and a supporting wall had recently been removed, the firefighters attempted to approach the blaze through the drug store now occupying 6 East 23rd Street. The fire weakened the flooring, causing a collapse that killed 12 firemen. Prior to September 11, 2001, this disaster claimed the lives of more fire personnel than any other disaster in the city.

"Sixth Avenue, at the N. E. corner of West 20th Street, showing the P. E. Church of the Holy Communion. 1940."

Though the Eden Musee is now primarily known for its motion picture shows, the institution boasted a vast collection of wax figures organized in diorama-like scenes. The Musee opened in 1884 and quickly became a staple on 23rd Street.

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace ARCHITECT: Theodate Pope Riddle DATE: 1923 STYLE: Gothic Revival An unusual note of elegance is shown in the drawing room windows at first-floor level which are full length and open upon a handsome cast-iron balcony. All windows and the front door have special drip moldings above them which were the hallmark of the Gothic Revival house. All the windows, with the exception of those in the basement, are shuttered. The cornice at the top of the front wall is carried on a continuous series of small arches, a concession to its having been designed in the Gothic style.

First Presbyterian Church ca. 1900 Set in ample grounds where it may be seen from three sides, this handsome exemplar of the Gothic Revival makes us realize that all was not necessarily fuss and gingerbread in this period. Joseph C. Wells, the architect, attempted a scholarly representation of an ecclesiastical style which, at best, was foreign to this country before 1835.

Forbes Building, 60-62 Fifth Avenue, ca. 1977.

"Sixth Avenue, east side, north from West 19th Street, 1939." View of the same corner just after the removed of the elevated train infrastructure.

Siegel-Cooper department store, ca. 1975. The crowds at the opening of Siegel-Cooper department store on September 12, 1896 were so crushing the police had to call in for back up. Eleven thousand pushed inside the doors within just the first ten minutes, and there was a solid wall of people stretching along Sixth Avenue, from 14th to 23rd streets. By the time doors closed at 10:30pm, 150,000 shoppers had been inside. Siegel-Cooper was the largest retail space in New York, occupying the entire block between 18th and 19th streets on Sixth Avenue. It quickly became a spectacle on a par with museums, theaters, and other cultural attractions. It felt like a small city, with aisles as wide as streets. Inside, shoppers were greeted by a 10-foot high fountain with a statue of The Republic in marble and gilded bronze- a replica of the one Daniel Chester French had designed for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. After dropping their children at a nursery, women could wander through the store's 125 departments on six floors, admiring goods as diverse as canned food, feather boas, live animals, and sheet music. They could then lunch on lamb stew or chicken pot pie in the restaurant and head up to the roof for a view of the city from the observatory. Before picking up their kids—and without ever leaving the building—they could visit the dentist, send a message from the telegraph office or deposit a check at the bank. Department stores, epitomized by Siegel-Cooper, were unlike anything shoppers had experienced before. Over the course of the 19th century there were dramatic changes in what retail stores looked like, what they sold and how they sold it. Before the Civil War, shops mostly specialized in one type of item, such as books, purses, or carpets. Or there were dry goods stores that sold ready-made items, fabrics, and other sewing materials. Window displays and interiors were cluttered and customers went in to negotiate the best price for just the items they needed. A.T. Stewart and Macy's ushered in the era of New York City's department stores—building marble and cast-iron palaces with window displays that lured passersby. They had dozens of departments with ready-made goods from corsets and parasols to furniture and toys. They had lounges and lunchrooms that fortified customers to stay and buy items on impulse. And throughout the store, scores of shop girls, trained in the art of selling offered merchandise at a fixed price.

17 West 16th Street, Manhattan (ca. 1846) NYC IL, NHL From 1930 to 1973, this Greek Revival style townhouse was home to the clinic of birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger (1879-1966). Sanger moved to New York City in 1911 and began working as a nurse on the Lower East Side, where she treated women with frequent births, miscarriages and self-induced abortions. At the time, birth control, a term she popularized, was not available in the United States, and the federal Comstock law of 1873 prohibited the distribution of information on the topic. She founded a monthly newsletter entitled The Woman Rebel in 1914, and was indicted for sending “obscene” material through the mail. In 1916, Sanger opened her first clinic in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and in 1921 she helped found the American Birth Control League, which later became known as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In 1930, she established a more permanent home for her Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau here at 17 West 16th Street, where research was performed, patients were treated and instructed on contraceptives, and medical professionals from across the country were educated about sex, contraception and disease. The building, today a private residence, still stands as a reminder of Margaret Sanger’s groundbreaking work to advance women’s health and quality of life. Photo from Wikipedia

St. Francis Xavier R.C. Church, ca. 1895. St. Francis Xavier Church was established in 1847 by Jesuits who came down from Fordham (then in Westchester) to start a Manhattan parish. The original building was a simple classical style building, constructed in the 1850s. In 1877 the original church was site of a false alarm panic after someone yelled 'fire' during a service. The ensuing stampede caused the death of seven people. The first structure was demolished a year after this event, and a new church was built in a grand neo-Baroque style, completed in 1882. The tall church with an imposing granite-block facade was designed by well-known church architect Patrick Charles Keely. At the time of its completion it dwarfed most of the surrounding buildings. The interior too was designed in a colossal scale, with frescos, carved plaster and stone, arches, niches, and inlaid marble. A local newspaper in 1884 called the church "sumptuous and exhilarating.”

28 East 20th Street, south side, between Fourth Avenue and Broadway, 1925. This brownstone was built in 1848 and purchased by Theodore Roosevelt's grandfather, Cornelius Van Schaack Roosevelt, in 1850. He would go on to gift the home to his son and new daughter-in-law as a wedding present in 1854. Theodore Roosevelt was born here on October 27, 1858. The Roosevelt's moved uptown (as was the trend) in 1873, as the area surrounding his birthplace evolved into a primarily commercial district. After the family left, the home (and its neighbor at no. 26, which was also gifted to Roosevelt's uncle) went through a number of drastic alterations before being totally demolished in 1916. In 1919, after Roosevelt's death, the family repurchased nos. 26 and 28 and restored the structures to their 1865 state, complete with period rooms. Initially a private venture, the site became part of the National Park Service in 1962.

70 Fifth Avenue (at far right), May 19, 1933. Constructed in 1913 as a speculative office building, the 12-story structure on the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 13th Street was advertised as "office space at a prestige address." In 1914 it became the headquarters for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the offices of its official publication, The Crisis. (The NAACP had previous worked from offices at 20 Vesey Street for the first five years of their existence.)

56 West 14th Street Everyone knows the iconic Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street and Broadway. But before moving to 34th Street, Macy’s operated out of a series of buildings on West 14th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. H. Macy & Co. was founded by Rowland Hussey Macy in 1858. The original Macy’s stood on the southeast corner of 14th Street and 6th Avenue. As the company succeeded over the next few decades, claiming to have “pioneered such revolutionary business practices as the one-price system, in which the same item was sold to every customer at one price, and quoting specific prices for goods in newspaper advertising. Known for its creative merchandising, Macy’s was the first to introduce such products as the tea bag, the Idaho baked potato and colored bath towels.” it expanded into neighboring buildings on West 14th Street. After Macy’s passing in 1877, the company remained in family hands until 1895, when brothers Isadore and Nathan Straus took over the company. In 1898, the Straus brothers built a new Macy’s Annex at 56 West 14th Street. This tall (nine stories) and narrow (25 feet) building is ornately designed in the Neo-Classical style popular at the time. Landmarked in 2011, the building is now home to a 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. Macy’s moved to 34th Street in 1902. It is not clear if any retail took place in the 14th Street Macy’s Annex, or whether it was just used for offices, storage, or rented out. According to the designation report, “The former Macy 14th Street Annex, owned by the Straus family until 1939 and internally connected to the 13th Street Annex through the 20th century, housed a variety of firms over subsequent decades.” The Macy’s logo has always featured a red star, which allegedly comes from a tattoo that Macy got as a teenager when he worked on a Nantucket whaling ship. 56 West 14th Street is still ornately decorated, and if you look closely you can still see the Macy’s logo and stars on the building facade.

