The Garfield

104 Forsyth Street | Lower East Side | built 1900

Open on the map3 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1890

    January

    Albert Stake builds the Garfield, a five-story tenement named for the assassinated president

    Albert Stake, a real estate and insurance dealer, bought the Forsyth Street lot in January 1890. Twelve days later architect Alexandre I. Finkle filed plans for a $17,000 five-story flat, reusing a design from a tenement on Madison Street. Finkle put the name Garfield in the pressed metal cornice, and added terra cotta tiles and carved Renaissance Revival panels. Stake sold the finished building in February 1891 to Frederick Seelig for $45,500.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1891

    October 29

    Fania Borach, the future Fanny Brice, is born to a saloonkeeping family at the Garfield

    Saloon owners Charles Borach and Rose Stern Borach were among the first tenants of the new building, moving in with their two children while Rose was pregnant. Their daughter Fania was born on October 29, 1891. She grew up to be known to American audiences as the comedian, actress and singer Fanny Brice.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1910

    March 12

    Two police officers rescue neighbors from a fire at 104 Forsyth Street

    The Eldridge Street police station stood directly behind the building, and officers playing handball in its yard saw flames coming from a second-floor apartment window on March 12, 1910. Patrolman Martin Owen led a woman and her two children to the roof, while Officer August Schimp helped another resident. Both men were overcome by smoke after going back in and were found unconscious on the roof. The mayor and police commissioner honored them the next year.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 78 buildings with stories in Lower East Side