The 1856 149 Duane Street

 

Until around 1855 a wooden house and store sat on the northeast corner of Reade Street and West Broadway.  The upper portion was home to three Black families and a grocery store occupied the ground level.  Ralph C. Van Houten demolished that house and the small house-and-store behind it to erect a five-story commercial building.  Almost unquestionably, his builder acted as his architect.  While the brick-faced building clearly drew from the emerging Italianate style, with its molded brownstone lintels and bracketed cornice, at least one architectural historian calls the style "Utilitarian."

The four floors above the commercial space were accessed through a doorway on West Broadway.  In 1856 they were home to three drug manufacturers--William L. Rogers, Robert Robbins, and Robert J. Houghton--and a liquor and wine importer, David M. Hollister.   By 1859 the ground floor housed the Crawford & Davis saloon, operated in part by Alexander J. Davis.

The saloon may very well have obtained at least part of its stock from David M. Hollister upstairs.  That firm also imported cigars--a sensible go-with for Victorian gentlemen who purchased wine or liquor.

On the night of March 7, 1860 two burglars forced the West Broadway door and then broke into the "wholesale liquor and cigar store of David M. Hollister," as reported by The New-York Dispatch.  They were not interested in the liquor, but only in the cigars.  They made off with four boxes of cigars valued at $150 (about $5,000 in 2022).  The New York Times reported on March 10, "Early yesterday morning, two negroes, named Wm. H. Forest [sic] alias Becket, and Thomas Williams were arrested...on a charge of having perpetrated the burglary."  The New-York Dispatch wrote, "After the robbery Forrest took two boxes of the cigars to dispose of, while his confederate was to do the same by the remainder, after which they were to divide the spoils."  

Both men had police records, Forrest having been released from Sing Sing State Prison only a few months earlier, and Williams having been arrested the previous week for burglarizing a grocery store.  The pair had a confederate in the crime.  They confessed to having sold the cigars to John Collins, who ran a cigar store at 71 West Broadway.  The stolen goods were found there, and he, too, was arrested.

At the time of the burglary, there was just one apparel manufacturer in the building, Charles Wagner, a skirt maker.  Later that year, on December 7, drygoods merchant and skirt manufacturer S. T. Kellogg moved in.  It was operated by Sylvester T. Kellogg and his partner James K. Spratt.  The scope of their operation was reflected in a help-wanted advertisement four months later.  "Fifty experienced skirt hands wanted--at 149 Duane street."

By 1863, the saloon was being operated by Charles Boerger, who lived across the street at 146 Duane Street.  The upper floors were now filled entirely with apparel and drygoods merchants, including S. T. Kellogg; Julius and Samuel Wilzinski, dealers in cloth; George H. Rand's shirt manufactory; and two commission merchants, Thomas B. Boyd and another named Leahy.  

In October 1864, Thomas B. Boyd developed a scheme to eliminate his competitor.  A fire that broke out in the Leahy offices on Sunday afternoon, October 23, was immediately deemed suspicious.  Fire investigators concluded that it had started after a hole was bored through Leahy's wall, an accelerant poured in, and then ignited.  Two days after the minor fire, The New York Times reported, "A brace and bit, with which the hole was bored through the wooden partition leading from the hallway into the store of Leahy, commission merchant, were found in the room of Thomas B. Boyd, who occupied a room on the same floor."  Boyd was arrested and held in default of bail equaling more than $44,000 in today's money.

In 1866 Charles Baltzell Rouss opened a drygoods and notions business in 149 Duane Street.  He had a major challenge ahead of him.  Born in Winchester, Virginia, at the age of 18 he had first opened a store there.  It prospered until the outbreak of  the Civil War.  Rouss joined the Confederate Army.  Now, with the war over, King's Photographic Views of New York said he arrived in New York "without money or influence, and with $11,000 of ante bellum debts hanging over him."  

Rouss conducted his drygoods business from 149 Reade Street until 1875, when it failed.  Undaunted, according to The American Carpet and Upholstery Journal later, "he began again in a small store on Broadway."  Rouss changed his middle name to Broadway.  By the 1890's Charles Broadway Rouss's annual sales were between $8 million and $10 million, according to The American Carpet and Upholstery Journal.

The saloon changed hands again in 1871.  An advertisement in April offered, "For Sale--Five years' lease of a prominent corner Restaurant, with Bar, and good basement."  The upper floors were still occupied by apparel and drygoods merchants.  A different type of tenant appeared around 1873 in McKune & Sutton, dealers in the woven mats used under dining room tables, and on the floors of carriages.  They were joined in the building around 1876 by another matting dealer, Vandeventer & Horne.

The Hub, April 1, 1873 (copyright expired)

Another non-apparel related firm was that of Alexander F. Reid, who dealt in twine, thread and cord.  He moved into the ground floor space before 1885.   New York 1894 said, "Here an immense stock is carried of twines, cordage, hemp, flax, jute and tow, gilling thread, hammocks, etc. etc."  Born in India, Reid founded the business around 1867 and "the history of his house during the intervening period has been an unbroken record of success," said the article.

The Commercial Register, 1886 (copyright expired)

The last decade of the century saw the neighborhood morphing into the shoe district.  Around 1890 J. Greenberg lease the top three floors for his shoe making establishment.  Greenberg had arrived in New York City at the age of 19 in 1871.  Now, according to the History and Commerce of New York in 1891, his 40 employees produced 700 pairs of boots each week.  The firm manufactured "Gents' fine shoes," said the article, as well as "youths' or boys' shoes."  Greenberg's employees worked 54 hours per week, plus nine hours on Saturdays.

The dignified Alexander F. Reid found himself in jail on Saturday evening, February 20, 1897.  He left the office and got to the train station around 5:30 just before his train to Brooklyn was to depart.  The New York Herald said, "His mind was full of pleasant thoughts.  He had ordered a dozen quail sent over from the market in the morning, and in anticipation he saw them on his dining room table."  He pushed his way through the crowd, not wanting to miss the train.

Another reputable businessman, George Glassner, was also in a hurry.  He inadvertently stepped on Reid's foot, apologized, and proceeded on.  On that foot, however, was an extremely painful corn, and Reid was infuriated.  He caught up with Glassner, caught him by the back of the collar, and landed a "stinging blow" upon his nose.  The New York Herald reported, "in self-defense, Mr. Glassner retaliated with an upper cut on Mr. Reid's jaw.  The train pulled out, leaving the two reputable citizens pummeling each other on the platform."

A policeman tried in vain to separate the two.  "Mr. Glassner stopped to explain that he had apologized, but the pain of Mr. Reid's pet corn was still intense, and even as he spoke, Mr. Glassner received another blow in the eye, and the two men were at it again, hammer and tongs."