Marion Parker, a graduate of Michigan State University, designed the structure for the Whitehall, and Broad-Exchange buildings, and assisted in designing the Flatiron Building. Elmina Wilson, a graduate of Iowa State University, designed the structure for the Whitehall Annex, the Manhattan Municipal Building, and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower — the tallest building in the world from 1907 to 1913. Learn more here.

Chickering Hall, ca. 1888. Chickering Hall was New York headquarters and concert hall of the Chickering & Sons piano manufacturing firm. Architect George B. Post’s design made use of brick, marble, and brownstone and included a tiled hipped roof and massive, two-story arches on the building’s 18th Street and Fifth Avenue frontages. Indoors, Post’s 1,450-seat performance hall hosted its first event on November 1875. Events at Chickering Hall included an early telephone demonstration by Alexander Graham Bell (1877) and a lecture by Oscar Wilde (1882), among many musical performances showcasing Chickering & Sons instruments. In 1901, Chickering & Sons lost their lease for the property and the building was demolished in early 1902.

Dewey Arch ca. 1899 This wood-and-plaster arch and colonnade at Madison Square was the focal point of Commodore George Dewey's triumphal procession through New York City on September 30, 1899, after defeating the Spanish forces at Manila Bay on May 1, 1898. The temporary construction, erected by the National Sculpture Society under the leadership of architect Charles R. Lamb and sculptor Frederic W. Ruckstall, was completed on September 29, just one day before the procession. The arch was intended to attract subscriptions for a permanent structure, but Dewey's popularity waned and the project was abandoned. The heavily deteriorated temporary monument was removed in late 1900.

New York's Doughnut Hut of the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army's connection to donut making originated in 1917 when a troop of 250 American volunteers traveled to the front lines in France during World War I. Stationed to provide spiritual and emotional support for the fighters, the volunteers, primarily women, wanted to give the soldiers a taste of home by serving them home-baked goods. However, they found it difficult to procure the ingredients necessary to bake pastries or cakes and so opted for a simple dessert that wouldn't even require an oven: donuts! Ensign Margaret Sheldon and Adjutant Helen Purviance began coordinating an effort to provide this taste of home to the soldiers in the trenches. They were quickly able to produce around 2,500 to 9,000 donuts daily, using a cutter fastened out of a condensed milk can and a camphor ice tube. This heroic effort has been credited for donuts' popularity in the states today. During the Great Depression, the Salvation Army used the donut in yet another campaign to boost morale. National Donut Day, celebrated on June 4th, was invented in Chicago in 1938 to fundraise for aid efforts provided by the Salvation Army.

Century Building ARCHITECT: William Schikel DATE: 1880-81 STYLE: Queen Anne Schickel designed the Century Building in the Queen Anne style, an English import defined by a picturesque use of 17th- and 18th-century motifs. The Century is an unusually handsome example of the Queen Anne, notable particularly for its richly carved stonework, its two-story oriel window, its gambrel roof framed by massive chimney stacks, and its terra-cotta details including sunflowers, the trademark of the style.

The Salvation Army National and Territorial Headquarters ARCHITECT: Ralph Walker; Vorhees, Gmelin & Walker DATE: 1929-35 STYLE: Art Deco The complex includes a 12-story office building, adjacent to a 4-story auditorium building that included modern broadcast facilities. The building was designed by preeminent modernist architect Ralph Walker of the firm of Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker, using an Art Deco style. Both of these buildings are clad in brick, with a small amount of cast-stone ornament near the top and around the entrances.

Flatiron Building, ca. 1977. Located on a site once known as "the Cow Catcher," this building amazed New Yorkers with its dizzy, slender height as seen from the north. Actually, it was almost as sturdy as a rectangular building, though triangular in plan. The exterior treatment, overly rich to our modern eyes, was considered quite conservative in 1902 when it was designed by D.H. Burnham & Company.

Lincoln Building ARCHITECT: R. H. Robertson DATE: 1889-90 STYLE: Romanesque Revival A classic example of the layered arcade design solution, a solution in which New York pioneered, the Romanesque Revival Lincoln Building is representative of an important transitional phase in the history of tall buildings. Using interior metal skeleton skyscraper construction in combination with traditional masonry bearing walls, the building is executed in limestone, granite, and brick, and has exceptionally fine carved and terra cotta detail, which includes the corner griffin, acanthus scrolls, Byzantine capitals, crisp moldings, human and lion heads.

"6th Avenue between 18th and 19th Street. Westerly block front, looking S.W., B. Altman store, cast iron architecture, 1948"

Statue of the Marquis de Lafayette, Union Square, March 20, 1936. S. Klein, a discount department store, the Union Square Savings Bank and the tower of the Consolidated Edison Building are visible in the background. Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s bronze sculpture, a gift from prominent French residents, was installed in Union Square on September 6, 1876. Bartholdi is best known for another iconic, French-funded civic sculpture: the Statue of Liberty.

30-32 West 21st Street, ca. 1985. The second location of Danceteria had four floors of dancers hidden behind this dour facade. In its short-lived location it was known for new wave and post-punk music as well as early hip-hop. Madonna, New Order, Duran Duran, Billy Idol, The Smiths, Cyndi Lauper, Depeche Mode, Sonic Youth, the Violent Femmes, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Beastie Boys, and LL Cool J all played here. If you missed hanging out with Madonna here, watch Desperately Seeking Susan. Danceteria reopened in the Martha Washington Hotel ballroom from 1989 to 1992 and a Hamptons outpost ran from 1984 to 1995.

"St. Joseph's Home for the Aged, 15th Street adjoining N.W. corner of Seventh Avenue. This institution, which opened in 1873 is maintained by the Society of St. Vincent De Paul. (Roman Catholic), 1931." The building that once housed the St. Joseph’s Home for the Aged, still exists below the simple Art Deco style brick apartment building that stands on 15th Street today. In 1940 a New York Times article described how the older building will be converted and modernized (not demolished) into a six-story elevator apartment building. The cost of the building for the development company was $75,000

Lord & Taylor building, ca. 1908. The grand Second Empire building was completed in 1870, becoming the third Lord & Taylor store, and the first north of Union Square. Architect James H. Giles designed an intricate cast iron facade, notable for its departure from previous cast iron designs, which sought to emulate stonework. This store is also said to be the site of New York’s first department store Christmas window display. In 1915, Lord & Taylor moved into a new showcase space uptown, and the building at Broadway and 20th Street was converted for manufacturing use.

