One Pace Plaza
1 Pace Plaza | also 3 Spruce Street, 154 Nassau Street | Financial District | built 1968
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1845
An earlier building on this site, home of Horace Greeley's Tribune, burns and is rebuilt in three months
Horace Greeley founded the New-York Tribune in 1841, and the newspaper occupied a building at Spruce and Nassau Streets. A fire destroyed it in February 1845. A five-story brick replacement went up on the same spot within three months. A Spruce Street annex followed in 1857, and the building became known as the Rookery.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1872
Horace Greeley, the Tribune's founder, dies weeks after losing the presidential election
In 1872 Greeley ran for president as the nominee of the Liberal Republican and Democratic parties while the Tribune planned a larger headquarters on this site. He lost in November and died less than a month later. Plans for the tower continued under chief editor Whitelaw Reid, who wanted a roomy, fireproof building.
“Greeley died less than a month after his election defeat in November 1872, but plans for the new building proceeded under Tribune chief editor Whitelaw Reid…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1875
Richard Morris Hunt's ten-story Tribune Building opens on this site as the city's second-tallest
The Tribune announced on April 10, 1875 that it was now issuing from Richard Morris Hunt's new Tribune Building, a clock-towered structure on this lot that stood second in height only to Trinity Church. During construction the New York Sun sued, claiming it encroached on the Sun's property next door, and two people were killed in separate accidents. Critics disliked the design, and the Sun compared it to a sugar refinery.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1906
Pace University opens its first classroom in a rented room at the Tribune Building
When Pace University was established in 1906 it rented a single room in the Tribune Building that then stood on this lot, giving the school its first classrooms. The expanded 19-story tower also housed the New York Public Service Commission from 1907. Pace later took over the site and built its flagship campus building where the tower had been.
“Pace University had its first classrooms in the building, renting out one room upon its establishment in 1906.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1935
A movie theater is carved into the earlier Tribune Building on this site while 17 floors hang from hydraulic jacks
In 1935 part of the Tribune Building's first and second floors became a small movie theater. To cut away part of the second floor, builders held the seventeen upper floors on hydraulic jacks until new trusses were in place. A restaurant took over another part of the lower floors the following year, in a building the Tribune itself had left in 1923.
“…during the conversion, the building's seventeen upper floors were supported on hydraulic jacks until new trusses for the theater were installed…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1966
The demolished Tribune Building's dust draws pollution summonses, and the city fights them to keep the project moving
Pace announced in May 1966 that it would raze the Tribune Building; the city condemned it that July, and Pace took the site six months later. The demolition company raised so much dust that the Department of Buildings issued it several pollution summonses. The city's real-estate department challenged them, saying they were delaying redevelopment. A block of rubble remained when construction began in December 1966.
“So much dust was created in the destruction process that the Department of Buildings issued the demolition contractor several summonses for pollution…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1970
Pace University's tower rises on the former New York Tribune Building site
Pace University's 18-story building is built as part of the 1960s Brooklyn Bridge Title I urban renewal project, on the site of the former New York Tribune Building. Architects Eggers and Higgins begin work in December 1966, and construction is completed in 1970. Israeli sculptor Nehemia Azaz creates a copper sculpture called "Brotherhood of Man" for the Frankfort Street entrance.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1983
Three floors are added to the west side of One Pace Plaza
The school became Pace University in 1973 and soon outgrew its building. In 1983 three floors were added to the west side. Glass was used for the new exterior wall because concrete would have weighed too much for the original structure.
Source: Internet Archive
- 2002
Tony Randall's National Actors Theatre moves into the Schimmel Center
From 2002 through 2004 the National Actors Theatre, founded by actor Tony Randall, was housed at Pace's Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts. The company staged classic plays and offered free theater education to students. Randall's final performance took place there, as Laudisi in Pirandello's Right You Are (if you think so).
Source: Wikipedia
- 2003
The LMDC and Port Authority present nine World Trade Center site plans at Pace
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority scheduled a public meeting at Pace's Schimmel Center for the evening of January 13, 2003, to give an overview of nine new plans for the World Trade Center site. The session was linked by broadcast to locations in the other four boroughs and on Long Island so people could comment from each, and NY1 carried it live. A second meeting on the memorial followed on January 14.
Source: Internet Archive
- 2003
All ten declared Democratic presidential candidates debate at the Schimmel Center
The Democratic Party staged a televised presidential debate at Pace's Schimmel Center in September 2003. All ten declared candidates took part, among them General Wesley Clark, Howard Dean, John Edwards, John Kerry, Joseph Lieberman and Al Sharpton.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2023
The Schimmel Center closes for a renovation that will split its auditorium into smaller spaces
In July 2023 the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts closed as part of a major renovation of One Pace Plaza. The plan calls for rebuilding its 655-seat theater, one of the largest in Lower Manhattan, into several smaller performing arts spaces.
“In July 2023, the center closed as part of a major renovation to the One Pace Plaza building that will see the auditorium rebuilt into multiple smaller performing arts spaces.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- 1 Pace PlazaWikipedia
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