Both were arrested, spent their Saturday nights in jail, and faced Magistrate Crane in the morning.  Glassner told him, "I did all I could.  I apologized to this gentleman, after he had struck me, and was willing to let it go at that."  Reid explained, "He stepped on my corn, and I could have killed him."  The New York Herald summed up its recount, saying that Glassner was let go, and Reid was fined $3.  "He paid the fine and went home to eat his quail cold."

As the turn of the century approached, the tenant list became more varied.  By 1898 the Emergency Horse Shoe and Supply Co. was here.  The firm's single product was intended to solve a serious problem--what to do between the time a horse threw a shoe and its owner could get to a blacksmith.  Designed to be slipped over the horse's hoof, the temporary shoes were intended to be carried in one's carriage or wagon, and used immediately.

The Blacksmith and Wheelwright, February 1899 (copyright expired)

Other tenants at the time included Professor Loberger, maker of "Prof. Loberger's Germ Destroying Tablets."  An advertisement in 1898 said "Simply pull open [the] lid and hang the box on the wall.  It will destroy bacteria, prevent disease, purifies atmosphere."  Jonathan H. Lyon & Co. occupied space at the turn of the century, dealing in "rags for shoddy."  (Shoddy was cheap fabric made from shredded rags.)  And by 1905 Montanez & Rodriguez, cigar makers, was here.

After being in the building for two decades, Alexander F. Reid moved to 137 Duane Street in the spring of 1907.  The Brockton Ideal Shoe Co. soon moved in.

Boot and Shoe Recorder, August 9, 1911 (copyright expired)

In 1919 the owners emptied the building of tenants, apparently to make renovations.  An advertisement on April 28, 1920 offered, "Shoe Center:  149 Duane Street, corner West Broadway, store and four lofts to let, will divide to suit tenant."

Among the new occupants was the Huntington Shoe & Leather Co., based in Huntington, Indiana.  In 1931 it was joined by the Duane Shoe Company on the ground floor, and M. Grubman wholesale shoes.  Another new tenant that year was unrelated to shoes.  F. Couzza's wholesale pistachio business would remain here until 1938, when he moved to 111 Reade Street.

In 1941 the block was lined with shoe businesses.  149 Duane Street is at the left.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The building continued to house shoe companies and other small businesses until a conversion, completed in 2001, resulted in six apartments above the ground floor.  Considering the original tenant of the commercial space, the current tenant is appropriately named Balloon Saloon.

photographs by the author

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The 1857 143 Duane Street

 

In 1835 the family of James Dunn, a grocer at 137 and 147 Anthony Street (later named Worth Street), lived in the 25-foot-wide home at 143 Duane Street.  In the rear yard was a smaller house, most likely the home of Andrew J. W. Butler, a "bill poster," who was listed at the address.  At the time, George Colgate lived about two blocks to the south at 158 Chambers Street.  The passing of two decades would bring remarkable changes to both neighborhoods.

As the population of New York City grew, the expanding commercial district pushed residential neighborhoods northward.  In 1856, the estate of George Colgate demolished the former Dunn property and began construction of a five-story commercial building.  Completed in 1857, the Italianate style structure was faced in red brick above the cast iron storefront, the Corinthian capitals of which have been sadly lost.  A pressed metal cornice with scrolled, foliate brackets crowned the structure.

The building filled with drygoods firms, Naef & Schaeppi, which advertised "silks and ribbons;" Richard Bell & Co., linens dealers; and J. & D. Clarke.  They were joined in April 1860 by Kellogg  & Tenbroeck, another drygoods firm, and in January 1862 by George B. Grinnell "dry goods commission merchant."

H. Hennequin & Company specialized in imported shawls.  After moving into the building in March 1869, it advertised its "new and choice stock" of items like "rich Paris printed and fancy spring shawls, Plain Thibet and Merino shawls--wool and silk fringes," and others.

The Evening Post, April 10, 1871 (copyright expired)

By 1871 the ground floor was home to Edmund Mardaga's eatinghouse, or restaurant.  Among the first tenants in the upper portion not related to the drygoods business was Ghio & Rovira.  A. P. Ghio was born in Genoa, Italy in 1853 and came to New York City at the age of 14.  In 1883, at the age of 30, he partnered with another immigrant, Benito Rovira, "a young Spaniard," as described by Tobacco: An Illustrated Weekly Journal, to form the cigar manufacturing firm of Ghio & Rovira at 143 Duane Street.

Rovira had arrived in New York from Barcelona in 1872.  Tobacco later said, "Rovira's good judgment concerning tobacco, his ability as a factory superintendent and his success as a salesman on the road, caused Ghio to be eager to get Rovira for a partner."   The firm was highly successful.  A help-wanted advertisement in The Sun on June 10, 1884 read, "Tobacco filler strippers wanted at Ghio & Rovira's, 143 Duane st."  And, indeed, the company's growth was such that a year later it moved to larger quarters on 33rd Street.

In 1885 renovations, including a cast iron skylight, were made to the building by architect G. Joralemon.  Possibly, it was at this time that the lintels and sills were capped with the sheet metal coverings we see today.

Another tenant not related to the drygoods industry was the Indiana Paint & Roofing Co., which moved in around 1887.  As its name implied, the firm supplied builders with roofing materials and house paint, as well as household items like oilcloth and carpeting lining.  The firm remained here through 1891.

Carpentry & Building, November 1887 (copyright expired)

In 1893 only one drygoods merchant, "white goods" dealer G. K. Sheridan & Co., which occupied the fifth floor, was in the building.  The others were related to publishing.  Occupying the ground floor store as well as the fourth floor was paper dealer M. B. Belden.  The upper floor was used as his storehouse of paper bags and paper stock.  On the second floor was the German Clay Co., which, despite it's misleading name, was a publisher, and the third floor was home to S. Feinberg & Co., book importer and publisher.

Just after 6:00 on the evening of September 14, 1893, fire was discovered in S. Feinberg & Co.'s space.  The vast amount of paper and ink quickly created an inferno, which burned through the ceiling to M. B. Belden's paper storerooms.  Firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze, but because of the flammable nature of the building's contents, an insurance patrolman named Waddy was left on the premises overnight.  And, sure enough, several times throughout the night he discovered small fires that had reignited, which he put out himself.

Then, at around 4:00 a.m., another fire broke out on the fourth floor that spread too quickly for him to handle.  The New York Times reported, "He carried the alarm to the Franklin Street engine house, and when the firemen arrived at the building, the fire had obtained such headway that second and third alarms were sounded."

This blaze was worse than the initial fire.  At 5:00 the roof collapsed, "carrying with it the floors to the second story," said The New York Times.  When the fire was finally extinguished, M. B. Belden had lost everything.  He estimated his loss at $200,000 (about $621,000 in 2022).  The losses to S. Feinberg and the German Clay Co. were less, while damages to the structure were estimated at $373,000 in today's money.