32-46 West 23rd Street, ca. 1981. The original section of this wide, multi-address building is at left (nos. 32-36). This three-lot-wide, cast iron fronted building (with an out of context glass curtain wall on the top floors) was designed by Henry Fernbach in 1878 for the Stern's Dry Good Store. Stern's was a large emporium with imported goods that served middle-class to upper-class shoppers. In 1880 the three lots to the east were purchased for an extension, and then a number of lots to the west were purchased in 1886. Still the business grew and the store required more space. In 1892 William Schickel enlarged the building on the western lots, creating another cast iron building at nos. 38-46. The entire building now looked like a center section with matching sides. Stern's moved out in 1913, but the building went on to house industrial and manufacturing firms. By 1920 it is one of a number of Manhattan locations that housed functions of the Tiffany Studios, the stained glass company. Many well-known Tiffany pieces are stamped with 46 West 23rd Street.

The Decker Building was the site of Andy Warhol's Factory from 1968 and 1973. Fittingly, the building was designed by a radical anarchist architect, John H. Engelmann when he worked for Alfred Zucker in 1892. Engelmann had been expelled from the Socialist Labor Party and immediately formed the American Social League. Its name comes from the piano company that commissioned it: Decker. Andy Warhol moved his Factory to the Decker Building in 1968 after the original Factory's building on East 47th Street was slated for demolition. Warhol used a large portion of the sales of his work to fund his "Factory." It was at this factory where a bulk of Warhol's screenprints were produced by an assembly-line of workers. Conveniently, the Decker was in close proximity to Max's Kansas City, a nightclub he and his entourage would frequent. Warhol's sixth-floor unit was both a workspace and hangout frequently crowded with socialites, intellectuals, artists, adult film stars, drag queens, drug users, musicians, and many other characters on the fringes of society. These friends of Warhols became his "art-workers," producing his paintings, starring in his films, and generating the atmosphere the Factory became known for. It was here on a fateful afternoon in June (the 3rd) of 1968 that Warhol would be shot by Valerie Solanas. Solanas was a radical feminist and author who asked Warhol to produce her play titled "Up Your Ass," which she later accused Warhol of stealing. Solanas followed Warhol and Paul Morrisey into the elevator to the 6th-floor Factory where she shot Warhol three times and art critic Mario Amaya once. Warhol and Amaya recovered from their injuries and Solanas turned herself in. The Factory remained at this location until 1973.

Union Square West, north from and including the southwest corner of 15th Street, 1904.

Church of the Holy Communion Complex ARCHITECT: Richard Upjohn DATE: 1844-46 STYLE: Gothic Revival The Church of the Holy Communion and Sisters House and Chapel form a remarkably attractive homogenous architectural group of buildings executed in the Gothic Revival style of architecture. It was the first “free” church in the City. It had the first boys choir, and it was the home of New York’s first Anglican Sisterhood. The Sisters founded St. Luke’s Hospital in the Sisters House, destined to become one of the great hospitals of New York City.

"Sixth Avenue, east side, north from West 19th Street, 1933. Appearing progressively are the former Alexander and Cammeyer Buildings, the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion, the Masonic Temple building and the Hotel McAlpin. Towering above the church is the dominant Empire State Building." (text from the photographer P.L. Speer)

Marquis de Lafayette Statue, ca. 1917 Located at a prominent site of protest and political gathering, this statue, designed by Henry Kirke Brown, with assistance by John Quincy Adams Ward and Richard Upjohn, depicts this founding father as an equestrian hero. Celebrating the General's arrival in New York on November 25, 1783, the day the British troops evacuated the city after a seven-year occupation, the monument was unveiled on July 4, 1856. It remains one of the earliest examples of bronze statues cast in the United States and a unique record of nineteenth-century American foundry techniques. After over a century of vandalism, corrosion, and missing elements, such as a sword that once fit into the scabbard, MAS's Adopt-A-Monument program facilitated restoration efforts in 1989 with a grant from the Glick Organization.

Civic Repertory Theater, 1900 This building is a theatre with a long history. The structure was originally constructed in 1866 as the Theatre Francais, a venue for French dramas and opera. Designed by German-born architect Alexander Saeltzer, his inspiration came from 18th century English styles. The resulting theatre was a large stone building with a two-story portico, classic pediment with sculptural figures, and supported by numerous Corinthian columns. Saeltzer is better known for his still extant buildings, including the Public Theatre (former Astor Library) and the Gothic Revival Anshe Chesed Synagogue, which is now the Angel Orensanz Center. The theatre would change hands and names with great frequency over the next 50 years. It was renamed the Lyceum in 1871 (one of a number of theatres to use that moniker). In 1879 it was taken over by J.H. Haverly and renamed Haverly's 14th Street Theatre. By the next decade it was called just the 14th Street Theatre. The theatre became a movie venue in the 1910s but returned to theatrical productions in 1926 when it was taken over by British actress Eva Le Gallienne, who was very involved in the American Repertory Movement. She successful produced high quality, low cost shows until the Depression forced the theatre's closure in 1933.

The Eden Musee boasted a waxwork collection and other oddities such as magic lantern shows, marionettes, and a "Chamber of Horrors" in its basement. Though the institution had a collection of paintings, it was mostly known for the motion pictures which were shown in its various halls. The Musee was the first venue in the country with motion pictures as part of its standard programming. In fact, the Eden was Edison's first movie licensee. After the venue declared bankruptcy in 1915, much of its collection was auctioned off or exhibited on Coney Island.

61 Fifth Avenue, ca. 1983. 61 Fifth Avenue first opened in 1938 as a Schrafft's luncheonette. The cozy restaurant, framed by a grand staircase, semi-circular open ceiling, and heaps of flowers, gift baskets and boxes of chocolate, was designed by architects Bloch & Hesse. By 1969, Schrafft's became the “official dining spot” for what New York Magazine then called “L.O.L.’s,” or Little Old Ladies. With the hope of reinventing its image, the owners hired Andy Warhol to film a trio of young girls in miniskirts with the tagline, “Have you seen the little old ladies in Schrafft's lately?" for a commercial. Despite efforts to appear hip, the restaurant closed in the 1970s and was replaced by a Brew Burger. Then came The Lone Star Café. Known for its “honkytonk” live music and the giant 40-foot iguana statue that sat on its roof, the Texas-themed cafe and club was the top venue for country music in New York from 1976 to 1989. Mr. Fuji's Tropicana opened at 61 Fifth Avenue in the early nineties, but only remained open for a short period of time. The club was famous for its tie to Vin Diesel, who is rumored to have worked the front door as a bouncer. A Korean deli with a secret karaoke bar on the second floor opened after Mr. Fuji’s shut down, and following that, a 24-hour convenience store. In 2006, the building was destroyed in a fire. The land was sold to a developer who recently erected a 10-story condominium at 61 Fifth Avenue. Designed by architect Alta Indelman, the building today is surrounded by a fence that has become a showcase for street art.

International Toy Center, ca. 1916 Construction began on the beguilingly named International Toy Center in 1908 and was completed the next year. It had large shoes to fill, as it replaced the famed Fifth Avenue Hotel, one of the first (but hardly the last) of New York's luxury hotels. Moreover, the building showed the speed at which the city was industrializing; only 70 years before, this area had been farmland. Though initially named the Fifth Avenue Building, it earned its new moniker during the First World War when scarcity in European manufactures caused a boost in the toy industry. By the end of the following World War, many of the industry's largest players inhabited the building and in the 1960s manager Helmsley-Spear restricted the leases to toy companies. By the early 1980s, 95% of toy transactions in the United States were handled by the complex's 600 toy tenants (by then the Toy Center comprised two buildings). Though a series of sales and changing markets left the building partly unoccupied during the early 2000s, 200 Fifth Avenue now hoasts Eataly, Tiffany, and many others.

