Diamond Building

137 Duane Street | also 139 Duane Street, 66 Thomas Street, 62 Thomas Street | Tribeca | built 1864

Open on the map4 entries

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

  1. 1863

    Earlier on the site, a school for Black students and a boardinghouse stood where the Diamond Building rises

    The 1863 building replaced two brick dwellings with rear-yard tenements at 62 and 64 Thomas Street, one of which held a public school for African-American students. On the Duane Street side stood a wooden boardinghouse run by Sarah Williams, an African-American woman, whose tenants included laborers, a waiter, a porter and a seamstress. The first tenants of the new building were dry goods firms such as Garner & Co. and John Martin, Jr.

    “…a public school for African-American students (No. 64 Thomas Street); and a frame boarding house kept by Sarah Williams…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1864

    April

    Rubber pioneer Horace H. Day sells his new Gothic Revival store on Thomas Street after only a few months

    Horace H. Day (1813-1878), a rubber goods manufacturer and an early developer of vulcanization, had 62-66 Thomas Street built in 1863-64. He lost a patent suit brought in the 1850s by rival Charles Goodyear, who had Daniel Webster as his lawyer, and then put his capital into ventures such as a canal at Niagara Falls and real estate. In April 1864 he sold the building to Martin Bates, a furrier.

    “Day was involved in a famous patent lawsuit brought by his competitor, Charles Goodyear, in the 1850s.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1926

    Diamond Shoe Co. buys the building and moves in after its former Church Street home is condemned for the subway

    The U.S. Rubber Co. bought the building in 1924 and kept it two years before selling to the Diamond Shoe Company. Its owner, David Davidowitz, had to leave 196 Church Street, which was condemned for the IND subway line, and also needed more space because in 1924 he had purchased the retail shoe company A.S. Beck. The two firms later merged, and under the Davidowitz family A.S. Beck grew into one of the country's largest shoe chains.

    “David Davidowitz, the owner of the Diamond Shoe Company, had been forced to move from 196 Church Street since the building was under condemnation…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1926

    Irving M. Fenichel joins a Duane Street store to the Thomas Street building and wins an award for the alteration

    Architect Irving M. Fenichel, an industrial building specialist, joined the Thomas Street building to the adjoining store at 137 Duane Street for Diamond Shoe in 1926. At 137 he raised the floor levels and added a fifth story, and he gave 137-139 Duane Street a new facade with Gothic details. He called the job the reconstruction of five buildings, and the Downtown League named it the year's best alteration. The neighboring 141 Duane Street was joined and refaced to match in 1934-35.

    “…won an award from the Downtown League for the best alteration of 1926…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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All 564 buildings with stories in Tribeca