As 143 Duane Street was being rebuilt, the neighborhood around it was becoming the center of Manhattan's shoe district.  The renovated building was almost exclusively occupied by boot and shoe firms, like Williams, Hoyt & Co., Carlisle Shoe Co., and Robert J. Boyd.  Non-shoe related tenants in 1898 were B. H. Sweet & Co., dealer in dressmaker supplies, and G. Mandelbaum & Co., which dealt in "toilet supplies."

In 1902, half a century after it erected 143 Duane Street, the George Colgate estate liquidated its holdings.  Title to the Duane Street building was transferred to Hannah Colgate.  Her tenants continued to be, mostly, shoe and boot firms.  Among them in 1909 were the shoe manufacturers A. Grossman and O. H. Kraeger.  They were joined in 1917 by the Duane Shoe Company.

The Shoe and Leather Journal, June 1, 1917 (copyright expired)

The Duane Shoe Co. remained in the building into the 1920's.  Throughout the rest of the 20th century, the building continued to house similar businesses.  Then, in 1989, the transformation of Tribeca from gritty industry to artsy shops, galleries and residences resulted in a year-long renovation to 143 Duane Street.  Today there is one loft dwelling per floor above the commercial space.  And, although the cast iron capitals of the storefront have fallen away, the building retains its pre-Civil War appearance.

photograph by the author

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The 1862 Hope Building - 131-135 Duane Street

photo courtesy Tribeca Citizen

In 1861 Public School No. 10 had sat within the plots at Nos. 131 through 135 Duane Street for fifteen years or more.  The brick building was surrounded by a schoolyard where the children played.  By now, however, the neighborhood was becoming less and less residential as commercial buildings replaced or altered homes.

That year Thomas Hope demolished P. S. 10 and began construction on a modern loft and store building.  Hope was president of the dry goods wholesaling firm Thomas Hope & Co.  But if he ever intended to move his company into what would be called the Hope Building, he changed his mind.

The structure was completed in 1862, a dignified commercial interpretation of the Italianate style.  The name of the architect has been lost, however it was almost assuredly he who had designed the abutting No. 129 Duane Street a year earlier.  The architect exactly copied that design three-fold.

The four stories of white marble rose that above the cast iron storefront were separated into two sections by a projecting sill course between the third and fourth floors.  Each horizontal section had two-story arches separated by Corinthian "sperm candle" pilasters.  (The term derived from their visual similarity to the tall, thin candles made from the waxy substance found in the heads of sperm whales.)  The spandrel panels between the second and third, and fourth and fifth floors took the form of blind balustrades.  An arched gable within the cast iron cornice announced the building's name.

The Hope Building filled with dry goods merchants, including L. P. Morton & Co.

The Evening Post, October 29, 1862 (copyright expired)

Surprisingly, within a year of moving in, L. P. Morton & Co. made a drastic change of course.  A notice in The New York Herald on December 5, 1863 announced "We have relinquished the dry goods importing and commission business, and taken offices at 35 Wall street for the transaction of a general banking and exchange business."

On the same day Welling, Coffin & Co. "domestic dry goods commission merchants," announced that they had moved into the space "lately occupied by Messrs. L. P. Morton & Co."  The war in the South may have prompted the marketing of two of their cloth goods as "Army Kerseys and Flannels."

Bauendahl & Co., importers of woolens, was a large initial tenant.  It did significant business during the Civil War years, and on June 29, 1865 The New York Times reported that it had done $1.5 million in business the previous year--over $25 million today.

Wholesale dry goods firm Allen Brothers moved into the building in 1865.  It offered to "clothiers, tailors and the dry goods trade" a long list of items including Spanish linens, repellents, sackings and fancy cloakings, satinets, cottonades, and "mantilla and dress black silks."

By now one of the stores was home to Lithauer & Cristlar, auctioneers.  The firm sold off the overstock of dry goods firms, or the remaining goods of defunct stores.  On November 10, 1865, for instance, an auction included 3,000 pairs of men's, ladies' and misses' cloth and Berlin gloves, 1,000 dozen "gents' hemmed linen cambric Handkerchiefs, including some very fine qualities," breakfast shawls, furs, and "fancy goods," including combs and Meerschaum pipes.

D. Powers & Sons operated from the building by 1875 and was perhaps the first of the tenants not involved in the dry goods business.  Founded in 1817, it was the city's oldest manufacturer of oil-cloths--the decorative water-resistant floor coverings placed under kitchen tables.  The firm had two factories upstate, one in Lansingburgh and another at Newburgh.  D. Powers & Sons was also the agent for "leading manufacturers of linoleums, shades and opague cloths," according to New York's Great Industries in 1884.

By the time of that article, shoe manufacturers were taking over the Hope Building.  Ira G. Whitney, boots and shoes, was here before 1881, as was Woodmansee & Garside.  That firm was looking for "some first-class shoe buttonhole operators for Singer sewing machines" that year.

Before the end of the decade the shoe and boot manufacturers Morse & Rogers, M. L. Hiller & Son, W. A. Ransom & Co., and A. Garside & Sons would also be in the building.  

Shoe & Leather Reporter, April 27, 1887 (copyright expired)

The help-wanted ads placed by A. Garside & Sons give a vague idea about the day to day workings within the shop.  On October 16, 1888 the firm advertised "shoemakers wanted to make Oxford ties, Louis XV heels."  And four years later, on July 31, 1892, it wanted a "German boy, between 16 and 18 years, for assistant shipping clerk, who can speak and write English."

The company, which made only ladies shoes, was highly successful.  In 1894 it employed 85 men, 3 boys under 18 years old, 2 under 16, 45 women and 20 girls under 20 years old.  Two years later the workforce had increased to 106 men, 5 boys, 30 women and 20 girls.  And in 1906 there were  now 160 men and 50 females.  They worked a 52-hour work week.

Morse & Rogers would remain in the building through 1910.  An incident in 1909 reflects the close relationship employers often had with their higher-end employees.  On November 30, 1909 The New York Press reported that Edward Van Auken, a retired preacher, had died in a Brooklyn boarding house when the gas jet was accidentally left slightly open.   His landlady, Margaret Turner, found the 80-year old.  The article mentioned "A son of the clergyman is employed in the Morse & Rogers Shoe Manufacturing Company, in No. 131 Duane street, and Mrs. Turner said the preacher told her many times that Morse, the head of the firm, would arrange for the funeral with his son's aid when the time came."

Love was the undoing of one employee of shoe maker Clark, Hutchinson & Co. in 1911.  Walter P. Richmond was convicted of stealing $600 (about $16,700 today) from the firm on July 22.  In court, according to The New York Press, "Richmond blamed his downfall on his infatuation for a woman who worked in an establishment where he formerly was employed and on whom he lavished money and gifts."  

