New York Biscuit Stables at 445 West 14th Street ca. 2002

This red brick Romanesque Revival building has a long and storied history. According to the designation report, this land was owned by the Astors from 1819 to 1919. It was first owned John J. Astor I, then the Astor Estate until partition in 1878, then John Jacob Astor III, and finally William Waldorf Astor. According to the Daytonian, on June 14, 1892 The Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide reported Astor’s intention to build a stable on the site for the New York Biscuit Company. The building was designed by the prominent architect Thomas R. Jackson, who was well known as one of the designers of the rebuilt Trinity Church in 1839.

Around the time that Waldorf Astor passed away in 1919, the National Biscuit Company began purchasing properties in the area that it had been leasing from the Astor Estate. 445 West 14th Street was one such property, sold to the National Biscuit Company in 1920. In the 1920s the building was converted to a garage, which housed an innovative fleet of electric cars for the manufacturing giant, as well as a warehouse with offices. The National Biscuit Company also purchased the entire two blocks from 15th to 16th Streets, Ninth to Eleventh Avenues, which would become the largest baking manufacturing complex in the world.

Of course 445 West 14th Street didn’t stay in the cookie-making business forever. The National Biscuit Company, which had changed their name to Nabisco in 1941, moved to New Jersey in 1958. 445 West 14th Street was sold in 1959 to the Industry City Realty Co., which used it as a warehouse. It was sold to Ceco Studios, LLC. in 1995. Ceco Studios operates the High Line Stages here, in the adjoining 439 West 14th Street, and in several other buildings in the area. This is one of Manhattan’s largest sound stages.