172 Duane Street

Tribeca | built 1872

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.

1871
John Copcutt, an importer of exotic woods, has a two-story cast-iron store built at 172 Duane Street
In 1871-72 John Copcutt, a partner in the importing firm J. & F. Copcutt, had this store and loft building erected. Its builder, Jacob Weber, probably ordered the cast-iron parts from a foundry catalog. The firm dealt in exotic woods. The new building replaced an earlier brick structure with a commercial ground floor.
“Constructed as a store and loft building in 1871-72 for John Copcutt, partner in J. & F. Copcutt Importers…”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1925
Wholesale dairy firms fill 172 Duane Street from the 1920s into the 1970s
The building was a coffee-roasting site in the late 1880s, and from the late 1890s into the 1900s a wholesale grocer used it. From the 1920s through the 1970s it held wholesale dairy businesses.
“In the late 1880s the building was used for coffee roasting... From the 1920s through the 1970s the building contained wholesale dairy businesses.”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1988
A glass-block facade is built behind the old iron front of 172 Duane Street
In 1988-91 a new glass-block facade was built several feet behind the building line, and a new roof and skylight were added. The original two-story cast-iron arcade, the only part of the 1871 building left, was kept and restored with replacement capitals, a parapet frieze and arch moldings.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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