It was a costly crush.  Judge Malone sentenced him to not less than four years in Sing Sing prison.  "When sentence was imposed Richmond almost collapsed," said the article.

Shoe manufacturers continued to fill the building throughout the World War I years.  W. D. Hannah was looking for "wood heelers" and a "naumkeger and finisher" in 1918.  (A naumkeger buffed the bottoms of shoes to a smooth finish.)

The early 1920's saw tenants arrive who were not involved in the shoe industry.  Radio Industries Corporation was in the building by 1923, and the typesetting firm of Stow-Whittaker Company, Inc. operated here be 1929.  That firm would change its name twice--in 1932 it was Whittaker-Glegengack-Trapp, Inc., and by 1940 it was Whittaker-Trapp, Inc.

The Radio Sun & Globe, October 13, 1923 (copyright expired)

Shoe firms, nevertheless, continued to call the Hope Building home.  Lion Shoe Co. was here in the early to mid-1940's, as was the Lester Pincus Shoe Corporation.   The latter firm changed from tenant to landlord when it purchased the building in February 1946.

The last quarter of the 20th century saw artists, restaurants and boutiques taking over the old factory buildings of Tribeca.  The owners of the Hope Building, the Sylvan Lawrence Company, looked the other way as tenants converted former manufacturing space to residential lofts in the early 1970's.  In January 1974 there were two residential tenants on the third floor, two on the fourth, and one on the fifth--despite the leases limiting the use to commercial purposes.

The owners had covered over the Hope Building name at the time of this mid-1970's photograph.  The narrower but otherwise identical building to the right is a year older.  photo by Edmund Vincent Gillon from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

But then in 1982 they organized as the Duane Thomas Loft Tenants Association and claimed rent stabilized status.  The conflict ended up in court with the tenants winning.

In 1994 Maurya 11 Restaurant opened in the ground floor, followed by 131 Duane Street restaurant, which opened in 1997.  That was replaced only a year later by Henry Meer's City Hall restaurant.

The property was purchased in 2014 for $18.5 million.  Once again rent stabilization ended in a legal battle.   Duane Street Realty sought to evict the tenants and could legally do so "if the owner intends to demolish the building," reported The New York Times.  But the tenants argued that "demolition" and "gut renovation" were two different things.

rendering by Jonathan Schloss Architect, via cityrealty.com

In connection with its plans for a residential renovation, the operators hired architect Jonathan Schloss to design a rooftop addition.

As the cast iron capitals were removed for restoration, the columns were numbered for accurate replacement. photo courtesy Tribeca Citizen

Work continues on the venerable marble (albeit painted) Hope Building as locals await the eventual outcome.

photographs by the author

The Clark,Chapin & Bushnell Bldg - 177-179 Duane Street

Brothers William E. and Freeman Bloodgood made a good partnership.  Freeman was a builder and his brother an architect.   They established Bloodgood & Bloodgood which both designed and erected buildings--quite likely saving developers money.

As early as 1880 John I. Lagrave owned the commercial building at No. 179 Duane Street.  In 1885 he and John J. Jenkins, who owned the structure next door at No. 177, embarked on a cooperative project.  They hired Bloodgood & Bloodgood to design and construct a modern loft building on the combined properties.

Using the name F. & W. E. Bloodgood, the partners filed plans in March that year.  They called for "one six-story brick store," 50-feet wide, to cost $18,000, or just under $475,000 today.  Their employers may have been stretching their finances a bit thin on the project.  In August John J. Jenkins took out a mortgage for the full construction amount.

Completed within the year, the structure was an attractive industrial take on the neo-Grec and Queen Anne styles.  The elaborate cast iron Corinthian columns expected in the storefronts of a generation earlier were gone, replaced here by geometric, paneled columns which upheld a beefy entablature and cornice.  The upper floors were clad in red brick, highlighted by stone trim.  Slim keystones were embellished with incised decorations, emblematic of the neo-Grec style.   Queen Anne stepped forward at the top, where an elaborate terra cotta parapet took the place of a cornice.  Here a row of tiles sprouted large, stylized sunflowers.

The building became home to Clark, Chapin & Bushnell, wholesale grocers.  As was common, the firm painted its name across the front of the structure.

As the 1890's dawned, Clark, Chapin & Bushnell, like most of its neighbors, became the victim of corrupt cops.   As drays pulled up to deliver or load crates of goods, policemen would move in, demanding payment for "the use" of the sidewalk.

In 1894 the State Senate established the Lexow Committee to investigate police corruption.  While some businessmen were reticent to testify, no doubt fearing retribution, that was not the case with Clark, Chapin & Bushnell. 

Horse-drawn drays that pulled up to the sidewalk of Clark, Chapin & Bushnell, created an opportunity for corrupt cops.  New York--The Metropolis, 1902 (copyright expired)

On June 22 the firm's manager, Andrew J. Wellington, testified "We were very much annoyed by the police about one year ago.  A policeman came into the store and said that if wanted to back our trucks across the sidewalk there was a party in authority who would have to be paid.  A man called the next day.  He was not in uniform and I did not know him.  He said there was a regular fee to be paid, generally $50, for houses having so much frontage on the street, but ours would be $25."  The payoff would equal $700 today.

The labor unions which were taking root at the time gained power by the turn of the century.  The disparate interests of the workers and management sometimes boiled over into ugly and violent clashes.   When teamsters went on strike in December 1905, Clark, Chapin & Bushnell refused to give in to their demands.  They simply fired those on strike and hired new drivers.  It did not sit well with the union.  But, recognizing the potential of danger to its new employees, the firm put an armed guard on each truck.

Early in March 1906 the strike seemed to have been settled, and the guards were released.  The union men then launched a series of attacks, landing ten drivers in the hospital, one of whom would not survive.  In that case, a gang jumped onto his truck, beat him with heavy cotton bale hooks until he was unconscious, then threw his body into the street.

Then, at around 4:15 on the morning of March 14 a massive explosion occurred at the Duane Street building.  The New York Times reported "The entire shipping department was destroyed by the explosion.  The dynamite was thrown through a door opening on the street, the wire screen to which was wrenched off on Monday night and the glass panel broken."  The Evening World said "The vibration was so great that it was heard for a radius of half a mile."  Damages were estimated at $1,000, about 28 times that much today.

Ericsson F. Bushnell placed the blame on the shoulders of what today seems an unlikely target.  He ranted to reporters "I believe that if any one man more than any other can be blamed for the labor outrages of to-day that man is Theodore Roosevelt.  He has given the hoodlum element in labor circles the swelled head by interfering in coal strikes and by consorting with strike leaders."