Atrium of the Simpson-Crawford Company decorated for Easter, 1904. Simpson-Crawford Co. began as a small dry good store opened in the 1860s at Sixth Avenue and 19th Street. Through a series of new partnerships, the store grew and prospered (and changed names a few times), catering to a very high end clientele. At the turn of the 20th century, the owner selected architectural firm, William H. Hume & Son, to expand the large store to a full block width on Sixth Avenue. The building, complete in 1902, was stately and conservative, rendered in an understated Beaux Arts style. The building included the first escalator (called “moving stairs”) on Sixth Avenue and used a new marketing device, the mannequin. The interior featured a soaring cast iron atrium with a colored-glass skylight. This space was perfect for over the top holiday displays, such as the Easter one depicted here.

Mansard roof of 881 Broadway, ca. 1973.

Union Square Park, 1902. In 1815, the former potter's field at the intersection of Bowery and Bloomingdale Road (Broadway) was designated Union Place, a public commons. Official establishment as a park came in 1833, and re-designed in 1839 to adopt the spirit of the public spaces dotting the London city map. Development in the surrounding neighborhood accelerated during the middle decades of the 19th century, as Manhattan's fashionable residential and commercial districts shifted uptown. In 1872, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the celebrated landscape architects behind Central Park and Prospect Park, were enlisted to redesign Union Square. The Olmsted and Vaux design is still evident in today's park, with its emphasis on space for public assembly and greenery.

149 West 14th Street, ca. 1930. Kooky’s Cocktail Lounge, better known as Kooky’s (pronounced “cookies”), was a Mafia-owned lesbian bar that operated here from 1965 to 1973. Even though a female-operated bar at that time was unusual, Kooky (last name unknown) was not particularly welcoming to lesbian patrons. She enforced a door cover-charge policy ($3 – a large financial burden at that time) and had a lot of control over the imposing bouncers; rather than protect the patrons, which was supposedly their job, they would often bully them. Lesbian feminist author Karla Jay described Kooky’s memorable style: “Her hair was shellacked into a large golden beehive that suggested that she had last set, teased, and sprayed her hair in the 1950s and then left it permanently in place.”

Union Square West looking south, including the Decker Building (extreme right), date unknown. This 1893 building, designed by John H. Edelmann for the Decker Brothers piano company, replaced the company's previous headquarters designed by Leopold Edilitz. Edelmann, notable for his anarchist views and his mentorship of the architect Louis Sullivan (Edelmann came up with the idea for Sullivan's maxim "form follows function"), drew upon Venetian and Islamic influences in the design, which featured balconies, elaborate cast iron filigree, Islamic style terra cotta tiles, and culminated in a domed minaret. Later, from 1967 to 1973, the Decker building was the site of Andy Warhol's studio the "Factory," which was located on the 6th floor. This was where, in June of 1968, Valerie Solanas shot and injured Warhol, as well as art critic Mario Amaya.

Church of the Holy Communion ca. 1928 Rarely does such a complete ecclesiastical group survive intact from the Gothic Revival. Although this diminutive church, parish house, and rectory represent that style pared down to its bare essentials, the general effect is delightful and sincerely religious in its lack of pretentiousness.

"127-123 West 20th Street, north side, just west of Sixth Avenue. No. 123 adjoins the Partola Building, which is on Sixth Avenue at the N.W. corner of 20th Street, 1931." The Partola Building was originally the the O'Neill-Adams department store building. After an extensive renovation in 1920, the building became home to the Partola Manufacturing Company, a chemical company.

West 14th Street looking east from Sixth Avenue, ca. 1892. No. 36, is at right, in the middle of the block. In the middle of the 19th century a brownstone occupied the lot. In 1858, sugar merchant Moses Lazarus (father to Emma Lazarus) and his family moved into the mansion. They remained in the home until at least 1876, when Emma wrote a letter to Thomas Wren Ward from this address. In 1877 the home was replaced by a five-story cast iron commercial building for Lazarus (as a headquarters or office, or as a rental property, it is unknown). That building is visible at right. In 1899 the Lazarus building was replaced by an addition to a neighboring structure, the Ludwig Brothers building. It soon after became Rothenberg & Co., "New York's most up-to-date store." Today that Neo-Grec commercial structure still stands at 34-42 West 14th Street.

Rock pit at 17th Street and Fourth Avenue (as Union Square East and Park Avenue South were then known), during the construction of the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, January 9, 1901. The trees visible at upper right are in Union Square Park. Note the subterranean surveyor at the bottom of the image.

"Seventh Avenue, east side, from 20th to 19th Streets,1931." Notice the police officer on horseback, and the two different types of ornamental light poles.

80 Fifth Avenue, an elaborately-detailed Renaissance Revival style office building constructed in 1907-1908 by the architecture firm of Buchman and Fox, has been a striking presence at the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 14th Street for well over a century. The stunning architecture would be enough to warrant landmark designation of the 17-story office, store, and loft building, which has housed law firms, clothing and jewelry shops, magazines and real estate offices, a school, and civic organizations over it’s more than one hundred ten year history. But beginning in 1973, the top floor was also home to the National Gay Task Force, the country’s first national LGBT rights organization, during its early period when it made groundbreaking advances — the first in fact ever made — for LGBT rights on the federal level. This building was constructed in 1908 to be used as manufacturing and office space. Known as both 80-82 Fifth Avenue and 2-4 West 14th Street, its facades facing two of New York’s busiest streets is full of stately embellishments. This beautiful building’s lower and upper levels feature decorative floral and geometric ornamentation, elaborate cornices, and angled bay windows on the third floor. Ornamented pilasters are found at either side of these windows, with slightly more austere middle floors and in its arched windows and elaborate ornamentation at the top story. The National Gay Task Force, now renamed as The National LGBTQ Task Force, works to advance full freedom, justice, and equality for LGBTQ people. The organization is the country’s oldest national LGBTQ advocacy group. The founding members of the Task Force included Dr. Howard Brown, Martin Duberman, Barbara Gittings, Ron Gold, Frank Kameny, Nathalie Rockhill, and Bruce Voeller. They were inspired by the Stonewall uprising and the burgeoning LGBTQ rights movements in the Village. Among the Task Force’s accomplishments during the time it was located at 80 Fifth Avenue included getting the American Psychiatric Association to end its classification of homosexuality as a mental illness; getting the federal government to end its ban on employing gay or lesbian people in any federal agencies (though a guarantee not to discriminate based upon sexual orientation was not implemented until decades later); and brokering the first meeting of gay rights advocates with the White House in 1977.

Seventh Avenue, west side, from 20th Street to 21st Street, ca. 1920.

Civic Repertory Theater, July 2, 1936. From the 1860s to the turn of the century, New York’s theater district centered on 14th Street. Abbott photographed four 19th-century theaters in the old district, anticipating their imminent destruction. The Civic Repertory opened in 1866 as the Theatre Francaise and acquired its modern name in 1926, when Eva Le Gallienne reopened it to produce classic revivals and new plays at low prices. Between 1932 and 1935, it housed the Labor Theatre, which performed plays with social themes. When Abbott photographed the Civic Repertory in 1936, it was closed, and two years later, a motion picture chain tore it down with plans for a new movie house, which was never built. In 1974, a six-story apartment house went up on the site.

