287 Broadway

287 Broadway
(2012)
Location within Manhattan
General information
Architectural style	Italianate and French Second Empire
Location	Manhattan, New York City
Address	287 Broadway
Coordinates	40°42′53″N 74°00′21″W / 40.714751°N 74.005741°WCoordinates: 40°42′53″N 74°00′21″W / 40.714751°N 74.005741°W
Design and construction
Architecture firm	John B. Snook
New York City Landmark
Designated	August 29, 1989

287 Broadway is a historical building on the corner of Broadway at Reade Street in the Tribeca neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by John B. Snook in 1871 using cast-iron in mixed Italianate and French Second Empire style, it was completed in 1872 for the Stephen Storm estate. The landmark, which “graphically illustrates the transformation of lower Broadway in the 19th century from a residential boulevard into the city’s commercial center”, was leaning approximately 0.66 feet (0.20 m) by 2008.^[1]

History

Attorney William Alexander owned the site as early as 1794, when it contained a dwelling and carriage house. The house was purchased by Elbert Anderson in 1816 who demolished it two years later, and built a commercial building in 1819. In 1821, Storm purchased the property. With others, he built the Irving House Hotel in 1848–49. In 1871, Storm's estate hired Snook to design a commercial building to be used for banking and office space. The Union Pacific Railroad Company was an early tenant,^[2] as was Henry Bischoff & Company.^[3] The Gindi family purchased the property in 1969. Already tilted 0.33 feet (0.10 m), it began to lead an additional 0.33 feet (0.10 m) in 2007 during excavation work at 57 Reade Street, forcing the city government to vacate it. In 2013, 287 Broadway was purchased for US$8 million by the Laboz family's United American Land company which affirmed the structural stability of the building and began a renovation for ground-floor retail space and residential rental lofts on the higher floors.^[4]

287 Broadway was designated on August 29, 1989, with mention that it was one of the few surviving examples in New York City of a cast-iron building designed in mixed Italianate and French Second Empire architecture styles.^[2]

Architecture and fittings

The six-story building is of mixed Italianate and French Second Empire architectural style. The façade is of cast-iron and the slat shingles are original to the building, which also features a mansard roof, dormers, segmented pediments, round-arched windows, Otis elevator, as well as Ionic and Corinthian columns.^[5] Steel shoring was added in 2008 against the south facade, replacing timber bracing added in 2007 following excavation work at 57 Reade Street.^[1]

See also

List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan below 14th Street

References

1. Dunlap, David W. (March 19, 2008). "The Leaning Landmark of Broadway". The New York Times.
2. "287 Broadway building" (PDF). Landmarks Preservation Committee. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
3. American Exporter's Export Trade Directory (Public domain ed.). Johnston Export Publishing Company. 1912. pp. 178–.
4. Pincus, Adam (8 November 2013). "United American Land buys landmarked Tribeca building". The Real Deal. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
5. Diamonstein-Spielvogel, Barbaralee (1 September 2011). The Landmarks of New York, Fifth Edition: An Illustrated Record of the City's Historic Buildings. SUNY Press. pp. 235–. ISBN 978-1-4384-3771-2.