123 Chambers Street

Tribeca | built 1858

Open on the map3 entries

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

  1. 1832

    The Stuart brothers, sons of a Scottish confectioner, pioneer steam-powered sugar refining

    Kinloch Stuart came from Scotland in 1805 and built a confectionery business. After his death in 1826 his sons Robert and Alexander ran it as R.L. & A. Stuart while moving into sugar. In 1832 their company became the country's first to use steam power in refining, and its plant turned out more than forty million pounds of sugar a year by 1850.

    “In 1832, their firm became the first in this country to make use of steam power to process sugar…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1857

    Sugar refiners Robert and Alexander Stuart build 123 Chambers Street as an investment

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    The brothers Robert L. and Alexander Stuart ran a leading sugar refinery nearby, at Chambers and Greenwich Streets. In 1857-58 they built a five-and-a-half-story Italianate store and loft at 123 Chambers Street as a speculative investment, replacing a masonry dwelling their mother Agnes had bought in 1845. Early tenants included a boys' clothing dealer, and in the 1870s the Alden Fruit Preserving Co.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1872

    Robert L. Stuart, owner of 123 Chambers Street, serves as president of the American Museum of Natural History

    Robert L. Stuart, who owned this building with his brother, was a founder and patron of the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and he led the former as president from 1872 to 1881. The brothers also gave to the Presbyterian Hospital and to Princeton. His library and art collection went to the New York Public Library.

    “Robert L. Stuart was also a founder and patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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