158 Reade Street

Tribeca | built 1861

Open on the map5 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. 1861

    A wedge-shaped Italianate building rises on the sliver left by widening Reade Street

    When Reade Street was widened in 1860, a corner lot at Greenwich Street shrank to a wedge. Charles G. Carley built a three-story brick building there in 1860-61, about 51 feet long on Reade Street, with a cast-iron storefront below. The narrow end once had a high stoop leading to the second-floor entrance for the living quarters.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1874

    July 25

    A feuding tenant refuses to take the oath at a lawyer's office here

    Lawyer William H. Meeks had offices upstairs, and a court order summoned two men to give depositions there. Landlord George C. Huntington was fighting former tenant James K. Spratt, who had smashed plumbing pipes after losing his lease. Spratt would not swear on Meeks's Bible or answer questions, so the judge had him arrested and brought to court, where he paid a $10 fine.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1915

    July 14

    Egg dealer Philip Mandelker is fined $1,000 after authorities seize rotten eggs

    Philip Mandelker, a butter, poultry and egg jobber, had barely opened at 158 Reade Street when the U.S. Attorney ordered 105 cases of his shell eggs seized. The eggs had been shipped to New Jersey, and the complaint called them decomposed. Mandelker pleaded guilty to violating the Food and Drugs Act and paid $1,000, nearly $25,000 in 2018 dollars.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1930

    August 18

    Egg merchants here testify about threats from the butter-and-egg rackets

    Samuel Pfeiffer and I. Roth, butter and egg jobbers at 158 Reade Street, testified at an Attorney General's hearing on racketeering in the trade. Roth said a stranger had told him to stop buying from a Utah supplier and that it would be a shame if he were bumped off. Pfeiffer pleaded that he had a family to support.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1966

    Jimi Hendrix lives briefly in a third-floor loft above an egg company

    In the summer of 1966, 24-year-old guitarist Jimi Hendrix stayed for a time on the third floor, above the United Egg Company. According to Brad Schreiber's book on Hendrix, quoted by the blog, the band the Seventh Sons used the loft to rehearse. Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of the Byrds sometimes dropped in for long jam sessions.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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