31-41 Union Square West, October 26, 1938. The building at the far left is the Metropolis Bank, a neo-Renaissance structure designed by Bruce Price and completed in 1903. Next to it at no. 33 is the Decker or Union Building.The 1892 building was designed by John H. Edelmann. The style of the facade includes Venetian and Islamic traditions, rendered in terra cotta detail. From 1967 to 1973 the building was the venue for Andy Warhol's "Factory." It was here in 1968 that Valerie Solanas shot Warhol and critic Mario Amaya. The Hartford Building (no. 41 at the corner of 17th Street) dates to 1895 and was built as the headquarters of the Hartford Carpet Company. Today all of these buildings remain standing.

West side of Fifth Avenue, between 22nd and 23rd Streets, March 26, 1920. This block, part of the 1989 Ladies Mile Historic District, includes a number of buildings recalling the neighborhood’s history as a tony 19th century residential and shopping district. The three leftmost buildings (nos. 172-176) have been replaced by late 1920s construction.

Streetcar tracks alongside the high pressure water system trench on Union Square West; undated photo. At left is the shop of Victor S. Flechter, violin dealer, at No. 23 Union Square West. Flechter was not a merchant of high moral character: He twice ran afoul of the law during the 1890s: first for selling an imitation violin as a Gasparo Duiffopruggar original; and again in 1896, for possessing a Stradivarius violin stolen from the late Prof. Jean Joseph Bott, for which he was sentenced to one year in prison.

23rd Street, looking east from about Seventh Avenue, September 14, 1928. The building at center, 71 West 23rd Street, is home to the Freemason Garabaldi Lodge #542. The 19-story loft building was constructed between 1911 and 1913 in a neo-Renaissance style by Free Mason Harry P. Knowles. The structure was always meant to be, and continues to be, a means of generating income to the support the functions of the Masons. Spaces in the building have always been rented to organizations and companies as offices and event spaces. The building offers at least 15 rooms for events of various sizes with varied and spectacular interior design. The ceremonial functions of the Mason's are located in the 1909 building that fronts West 24th Street and can be reached through a through-block pedestrian passageway. Well-known members of this lodge have included Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, John Jacob Astor, and Harry Houdini.

29 West 14th Street, August 10, 1927. No.29, the old house at the right, belonged to the estate of the late Frederick T. Van Beuren.

Hungarian American Bank, ca. 1910. Real estate developer Henry Corn commissioned the architect Robert Maynicke to design a mid block, 11-story Beaux-Arts building in the mid 1890s. The large bank building then had an addition completed in 1899, which extended the building to the corner, added two more stories, and erected a three-story dome at the new corner. The new addition made the building a far more striking edifice. Through the 20th century, the bank and manufacturing structure lost its balcony and had contemporary infill on the ground level. In 2005 while undergoing a condo conversion the facade was restored and the original features, once lost, were remade. The cupola is now a 3,200 square-foot apartment.

Everett Building ARCHITECT: Goldwin Starrett & Van Vleck DATE: 1908 STYLE: Chicago Built in 1908 for the Everett Investing Company, was designed by Goldwin Starrett & Van Vleck, a firm known for its commercial architecture. In its design, the Everett Building synthesizes classical elements with key aspects of both the New York and the Chicago styles. Goldwin Starrett, the architect, brought to his New York practice familiarity with the Chicago style. The building reflects its structure in its cladding while employing a design vocabulary that includes classical motifs.

Village Preservation successfully advocated for this building's landmark designation in 2021. This building housed the headquarters of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organizations, the NAACP, the first magazines for an African-American audience, The Crisis Magazine, and what would become the American Civil Liberties Union, among many other entities. To learn more about 70 Fifth Avenue, click here.

Asociación de Arte Latinoamericano (ADAL), 682 Sixth Avenue. For nearly 40 years, gay artistic director Max Ferrá led INTAR, a Latino theater company first known as Asociación de Arte Latinoamericano (ADAL) when it was located in this building from 1966 to 1971. Under Ferrá, who was also a co-founder, the company became a major force in developing Hispanic-American theater talent, including original works by several notable LGBT playwrights.

Prohibition began in 1920 with the passage of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. For the next thirteen years, the production, sale, and consumption of alcohol in the United States was illegal. The Prohibition Movement originated with organizations like the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League in the second half of the 19th century. Belonging to the Progressive Movement, these temperance organizations sought not only to address the effects of society's problems, but to eliminate the root cause of crime and poverty by prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol. While these ideas might seem noble, they involved a darker side. These organizations were rooted in Protestant ideas of the Social Gospel and exhibited prejudice towards the growing number of immigrants and Catholics in America's cities. Many supporters of Prohibition viewed the newly arriving immigrants' enjoyment of beer and whiskey as the reason for the rising poverty and crime rates in many American cities, especially New York. Prohibitionists' intentions of eliminating crime and poverty not only failed, they backfired! Prohibition actually led to an increase in crime and illegal activity, as many began to profit from the illegal importing, production, and selling of alcohol. While the experiment with Prohibition ultimately ended with the passage of the 21st Amendment, it transformed American society and culture. NYS Social Scope and Sequence Standards: 8.4 & 11.7 For Teachers: Prohibition Lesson Plan

186 Fifth Avenue (at right), 1896. Designed by Henry J. Hardenburgh, architect of the Plaza Hotel and the Dakota Apartments, this vibrant red brick Queen Anne style building with the peaked roof stands out among its lighter colored cast iron neighbors. Hardenburgh completed the structure in 1883 as a branch office of the Western Union Telegraph Company. There are still company logos carved in stone on the building. This "uptown" branch was connected to the Western Union downtown headquarters at Broadway and Dey Street by a pneumatic tube system. While the building remained offices for much of its history, today the upper floors have been converted into condos while the lower two floors are commercial.

In 1892, 27% of the country's millionaires lived in New York, when the city only made up 2% of the country's population! Welcome to the society of the Gilded Age. This tour takes its inspiration from an exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York that explores the visual culture of New York's richest residents from the mid-1870s to the start of World War One. It stops at several places, such as the old headquarters of Tiffany \&Company that are connected to the dazzling objects in the show. It also introduces you to some of the people at the center of Gilded-age society, and illuminates how-over the course of three decades- the city transformed more rapidly than ever before. It was during this time that New York became a world capital on par with London and Paris. Before the 1870s the lives of the rich and the places they frequented had been more private and understated. By the 1890s they were public and over the top: Simple brownstones gave way to French chateaux, cluttered dry good stores became palatial department stores; and grand hotels and restaurants became premiere places to entertain, outside the home. Even if shoes are more comfortable now than they were in the Gilded Age, you may find it tiring to walk this tour from beginning to end. So feel free to split it up!

Union Square is known today as a site of public gathering and for expressions of discontent. This is built upon Union Square’s rich, multi-layered history as a public space in Manhattan. The name of the park comes from its location within the downtown area, placed between, or at the “union,” of the then-Bloomingdale Road and Bowery Road, which is now Fourth Avenue and Broadway. Only thirty years after it was designated a public space by the State Legislature in 1831, despite its fencing and narrow sidewalks, Union Square evolved into a space where mass demonstrations, rallies, and protests took place.

A communist demonstration in front of the Hartford building on May 1, 1937.