The Sun, March 21, 1906 (copyright expired)

The ongoing labor feud may have contributed to the heart attack suffered by the firm's principal partner.  On April 25 The Times reported that "Frederick C. Clark, head of the firm of Clark, Chapin & Bushnell, 177 Duane Street, one of the oldest tea importing firms in New York City, died in his home in this city this afternoon of apoplexy."

The union had not yet made its point.  On July 22, just before midnight, a second bomb exploded.  The New-York Tribune reported "An attempt was made last night to wreck the warehouse of Clark, Chapin & Bushnell, wholesale grocers, at No. 177-179 Duane street.  Dynamite was used."  The damage was less severe this time.  "A hole about big enough for a cat to crawl through had been torn in the lower part of the steel sheathed oak doors.  In the stone flag which made the threshold of the door a jagged hole about a foot long and four or five inches wide had been torn straight through into the basement."

After two bombings, Police Officer Artemus Fish was posted on the block to keep watch on the building.  He thwarted a third attempt on the night of August 6 when he saw 24-year-old John Malone and 23-year-old Morris McAleer approach the building, and then loiter there.  Both had been employed as truck drivers for Clark, Chapin & Bushnell before the strike.

Fish walked up, flashed his shield, and ordered the men to "beat it."  He later explained the men replied "Beat it? We'll beat you for a change."  They then pulled out heavy metal truck spokes from their trouser legs and began pummeling the officer.  His cries for help were heard by two other beat cops, who arrived just in time.  Fish was nearly unconscious and bleeding from head wounds and other injuries.  Both men were captured and charged with the March bombing.

The union's violent methods did not work.  On the contrary, they steeled the already-adamant Ericcson Bushnell against organized labor.  He was in the courtroom the following day and, according to The Sun, "He declared his firm would fight them with its last dollar if necessary and never would recognize the union."

In 1909 Clark, Chapin & Bushnell was joined in the building by Drose & Snyder, wholesale butter and eggs merchants.  Headed by Charles F. Droste and James H. Snyder, it had branches in Newark and Paterson, New Jersey.   The firm not only moved in, but purchased the property.  Clark, Chapin & Bushnell remained on until around 1914.

The new owners replaced the outside advertising with its own.  New York Produce Review & American Creamery, 1909 (copyright expired)

Charles F. Droste kept himself busy.  In addition to being the head of one of the largest egg and butter operations in the Northeast, he was president of the American Paper Goods Co. and the Troy Cold Storage Co., and a director in Rock Island Butter Co. and Lawlor & Cavanaugh Co.

Reporters regularly sought his expertise to explain fluctuations in the market.  When egg prices dropped in 1911, he explained prices were driven by supply and demand--there were simply too many eggs that year.  "I do know that our warehouses are full of goods, and there is no market for them, and that we are facing a new season."  Eggs, unfortunately for wholesalers, were not like coats or shoes--they lasted only so long.  And when prices skyrocketed in 1916, Droste was once again called upon by reporters.  He told Dairy Produce what he had said five years earlier--it was all supply and demand.  "There are comparatively few eggs in the warehouses than were there in April...so that the eggs we now have in storage cost us considerably more than those in April."

While elevators were a welcomed convenience in the early 20th century, there were few if any safety regulations.  Many elevators in industrial buildings did not have doors or gates, a condition that regularly resulted in injuries and deaths.  On December 8, 1919 The Evening World reported that Teresa Vindora had died in the Duane Street building.  "She was working on the fourth floor and it is believed she peered into the elevator shaft to look for a car and lost her balance."

Charles F. Droste died on April 19, 1920, but the firm continued on without its well-known head for another five years.

New York Produce Review & American Creamery, 1922 (copyright expired)

On June 17, 1927 The New York Times reported the cheese importer Otto Roth had leased No. 177-179 Duane Street "for a long term of years and the building will be extensively renovated to suit the requirements."  In calling the lease "a long term of years" the newspaper was not wrong by a long shot.

Thirty-five years later, on August 5, 1963, The Times wrote "There are so many cheeses in this world that it would be virtually impossible to catalogue them all.  However, if a cheese is produced on a fairly extensive commercial basis, it is likely to be on the list of Otto Roth & Co."  The firm was celebrating its 100th anniversary at the time, and dealt in more than 300 varieties of cheese from about 15 countries.   The article's author, Nan Ickeringill, described each floor of the Duane Street building as "cheese-perfumed."

Each of the cheeses demanded different care.  Cheddars sat on racks as they aged.  "We age the Cheddars here for about a year before selling them," explained president Benjamin Villa.  "After the cheeses have been cured, they are dipped into dark paraffin to distinguish them from unaged cheeses."

Ickeringill wrote "In another room, Provolone cheeses festooned the ceiling in quantities reminiscent of balloons at a New Year's Eve dance."  On a lower floor were "sacks of cartwheel-sized" Swiss cheeses.

But even as Ickeringill wrote her article, changes were coming to the old egg and butter district.  In 1979 the Harry Wassermann bakery operated from No. 177.  Its puff pastries were recommended by Dublin-born chef Pat Moore for authentic steak and kidney pie.  Next door was Damon Brandt's gallery of tribal and ancient art.

In 1998 the "cheese-perfumed" building which for for 113 years had been home to wholesale grocery and dairy merchants was converted to two cooperative apartments per floor.  Despite terrorist explosions and a century of neighborhood change, the facade of William E. Bloodgood's handsome loft building survives essentially intact.

photographs by the author

The 1865 Star Coffee Mill Building - 181 Duane Street

The labor shortage caused when blue collar New Yorkers were sent off to fight in the Civil War brought construction to a near halt.  Following the conflict New York would experience a building boom that transformed the Tribeca district. 

But a year before the last shot was fired in the war Levi Rowley and his wife, Mary, were making their own changes.  They acquired the old wooden building at No. 181 Duane Street and in 1864 began construction of a five-story store and loft building.  The architect, whose name has been lost, created a no-nonsense utilitarian structure of red brick trimmed in stone.  The cast iron storefront was attractive, if unexceptional.  Title to the new building was put in Mary E. Rowley's name.

New York City had around 30 coffee roasting firms by the time No. 181 Duane Street was completed.  In his 1922 book All About Coffee, William H. Ukers explained that in 1846 James W. Carter had devised his "pull-out" roaster.  "This machine, and others like it, encouraged the development of the coffee-roasting business, so that when the Civil War came, coffee manufactories were well scattered over the country." 

Levi Rowley was the head of Star Coffee Mills.  Established around 1823 it was one of the first wholesale coffee roasting firms in Manhattan.  According to James W. Carter, "under his able direction the business flourished."  He now moved the operation into the new building.

Another coffee dealer, Abell & Morton, shared space by the early 1880's (possibly leasing the store and basement only).  That company installed a new boiler and flue in the cellar in 1883.

