Fennell & Pye Building

188 Duane Street | also 190 Duane Street | Tribeca | built 1876

Open on the map4 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. 1863

    January 3

    A kerosene factory on the site burns and explodes in 1863

    Before the present building, No. 190 held John Reed Jr.'s kerosene oil factory next to a small saloon at No. 188. A fire broke out about 1 p.m. on January 3, 1863, and a powerful explosion blew out the front windows before the building was reduced to ruins. Employee Jacob Menzes, in the basement, survived with severe head injuries. Reed lost about $7,000.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1876

    William Aitken merges two old Duane Street buildings into one four-story store

    William B. Aitken, a lawyer and Surrogate's Court clerk, had inherited Nos. 188 and 190 from his father. In 1876 architect Theodore Tribit filed plans to enlarge No. 190. In practice No. 188 was demolished and the building doubled in size with a fourth floor. It had a Howell cast-iron storefront and a red brick facade, at a cost of $8,500. The first tenant was the produce dealers Fennell & Pye.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1895

    August 13

    The Times sends a reporter here to celebrate the arrival of peaches

    On August 13, 1895, the front page of The New York Times carried the headline "Peaches Now in Market." Its reporter visited produce commission merchant R. W. Dixon at No. 190 Duane Street. Dixon said the city loved peaches: the wealthy paid fancy prices for large red ones, while poorer New Yorkers valued smaller fruit of equal flavor.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1949

    March 20

    Alpert's Cheese Corner is featured in the Times Sunday Magazine

    Jane Nickerson visited Alpert's Cheese Corner at No. 188 for a March 20, 1949 Times Sunday Magazine piece titled "Latest News of Cheese." Owner Phil Alpert had built a business around mailing cheeses, including types a customer might name that were hard to find. The building was in the butter-and-egg trade for decades, and a painted Lappin Tea sign from about 1918 still faintly shows.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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