Civic Repertory Theatre, 1936. The Civic Repertory Theatre opened in 1866 as a home for French language dramas and opera. Also known as Theatre Francais, it was designed by Alexander Saeltzer and presented French productions until 1869. It operated as a booking house from 1880 through the start of the twentieth century, most famously presenting Haverly's Minstrels. In 1871, the theatre was renamed to the Lyceum, after its new owner. The theater was again renamed in 1878 as Haverly's 14th Street when J.H. Haverly took it over. Despite its name change, by the mid-1880s, it had simply become known as the Fourteenth Street Theatre. The space was used as a movie theatre in the early part of the twentieth century until 1926 when actress Eva Le Gallienne turned it into the Civic Repertory Theatre. Although she put on 34 successful productions, the Great Depression ended that venture in 1934. The building was demolished in 1938.

The Gilded Age describes the era following the Civil War and preceding the Progressive Era. From around 1870-1900 the United States industrialized rapidly. Factories sprung up throughout the towns and cities in the Northeast and Midwest. New railroad networks and telegraph lines connected these industries and cities with the financial centers of the nation, specifically New York City. The Gilded Age is a complicated period. It saw the rise of monopolies and the creation of vast wealth. However, this wealth was limited to only a few families. Most Americans, including the millions of immigrants arriving annually, remained incredibly poor. The inequality of the Gilded Age prompted Progressive Reformers to enact laws which helped those poorer Americans. New York City represented well this "tale of two cities." In 1892, 27% of the country's millionaires lived in New York, when the city only made up 2% of the country's population! Yet the vast majority of poor immigrants arriving to the country entered through New York Harbor. While many Progressive reforms got their start in the Big Apple, the city was also the center of Gilded Age opulence. NYS Social Studies Scope and Sequence Standards: 8.2 & 11.5 For Teachers: The Gilded Age Lesson Plan

One of a pair of almost entirely identical townhouses, 24 West 12th Street was built in 1851 by Charles Partridge. In 1853, it was sold to General Winfield Scott, who used it as his residence in the city. Winfield Scott was one of the most important generals of the 19th century. Having successfully lead the United States Army during the invasion of Mexico, Scott was important in the organization and modernization of the American military. Despite the respect of his peers and broad popular support, Scott was unsuccessful as the Whig presidential candidate of 1852 (the party having been broadly divided due to the Compromise of 1850.) Despite being a Virginian, Scott stayed loyal to the Union during the civil war and developed the Anaconda plan to crush the rebellion. However, Lincoln caved to popular pressure for an immediate (and disastrous) attack. Scott resigned in 1861, dying five years later.

22 West 15th Street, ca. 1935. The Leopold Ascher Brush Company was headquartered in the large six-story building at center. They produced boar bristle brushes for shaving. They were established in 1888 by Ascher, a German-Jewish immigrant to New York. In 1920 he applied for a trademark for his products. Oddly that trademarked symbol was very similar to the Nazi swastika. He is better known for the 1939 trademark for his popular Strong Set of shaving brushes. Ascher was a cousin to Paula Kissinger, mother to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Young Kissinger worked at the factory as a brush maker and later clerk and delivery boy as a teenager, while attending high school in the evening uptown.

20 West 12th Street, 1940. In the years just prior to and after the First World War there was a movement among a group of architects, homeowners, and developers to re-imagine the old (and sometimes deteriorating) rowhouses of Manhattan's older neighborhoods into innovative and stylish dwellings. No. 20 was one of those older rowhouses (it likely looked very similar to its neighbors). In the 1930s the home was renovated by architect Charles Magill Smith, who also lived there. The stoop was removed and the entrance created at the garden level.

The Everett Building, 200 Park Avenue South, ca. 1975. Erected in 1908, the Everett Building was designed by the Goldwin Starrett & Van Vleck firm. The facade of this 16-story high rise reflects the philosophy, taste, and style of acclaimed architect, Daniel Burnham — best known for the Flatiron Building — who previously employed Starrett in Chicago.

View north from 7th Street and Fourth Avenue (today Park Avenue South), August 2, 1902. During the cut and cover process of construction of the IRT East Side line, the busy streets of the city needed to maintain their necessary uses. Here a fully loaded trolley rolls over the tracks of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company. The tracks have been raised above the large excavation pit and shored up with thick timbers.

Are you ready for a closeup? Try your hand at re-creating these historic photos at Union Square! This challenge is only available to our iOS app users. If you don't yet have the Urban Archive App, download it here. Each location in this challenge has an address and a historic image tied to it. Check-in at each location by tapping the lock icon to the left of the clue. If you’re in the right place, it will turn green. Your challenge today is to take as many then-and-now photos as you can. Tap the image, and then the recreate button to line up the historical image with your present-day view. Once you’re happy with your photo, hit save to add it to your camera roll. Please share these photos with team@urbanarchive.nyc once you’ve completed the challenge. Happy snapping!

In 1750, British naval officer Thomas Clarke bought a Dutch farm to create his retirement estate, named “Chelsea” after the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London. His property extended from approximately Eighth Avenue to the Hudson—its shore ran roughly along today’s Tenth Avenue—between 20th and 28th Streets. The estate was subdivided in 1813 between two grandsons; Clement Clarke Moore received the southern half below 24th Street while his cousin, Thomas B. Clarke, inherited the northern section. The two halves developed distinctly different characters due to the split. Today, Chelsea contains a variety of historic architecture, including some of the city’s most intact nineteenth-century residential blocks, significant commercial buildings, and industrial complexes near the Hudson River.

Scribner Building ARCHITECT: Ernest Flagg DATE: 1893-94 STYLE: Beaux-Arts The Scribner Building is a handsome Beaux-Arts office building. It was designed by the eminent American architect Ernest Flagg, and it is a tine example of the application of the best principles of French Beaux-Arts design to a relatively small commercial building, and that it served for many years as the corporate home of Charles Scribner’s Sons, the noted publishing firm.

Let's go west! Explore 14th Street, one of Manhattan's most vital and vibrant arteries. This time, we'll be starting at 5th Avenue and heading towards the Hudson River. Among the highlights: an armory, a bowling alley, and a gorgeous old theater that is no more.

Church of the Holy Communion, date unknown. The Gothic Revival church was constructed between 1844-1845. Designed by well-known church architect Richard Upjohn, it was the first asymmetrical Gothic Revival church building in the United States. The architect designed it to resemble a small medieval English parish church. Though the church was an influential building in the 19th century, it is the building's later 20th century history that is most well known. In the mid-1970s, the church was the Lindisfarne Association's headquarters, which created a cultural center, hosting poetry readings, concerts and lectures. Oddysey House, a drug rehabiliation program, next occupied the church. Then, from 1983 until 2007 the church housed the Limelight, a notorious nightclub. First a disco and rock club, it would evolve into a place for techno, goth, and industrial music. It was frequented by the club kids of the 1990s and was closed and reopened a number of times during its history due to police raids. The Limelight finally closed in 2007 (by that point it had been renamed Avalon). Today the 1840s church is occupied by an upscale Chinese restaurant and a branch of the David Barton Gym chain.

“45 East 18th Street, adjoining the N.W. corner of Fourth Avenue, showing an old enterprise; a feature of this locality (woolen’s) for years. To the right is the 12-story Belvedere Building located at the aforementioned corner. June 1938.” The “old enterprise” is, of course, the Old Town Bar and Restaurant, opened in 1892 and in continuous operation since (its proximity to Prohibition-era Tammany Hall probably didn’t hurt). Inside, you’ll find the original marble and mahogany bar, and one of New York’s oldest operating dumbwaiters.