In 1885 the 67-year old Rowley sold Star Mills to Theodore L. Benedict and Robert G. Thomas who renamed the business Benedict & Gaffney.  Among its employees was Lawrence Cummings, a salesman who routinely called on grocers.  The 45-year old left No. 181 Duane Street on September 17, 1890 as usual, but this time he never returned.  The Sun reported that he "left there on Wednesday evening to make his rounds among the groceries of the west side.  He did not return all day."

Cummings lived in the Morrisania area of the Bronx with his wife and five children.  The mystery of his disappearance ended tragically.  On September 19 The New York Times reported "The body of a man found yesterday morning in the Harlem River, at the foot of East One Hundred and Fifty-third Street, was identified later in the day was that of Lawrence Cummings, a salesman for the tea [sic] house of Benedict & Gaffney."  The Sun added, "It is thought that the drowning was accidental as no cause for suicide can be found."

Early on the morning of April 15, 1891 a foot patrolman saw flames licking from a third story window of No. 181 Duane Street.  The Evening World reported that Engine Company 27 responded, and that Captain Farrell "at once sent out a second alarm, soon followed by a third."

The article said "The two top stories were completely gutted.  About $5,000 worth of coffee and spices went up in smoke, and all the machinery for grinding coffee and spices were ruined."  A reporter got nowhere in interviewing Thomas H. Benedict.  "Mr. Benedict was too much excited this morning to estimate his loss.  Besides, he said, it was none of the public's business."

Nonetheless, the newspaper reported damage to the building at $5,000 and the loss on the machinery and contents at about $15,000 (about $417,000 today).    The repairs to the building included some replacement sills and lintels.  It was most likely at this time that the interesting brick corbel table and dentiled brick cornice was installed.

The striking brick treatment of the cornice is unusual.  Ghosts of the painted signage survive on the upper stories.

Benedict & Thomas was the victim of a surprising gang in the summer of 1895.  Twelve-year old Peter Koohl organized a crime ring that included 11-year old Thomas Ryan, 12-year old Jacob Bardelo, and 9-year old Fred Billy.  The Evening World said he "compelled the other boys to accompany him under threats of a beating."

They started out with simple vandalism, smashing store windows.  But on August 27 the newspaper reported "The boys were lively Sunday night, and robbed Theodore Benedict's tea and coffee store at 181 Duane street; a cigar store at Duane street, near Broadway, and a harness store at 71 Warren street."  Among the loot taken were whips, valued at $1.25.  Koohl sold one to a boy on West Broadway for a penny, and Fred Billy sold another for two cents.  He got a nickel from an Italian fruit vendor at Jay and West Streets for six pounds of sugar.

The hooligans may have gotten away with the crime spree had Koohl not gotten too bold.  He stole a peddler's horse and wagon and headed to Harlem where he attempted to sell it.  "Failing in this," said The Evening World, "he abandoned the rig."  The boys were arrested and in the Tombs Court on August 27 where they "acknowledged their guilt and were remanded in care of the Gerry Society."  (The "Gerry Society" was the commonly-used term for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.)

On June 21, 1896 The New York Times ran a full-page article complaining about merchants who blocked the sidewalks in front of the businesses.  Subheadlines accused "In Defiance of the Law and the People's Welfare They Occupy Public Property / Poor Excuses Offered For Official Neglect."

Among the businesses against which the article railed was Benedict & Gaffney.  "This firm has a little platform of its own, but as it seems to be inconvenient to lumber public premises which the firm considered its own, boxes, barrels, bags and other truck are piled on the sidewalk, over which it would, perhaps, be conceded that the public has technical rights."

The newspaper sent an artist to capture the company's encroachment of the sidewalk.  The New York Times, June 21, 1896 (copyright expired)

Theodore L. Benedict and Robert G. Thomas amassed significant personal fortunes from the coffee business.  In 1899 Benedict enlarged and remodeled his country house in Oyster Bay on Long Island's Gold Coast.  He went to the top of the heap in choosing the architectural firm of Carrere & Hastings.

At the time Mary E. Rowley had partnered with broker Remsen Appleby, owner of the building next door at No. 183.  In May 1899 she hired architect George Fink to do minor upgrades to both buildings at a cost of $107.

In 1904 Robert G. Thomas took on a new partner, Henry D. Turner, changing the firm name to Thomas & Turner.  The partnership was short lived and by 1908 it was named Robert G. Thomas & Son.   The successful business spread into the building next door around this time.

The Sun, March 21, 1909 (copyright expired)

Almost a century after Star Coffee Mill was founded, Robert G. Thomas sold its equipment and closed the business in 1920.  Mary E. Rowley's estate had sold No. 181 on September 2, 1919 to brothers Morris and Nathan Saal for $25,000--about $354,000 today.

The Duane Street block was part of the "Butter and Egg" district by now; a perfect location for wholesale butter and egg dealers Saal Bros.  On April 28, 1920 the New York Produce Review and American Creamery announced "Saal Bros are congratulating themselves on the purchase of the building at 181 Duane St.  It would seem that their facilities should now be ample for any volume of business that develops."  The Real Estate Record and Guide reported "The buyers will occupy the building after making extensive alterations."

Saal Bros. leased a portion of the building to J. R. Kramer's newly-established "butter printing service."  The firm provided customized butter pats to hotels and restaurants.  On June 1, 1921 the New York Produce Review confirmed that Kramer "has opened a new establishment for printing butter at 181 Duane St. in the building owned and occupied in part by Saal Bros.

The article said "Mr. Kramer has a refrigerator box in the basement and has equipped the two upper floors for the printing department in a manner to meet every requirement of convenience and sanitation.  Concrete floors with adequate drainage and thorough ventilation of the rooms permit the utmost cleanliness."

New York Produce Review, June 1, 1921 (copyright expired)

The attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 pulled the United States into World War II.  Almost immediately the Government issued wartime restrictions on silk, rubber, gasoline and certain food items--wheat, butter and cream, for instance.   In 1943 an inspector discovered contraband hidden in Saal Bros.'s storage.   Magnistrate Raphael P. Koenig unleashed his fury on the company, handing them a record fine of $250 on September 10 for "illegally possessing 200 quarts of heavy cream."

In imposing the fine, he said "Had an individual been the defendant in this case, I certainly would have sent him to jail for a long term."  He announced that the five cans had been secreted in Saal Bros's egg refrigerator.  "This corporation deliberately tried to deceive me...With conditions as they are, nothing is more important than the protection of our food supply."

It was Saal Bros.'s tenant, Charles E. Krasnoff who was in trouble with officials the following year.  On October 8, 1944 The New York Times reported that the butter and egg dealer was named in an injunction by the Regional Office of Price Administration for purposely mislabeling B and C grade butter as "top-grade AA butter" and selling it at top-grade prices.

