Forward Building

173 East Broadway | Two Bridges | built 1912

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

  1. 1912

    The Jewish Daily Forward completes its ten-story headquarters

    Founded in 1897 and edited by Abraham Cahan, the Yiddish daily Forward completed this ten-story Beaux-Arts headquarters on East Broadway in 1912. Besides the paper's offices and presses, it housed socialist and labor groups such as the Workmen's Circle and Butchers' Union Local 509. The paper's circulation grew from 6,000 in 1902 to a peak of about 275,000 in the 1930s.

    Source: bedfordandbowery.com

  2. 1912

    The facade is decorated with terra-cotta reliefs of socialist leaders

    Architect George A. Boehm designs a ten-story Beaux-Arts building with terra cotta, marbled stone and stained glass on its tan brick facade. Four reliefs on the frieze below the second-floor cornice show Karl Marx, Ferdinand Lassalle, Friedrich Engels and a fourth man whose identity is uncertain. They reflect the political line of the newspaper that built the headquarters.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1939

    The Forward, based in the building, becomes the world's largest Yiddish daily

    Working from its East Broadway headquarters, editor Abraham Cahan guides The Jewish Daily Forward through rapid growth, from about 60,000 readers in 1906 to over 250,000 in the 1920s. The paper is owned cooperatively and gives 20 percent of its profits to charity. By 1939 it is the largest Yiddish daily in the world.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1974

    The Forward moves uptown and a Chinese church moves in

    The newspaper left for East 33rd Street in 1974, and the Lau family, Chinese American real estate owners, bought the building that year. The Ling Liang Church rented the ground floor and printed Chinese-language Bibles on the second floor. The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building in 1986, and after a 2004 sale it was converted into luxury condominiums beginning in 2006.

    Source: bedfordandbowery.com

  5. 2004

    Renovation turns the former Forward headquarters into condominiums

    After the newspaper leaves in 1972, a Chinese church occupies the lower floors and the rest of the building sits empty. A conversion into 29 condominiums begins in 1998 but stalls. Ronald Castellano and Christopher Hayes buy the building in 2004, finish the work, and return the socialist leaders' reliefs to the facade, with some apartments priced around $5 million.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

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All 43 buildings with stories in Two Bridges