National Folding Box and Paper Company Building

140 Franklin Street | also 1 Varick Street, 132 Franklin Street | Tribeca | built 1888

Open on the map3 entries

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

  1. 1888

    Albert Wagner completes a Romanesque Revival factory for D. S. Walton & Co.

    D. S. Walton & Company, then the largest American maker of printed wrapping paper, commissioned Albert Wagner to design this six-story store and factory in 1887-88. It runs 100 feet on Varick Street and about 123 feet on Franklin Street, with a Romanesque Revival arcaded brick upper section. A crenellated clock tower once stood on the corner roof. The building replaced eight frame buildings and one masonry structure.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1911

    D. S. Walton & Co. introduces paper garbage bags

    By 1911 David Walton had formed a subsidiary, D. S. Walton & Co., which launched a household garbage bag made of heavy manila paper with a reinforced bottom. Good Housekeeping told readers the bags would not leak or burst in ordinary use. The firm, headquartered here as National Folding Box and Paper, doubled its capital to $2 million in 1917 for expansion.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1998

    A $10 million renovation turns the factory into 14 condominiums

    Argo International, which made electric pump parts, occupied the whole building for nearly fifty years after 1952. In 1998 the building was bought and a $10 million renovation began, with Sanba Inc. commissioned to design it and John Furth Peachy credited with the apartments. It produced 14 condominiums, one with 27 windows and 6,226 square feet. The lobby shows Sol LeWitt wall drawings, and the exterior was left alone.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 564 buildings with stories in Tribeca