Manhattan's butter and egg district remained in the Duane Street neighborhood for decades.  At mid-century No. 181 was home to Hunter Farm Company, another dairy products firm.

But the Tribeca renaissance would catch up with the block towards the end of the century.  By 1996 the ground floor was home to Fred Boyle Fine Arts gallery, which specialized in American realism and photo-realism paintings.

The original capitals and cornice of the cast iron storefront were lost in the 20th century.

It was replaced by Luigi Iasilli's southern Italian eatery, Max Restaurant, which remains.  In 2013 a renovation resulted in one apartment each on the upper floors.  After more than 150 years of industrial use No. 181 admittedly looks a bit beleaguered today.  Having survived a major fire and with its surprisingly short list of tenants it is among the oldest commercial structures in the immediate neighborhood.

photographs by the author

Babb & Cook's 1880 173-175 Duane Street

The widowed Catherine Ireland Cook had inherited a substantial amount of property below 14th Street by the last quarter of the 19th century.  The Ireland and Clinch families had made fortunes in Manhattan real estate.  That portion of those family holdings which was not passed to Catherine, much of it in the Greenwich Village area, went to her cousin, Cornelia Clinch Stewart--the wife of department store magnate Alexander Turney Stewart.

Catherine's husband, Edward Mitchell Cook, had died in 1856 (not too soon for them to have 11 children).  Walter was the tenth to come along, born in 1846.  Determined on a life in architecture, he graduated from Harvard College in 1869, then studied in Munich and Paris.  Upon returning in 1877 he joined with George Fletcher Babb to form Babb & Cook.

So it is not surprising that when Catherine Cook embarked on a project two years later to replace the old wooden building at No. 175 Duane Street and the brick house at No. 173 she chose her son and his partner as the architects.  And she could not have been disappointed.

Completed in 1880 it exemplified the restrained use of Romanesque Revival architecture in a utilitarian structure.  Critic Edith M. Thomas, writing in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine on August 1884 praised the architects' solution to designing a warehouse.  "There was little to work with here: cheap materials, scanty ornament, and not even a corner site; only one of those narrow facades that go so far to discourage effort.  But effort, intelligent effort, has been brought to bear, and the result is fine in the first and chief essential of good architecture--fine in composition."

Thomas beamed at the three-story arches that relieved the potential heaviness of the overall-design, and the "simplicity, appropriateness, and architectural feeling" presented by the use of arcades and shallow pilasters.  She asked her readers to "imagine one of our unpretentious business streets lined with buildings of this sort," saying it would be "one in which we should find true pleasure."

Wooden, horse-drawn drays wait to be loaded in 1884.  The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, August 1884 (copyright expired)

Catherine Cook's first tenant was the wholesale dry goods firm of Wright, Bliss & Fabyan.  The size of its operation was evidenced in 1880 when an estimated 40,000 paraders filled Fifth Avenue to encourage Ulysses S. Grant to run for a third term.  On October 11 the president reviewed the parade from the stands in Madison Square.  The New York Times remarked that Wright, Bliss & Fabyan "provided about 150 men."

By 1884 D. Buchner & Co. had taken over the entire building as well as the one directly behind at No. 14 Jay Street.  The firm erected iron bridges across the rear yards to span the 10-foot gap between the structures.  The company dealt in wholesale tobacco.

One of David Buchner's employees was traveling salesman A Maas.  On September 4, 1884 he told a reporter from The New York Times that Maas "had been in his employ for some time" and that he came with excellent recommendations.  "He was a young man of good address, a persuasive talker, and seemed to be acquainted with many business men throughout the country, especially in the South."  The article said "Mr. Buchner thought he would make an excellent salesman, and engaged him."

David Buchner's instincts were off the mark this time.  Maas began presenting D. Buchner & Co. checks to clients who then gave him cash.  By the time the shop owners realized they had been duped, Maas had moved on.  Finally David Buchner headed his employee off.   He telegraphed his agent in New Orleans and when Maas called on him, he had him locked up.

But the slippery con-man managed to get out of jail and headed to Hot Springs, Arkansas.  There he presented a $200 check to a Mr. Brown "and persuaded him to give him a loan of $200."  That amount alone would equal more than $5,000 today and it was only one of several similar checks cashed.  Brown telegraphed Buchner, who replied that "he had been imposed upon."  Brown had Maas arrested.  Not surprisingly, The Times described Maas as a "former" employee.

Buchner had established his firm in 1876 with partner Louis Beckel and by now New York's Great Industries said "The business of this great manufactory is simply enormous."  The firm made "fine cut, plug and smoking tobaccos, snuff and cigarettes."

A D. Buchner & Co. poster featured a fireman and policeman shaking hands, surrounded by examples of the somewhat racy trading cards found within the packages.  (copyright expired) 

New York's Great Industries described the firm's physical lay-out in 1885, saying that the "immense factory and salesrooms are located at Nos. 173 and 175 Duane streets, and extend through to Nos. 14 Jay street."   The Duane Street building held "fine cut smoking and cigarette factory," while the eight-story Jay Street structure was the firm's "plug tobacco factory."  The article mentioned that both Buchner and Beckel were "well-known in both social and commercial circles as gentlemen of strict honor and integrity."

Around 10:00 on the night of Friday, August 20, 1886 residents in the neighborhood began smelling burning tobacco.  The New York Times did not hold back in criticizing officials for not looking into a potential problem.  "It does not appear that either the private watchman or the policeman on patrol made any intelligent effort to trace to odor to its source."

By 3:00 in the morning the smell of tobacco was so intense that residents of a Jay Street tenement building next door to No. 14 were unable to sleep.  Finally, at 6:30 a.m. "dense black smoke was seen pouring from the windows of the fifth floor of the Jay-street side, and the panes of glass were soon bursting from the intense heat behind them."  By now the three upper floors were engulfed in flames.

Three hours later the fire was finally extinguished.  The upper four floors of the Jay Street building were gutted and the roof was gone.  The lower floors were "water-soaked," according to The Times.  D. Buchner & Co. owned that building, while they leased the Duane Street structure, which was only slightly damaged, from Catherine Cook.

The severe loss of about $1.3 million in today's dollars may have prompted D. Buchner & Co. to move on.  By 1888 the Duane Street building was shared by mechanical engineer Albert Gray and manufacturers Cordley & Hayes.

Albert Gray was a pioneer in providing electrical power in New York City.  He had started out in 1874 installing steam power plants in commercial buildings downtown.  In 1889 he explained to a reporter from Electric Power magazine "But there soon became a limit to that means of supplying power, and the rapid development of the electric system has enable me to distribute electrical power over an area of ten or twelve square miles with the same economy and safety as was formerly done with shafts and belting over four city blocks."

