Mason Brothers Building

108 Duane Street | also 110 Duane Street | Tribeca | built 1915

Open on the map5 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1856

    March

    Music publishers Mason Brothers move into their new store at 108-110 Duane Street

    In March 1856 the Mason Brothers publishing house, run by the sons of music educator Lowell Mason, moved from Park Row to a new building at 108 and 110 Duane Street. The firm handled Lowell Mason's psalm books and music textbooks as well as travel books and almanacs. Composer William Batchelder Bradbury praised the new store as unmatched in elegance.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1869

    Oliver Ditson buys out Mason Brothers, the firm that had published from 108-110 Duane Street

    In 1869 music publisher Oliver Ditson purchased all the assets of Mason Brothers, including the copyrights to Lowell Mason's works. According to a historian cited on the Daytonian page, the plates of Mason's works alone were worth more than $100,000. The building was then bought by James Henry Heroy, a glass importer and mirror maker.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1882

    April 27

    A gas explosion burns a worker at the Heroy & Marrenner mirror factory on Duane Street

    The upper floors of 108-110 Duane Street became a looking-glass factory for the glass firm Heroy & Marrenner. On April 27, 1882, Robert Cookson lit a candle to relight a heated drying drum whose gas jet had been left on overnight. The drum exploded, throwing the 52-year-old against a drying-board and burning his hands and face.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1911

    January 11

    Firefighters are blown down the stairs by a backdraft at 108-110 Duane Street

    On the night of January 11, 1911 fire broke out in the Wholesale Typewriter factory on the third floor. When firemen broke through the heavy doors with axes, the rush of air produced a backdraft that threw them down the stairs with singed hair and eyebrows. Several were seriously hurt, and damage to the building and tenants passed $100,000.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1927

    September 22

    Burning rubber and leather from shoe factories at 108-110 Duane Street overcome two dozen firefighters

    A three-alarm fire on September 22, 1927 burned in the shoe and rubber factories of the building. Smoke and fumes from the rubber and leather spread over the City Hall Park area. More than two dozen firefighters were overcome, and Chief John J. Dougherty pulled everyone out to fight the blaze from the street.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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All 564 buildings with stories in Tribeca