Village Community Church, West 13th Street, ca. 1985. This temple-fronted Greek Revival church was built in 1846 as the Thirteenth Street Presbyterian Church. Mergers with nearby congregations led to a series of new names: Greenwich Presbyterian, Village Presbyterian, and the Village Community Church. In 1975, the church was sold to a residential developer, despite its inclusion in the Greenwich Village Historic District. It is now an apartment complex known as Portico Place.

First Presbyterian Church, ca. 1915. Founded in 1716, the First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York first worshipped on Wall Street, before shifting to Cedar Street and, in 1846, to its present location on Fifth Avenue. The Gothic Revival church, designed by Joseph C. Wells, was built between 1844-6. Today, the First Presbyterian complex includes several additions and outbuildings, including a transept by McKim, Mead & White (1893-4) and a “church house” by Edgar Tafel.

Street & Smith Publishing is was one of the oldest publishing houses in the country. They can be credited with encouraging literacy en masse by churning out thousands of volumes of enticing and easy-to-read dime novels, pulp fiction books, comic books, and magazines. The company was founded in 1855 by Francis Scott Street and Francis Shubael Smith when the two revitalized a dying fiction magazine. Three short years later, they purchased the New York Weekly Dispatch and began growing their publishing empire. The house put forward novels in the following categories: adventure and sea stories, detective and mystery, romance, sci-fi, sports, westerns, and young adult fiction. They also published comic books including the likes of Jesse James, Buffalo Bill, and Nick Carter. Their weekly magazines included Popular Magazine, Pic, Charm, and Mademoiselle. Street & Smith ceased production of pulp fiction in 1949, largely due to increasing competition with television. The publishers turned their attention to their collection of magazines. The publisher was sold to Conde Nast for over 3.5 million dollars in 1957.

Harris (1855-1931), an Irish immigrant who became a naturalized U.S. citizen during his editorship of Pearson’s Magazine, was a noted author, journalist, editor, publisher, and provocateur. His autobiographical My Life and Loves was banned in the United States and Britain for 40 years due to its sexual content. In addition to publishing this and Pearson’s, Harris wrote two books about Shakespeare and biographies of his friends, the playwright George Bernard Shaw and the poet and playwright Oscar Wilde. Wilde, who was found guilty of engaging in acts of “gross indecency” in 1895, became an icon in the emergence of the modern LGBTQ rights movement. Harris’ close friendship with Wilde is portrayed in Moises Kaufman’s Gross Indecencies: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, as well as several other literary portrayals of Wilde’s life.

Twin townhouses on West 12th Street, which served as the Church House for the First Presbyterian Church on Fifth Avenue. July 16, 1936. These townhouses, designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, were likely completed during the 1840s. Decades later, No. 14 (right) was home to the sculptor John Rogers (1888-95) and the writer Theodore Dreiser (1897-98). The townhouses were razed during the 1950s, ahead of the construction of the new Church House, designed by Edgar Tafel, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. One architectural element of the old Church House survives: a stained glass window, now part of the Brooklyn Museum collection.

This building served as the home of the groundbreaking Pearson’s Magazine and bookstore. Pearson’s began as a progressive British magazine in 1896 with a socialist bent and focus on literature, publishing works by Upton Sinclair, George Bernard Shaw, and H.G. Wells, among others. However, the American version, founded in 1899, began to diverge in its content and focus more on American writers and issues, especially under the editorship of Frank Harris in the 1910s and 20s, when it was located here.

Margaret Louisa Home ca. 1907 By the late 19 century, not only were unmarried working-class women toiling in factories, mills, shops, and various trades, but middle-class women were employed in new white-collar jobs as clerks, secretaries, stenographers, journalists, and telephone operators. An 1879 report of the Association for Inquiry into the Condition of Professional and Business Women estimated that there were about 50,000 women pursuing “professional, literary, and artistic pursuits” in and within 50 miles of New York, while there was only accommodation for 500. The need for housing was so great that the LCU and similar organizations were turning away three applicants for every one they could house. The Young Women’s Christian Association of New York City constructed the first new building designed specifically to house single working women.] Completed in 1891 at 14-16 East 16th Street, the six-story Margaret Louisa Home was described as “a temporary home for the Protestant self-supporting woman who is a stranger within the gates of Gotham.” The requirements for acceptance to the house show the continued emphasis on moral character: “Those desiring admission \[must] provide a name, occupation, church denomination, and the name and address of a reliable person…” Thirty years on, the house rules were as strict as those in the earlier “moral homes.” Rent was payable in advance, no cooking or washing was allowed on the premises, electricity was “extinguished at 11 o’clock,” and “the house is closed at 11 pm; those liable to be detained later must report at the Superintendent’s office in advance.” The Margaret Louisa was a new type of building, much larger than any earlier home (it could accommodate up to 110 women). Still, it was consciously designed, under the leadership of the all-female association board, to “have that indescribable, indispensable something—sympathetic home influence.” Contemporary descriptions of the public spaces note the walls were “painted in warm, soft colors which add greatly to the charm of the finish,” while “the parlors are tastefully furnished, with engravings, a piano…reading lamps…all of which give a peculiar home-like air to these surroundings.” In contrast, the bedrooms at the Margaret Louisa were quite small and furnished plainly. Photos from about 1907 show a dormitory bedroom crowded with three iron bedsteads, small wash basins, a bureau, and a shelf. While the single-bedroom photo has similar furnishings, it appears staged as an attractive, feminine, middle-class space, a sort of “aspirational” bedroom with a vase of flowers, pictures on the bureau, and personal items pinned up behind a shelf, which also has assorted knick knacks More occupants meant a lower cost per boarder, which might explain the small size of the bedrooms and their spartan furniture. However, it is interesting to contrast the austere nature of the small, almost institutional bedrooms, with the attractively decorated public rooms—rooms where genteel practices like reading or playing the piano were encouraged. Even though the residents, for the most part, were middle-class, professional women—teachers, artists, and journalists—in form, furnishings, and rules, the Margaret Louisa continued the traditions of the “Moral Home.”

881 Broadway, ca. 1976. The massive building that runs from Broadway to Fifth Avenue along the whole of 19th Street (and also actually has a small mid block facade on 18th Street) was built over 15 years. Designed by Griffith Thomas, the original section of this building fronted Broadway and a small section of 19th Street. Constructed in 1868 in an ornate Second Empire style, Thomas extended the building along 19th in 1872 and had a second entrance on that facade added. At this time the original top of the building was removed for the construction of the double-story mansard roof. The building was once again extended in 1876 so that it reached all the way to 5th Avenue. (The 1883 addition which is a mid block facade on 18th Street was completed in a very different style and by a different architect.) The building was constructed and subsequently altered for the Arnold Constable dry goods company. The origins of this business date to 1825 and a storefront on Front Street. The firm grew and prospered and moved a number of times before purchasing the lot on 19th Street. Already one of the largest dry goods stores in the city in 1868, the additions to the building allowed for new departments (carpet, upholstery, wholesale) and created a massive department store. It was said to be "one of the largest business establishments in the world." The store remained in this location until 1914, when it moved uptown to 40th Street. In 1925 Arnold Constable merged with specialty retailer Stewart & Company and began expanding to the suburbs. The store finally closed its Fifth Avenue and 40th Street location in 1975. It would go on to become the location of the Mid Manhattan Branch of the New York Public Library.