From his Duane Street operation Gray now supplied more than 150 customers west of Broadway and below Canal Street with electric power for elevators and machinery.  On November 10, 1888 a fire gutted the paper factory of Cornell, Bingham &b Co. on Mission Place.  The firm found a new building on Duane Street, directly opposite Nos. 173-175.  Electric Power reported "They could buy presses and the other machinery quick enough, but they did not wish to go to the expense of putting in a steam engine...The result was that in three hours Mr. Gray had put in an electric motor of sufficient power to run a big elevator and all the other machinery, and supplied the requisite electricity from wires stretched across the street from 173 and 175 Duane street."

Cordley & Hayes manufactured and were agents of makers of a broad array of products, including fire buckets, fire extinguishers, "indurated fibre ware," and telegraph and telephone supplies.

Among the items made from indurated fiber were umbrella stands.  The Old & New Testament Student, December 1889 (copyright expired)

Cordley & Hayes left the building just in time for a frantic printer, Martin B. Brown, to lease the space it had occupied.  Although 1893 was not a presidential election year, a huge turn-out was expected at the polls.  Brown had the contract for printing 8 million ballots, the design of which was changed at the last minute.  On October 24 The Evening World reported "Mr. Brown has assured the Bureau of Elections that the ballots will be delivered at the various police precincts at least twelve hours before the polls open."

It was not a small challenge.  Brown leased the space in the Duane Street building not for printing, but for inspection and sorting.  "Four entire floors of the big brick structure at 173 and 175 Duane street have been hired this year, and there it is that the army of young women required to sort, classify and pack the ballots will work night and day for the next week."

The printing, which began on October 25, required 120 tons of paper and the presses ran 24 hours a day.  The Evening World reported "At 7 o'clock to-morrow morning 200 girls will be on hand at 173 Duane street to sort the slips of paper which will be furnished them by the million."  The system worked and the following year it was repeated here.  In both instances "The utmost care is taken to protect the ballots from thieves, and a fireman and an ordinance policeman are constantly on guard," reported The Sun on October 26, 1894.

Catherine Cook had died around 1887 and her properties were now being handled by the Ireland Real Estate Company.  When Albert Gray's electrical power company failed early in November 1894 the landlord sued him personally for the Duane Street rent, nearly $84,000 today.

It was emotionally too much for the engineer to handle.   Proceedings against him had begun when The Evening World reported on May 14, 1895 that he was suffering "from paresis."  The emotional strain had resulted in a type of paralysis.  "A physician's certificate as to Mr. Gray's mental condition was submitted to Justice Ingraham in Supreme Court Chambers to-day as a reason shy his examination in supplementary proceedings should be adjourned."

The following day The New York Times ran a headline reading "His Mind Almost Wholly Gone" and reported "there is no hope for his recovery."  Calling Gray "the well-known mechanical engineer," the article went on to say that Dr. George H. R. Bennett testified "that it would be dangerous to submit the patient to any excitement, and that for the purposes of examination as a witness his testimony would be worthless, as his mind is almost wholly gone."

The building was vacant in April 1900 when the Ireland Real Estate Company hired Chicago architect George H. Kennedy to do $1,800 in renovations, including moving interior walls.  The choice of architects was no doubt influenced by the new tenants, Chicago-based concern, Armour & Co.

Although thought of today as solely a meat-packing company, Armour & Co. at the time was highly involved in the butter market as well, including the relatively new oleomargarine product.  It was a logical location for the firm, since the Duane Street neighborhood had become the center of the butter and egg district.

In 1903 the firm, according to The New York Times on January 6, attempted to "corner" the butter market.  The newspaper accused Armour of sending "oily agents" into the central New York dairy farm lands in an attempt to "purchase the entire butter output of this district, amounting to several million pounds of first-class creamery butter per annum."

The massive firm was at least somewhat successful.  In 1916 the New York Produce Review reported that "Armour & Co...handled 28,000,000 pounds of butter."

In 1912 Armour & Co. moved to new facilities and the entire building was leased to Zimmer & Dunkak, butter and egg merchants.  The ten-year lease totaled $100,000, or about $261,000 per year today.

Dairy Produce magazine, June 10, 1913 (copyright expired)

Henry Dunkak and Edward Zimmer had established the firm in 1885.  Although Zimmer retired in 1922 and Dunkan died in May 1926, the company continued in business under the original name.

In 1917 the firm's stationery pictured the building proudly announcing it's name.  (copyright expired)

Zimmer & Dunkak remained in the building into the 1930's.  Butter and egg merchants continued to call Nos. 173 and 175 Duane Street home, including the Golden Eagle Farm Products, the Seville Packing Company and ABC Dairy Products in the 1940's.  Irving Fuchs' business was here in 1944 when he was named in the Regional Office of Price Administration's injunction for selling inferior butter as top-quality.

Fuchs' troubles did not teach a lesson to 48-year old Martin Miller, an executive in the Egg Purchasers Marketing Corporation.  On May 4, 1953 he was charged by Department of Agriculture in what was deemed an "egg fraud plot."    The New York Times reported "A Federal grand jury charged that [two] inspectors accepted bribes to approve and grade inferior eggs without examination."

The first hint that the arts were moving into the gritty Tribeca neighborhood came in 1977 when artist Rob Mango took the job of building super.  In his book 100 Paintings: An Artist's Life in New York City, he writes "I became the building's superintendent and nightwatchman.  Jeff [Lamb] and I responded to every kind of mechanical crisis imaginable to 175 Duane."

Mango recalled "Since the block had been an egg and cheese neighborhood for a hundred years, the mice and rats were not moving out any time soon--unlike the dairymen and artists.  Invariably I dozed off, to be woken by the scrabbling nest-building activities of the hard-working rodents."

Edmund Vincent Gillon photographed the building around the time that Rob Mango worked there.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

While he sat up nights protecting the building, he worked on "sculpture and assemblages" in a make-shift studio.  His works, visible from outside, lured passersby in from the street.

By 1988 the Dannheiser Foundation was in the building, established by Werner and Elaine Dannheisser to exhibit their collection of works by living artists.  Their 35-year collection of more than 1,000 artworks were shown free of charge to anyone calling for an appointment.  The loft space could accommodate 100 persons at a time, making it viable to dance and other performances as well.

In 1996 the building was converted to artist "living/work quarters," just one apartment per floor.  If they were originally leased to struggling artists, that was not the case by 2017.  That year artist Richard Serra purchased the second floor loft, spending $7 million.  The New York Times said "The 4,200-square-foot unit has two bedrooms and two baths, along with a spacious artist's studio, a gym/yoga room and a great room.  He and his wife, Clara, already own a full-floor apartment on the third floor."

The rat problem, apparently, had been taken care of.

photographs by the author