12 West 23rd Street, date unknown. In 1870 the four-story mansion at 12 West 23rd Street was occupied by Benjamin Nathan and his family. Nathan was a wealthy Jewish stockbroker, descendant of the early Spanish and Portuguese 17th century Jewish arrivals to New York, and uncle of poet Emma Lazarus. The home at no. 12 was described by the New York Times as “one of the most elegant and spacious of the private residences of the City.” On the night of July 28 Nathan and two of his adult sons returned to the city, while the rest of the family remained at their rented vacation home in Morristown, New Jersey. That evening, while asleep in a makeshift bedroom on the second floor (owing to renovation work on the upper floors) Nathan was brutally murdered in his bed, bludgeoned to death. The diamonds and gold worn on his clothes were stolen as were items from the safe in the next room. Despite hefty rewards, thousands of tips, and the belief of many that Washington Nathan (the wild 22 year old son) was involved, the murder was never solved. The family, of course, moved out of the home. Over the next decade or so the once wealthy residential neighborhood was replaced with commercial tenants. The family continued to own the building, though finding a tenant in those early years after the murder was challenging given the notoriety of the address. By the 1890s the front of no. 12 had been covered by a cast iron facade and businesses finally began to occupy the building. Almost destroyed by a gas explosion in 1914, the building was restored and had a fifth floor added. Today the former mansion, now rusting cast iron-fronted commercial building, still stands.

Are you ready for a closeup? Try your hand at re-creating these historic photos at Madison Square Park! This challenge is only available to our iOS app users. If you don't yet have the Urban Archive App, download it here. Each location in this challenge has an address and a historic image tied to it. Check-in at each location by tapping the lock icon to the left of the clue. If you’re in the right place, it will turn green. Your challenge today is to take as many then-and-now photos as you can. Tap the image, and then the recreate button to line up the historical image with your present-day view. Once you’re happy with your photo, hit save to add it to your camera roll. Please share these photos with team@urbanarchive.nyc once you’ve completed the challenge. Happy snapping!

Village Presbyterian Church ca. 1985 The simulation of stone in wood required that the carpenters produce absolutely flat, smooth surfaces for parts of the entablature and for the back of the pediment. Where these surfaces were not properly maintained and kept painted, the whole illusion was lost. In this hexastyle Doric church it was apparently not deemed necessary to return the entablature beyond the depth of the portico, as this was not a corner site.

April 13, 2020, marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Museum occupied two temporary buildings before opening its permanent location in Central Park in 1880. When it first opened to the public, The Met was located in the Dodworth Building at 681 Fifth Avenue. The Douglas Mansion became The Met’s second home from 1873 to 1879, situated at 128 West 14th Street. Since opening its permanent home on Fifth Avenue, the building has expanded greatly, and various additions now surround the original structure. These images chronicle the early decades of The Met’s 150-year history.

George Washington Statue, ca. 1975. This equestrian memorial to America's first president is the oldest sculpture in the collection cared for by the NYC Parks Department. In 1851 a group of citizens approached two artists regarding a desired Washington sculptor. Horatio Greenough was well-known for a previous marble sculpture he created of the president, but passed away before a design could be planned. The resulting bronze monument was created by Henry Kirke Brown, who had already sculpted DeWitt Clinton for Green-Wood Cemetery. Kirke choose to recreate a scene from Evacuation Day, November 25, 1783, when Washington reclaimed the city from the British. He spent more than 18 months modeling the horse and its rider. Placed on a simple pedestal designed by Richard Upjohn, the statue was dedicated June 5, 1856 before a crowd of thousands. Originally located in a fenced traffic island in the middle of the intersection at the southeast corner of Union Square (see the next image below), the statue was moved to a more central location in the south plaza of the park during a redesign and reconstruction in the late 1920s.

Broadway, north from 21st Street, ca. 1909. The entire two blocks in the foreground, from 21st to 23rd Streets, will be unchanged some twenty-seven years later, in 1936, except for a 12story loft building, which will occupy the clearing shown here in the block between 21st and 22nd Streets. This clearing is the result of the demolition of three four-story houses. In 1936 the Bancroft House will be the Hotel Courte; and the Hotel Bartholdi, on the S.E. corner of 23rd Street, will be the Bartholdi Building, remodeled into an office building. But during this period of twenty-seven years there will be no demolitions and, with the exception noted, no construction work -- a long period in New York

Flatiron Building ca. 1938 The Fuller Building, nicknamed Flatiron for its triangular shape, was built in 1902 at the scissor-like intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue. It was instantly famous, at first derided as an misshapen symbol of commercial greed and later extolled as an exhilarating symbol of modernity. Abbott photographed the Flatiron Building before the FAP project began and again in 1938. The first photograph, taken from the top floor of a six-story building on 25th Street, was a conventional postcard view, showing the whole building amidst bustling Madison Square traffic. The second photograph was more innovative. Standing close, Abbott pointed her camera upward, transforming the foreshortened building into an arrow soaring above its neighbors. A modern high-rise on the corner of Broadway and 23rd Street has blunted the Flatiron’s impact from afar. A 1991 cleaning of layers of soot has exposed its white limestone surface.

In the Gilded Age, this was the area where America went to shop. If today, New York's iconic shopping district is midtown Manhattan, in the 1880s and 1890s it was Ladies' Mile, the area extending between 15th and 24th streets from Broadway to Sixth Avenue. As a popular guidebook noted in 1892: "Ill fares the rural or provincial purse whose owner ventures before these attractive windows, extending for miles on miles, ever diversified and varied." Indeed between just 19th and 22nd streets on Broadway you could purchase a French velvet or antique Oriental rug at the carpet emporium, W. & J. Sloane (now ABC Carpet & Home); a silver punch bowl carved with twisted vine handles and lion paw feet at the silver maker Gotham Manufacturing Company; and a bespoke or ready-made suit at Brooks Brothers.

The Hudson Building, Union Square, May 18, 1942. This 1908 Beaux-Arts building by Buchman & Fox included both retail and office space. Though it was advertised to business clients, by the 1930s tenants included leftist groups like International Workers Order (IWO), who operated its own birth control clinic out of the building.

7 East 15th Street, ca. 1970. Founded in 1906 by devotees of the Socialist Party of America, the Rand School of Social Science was created as an educational institution for worker, focused on a knowledge of class structure. The school consisted of evening courses and lectures in history, economics, and philosophy. The school's programming was originally housed in a series of converted homes on 19th Street. In 1912 the school moved into the 1887-built, Romanesque Revival, former Y.W.C.A building at 7 East 15th Street.

With the onset of the Gilded Age, New Yorkers began looking for the best places to outfit themselves and their home. Department stores served that need and few did so better than Siegel-Cooper. This story is a preview of our Spring Retail exhibition.

90 Fifth Avenue, ca. 1914. Designed by 1902 by Robert Maynicke, the loft building was one of a number commercial building constructed on Fifth Avenue by the Cooper Union-educated architect. The eleven-story, cast-iron building with classical details included 140,000 square feet of space. In the 1980s the large industrial building was gutted and converted into the headquarters for the Research Institute of America. Forbes became a longterm tenant in the 1990s (leaving in 2013), and today the 3rd through the 11th floor is home to the brokerage company, Compass.