189 Front Street Building
189 Front Street | also 89 South Street | Financial District | built 1980
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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.
- 1828
Nantucket-born sea captain Josiah Macy founds a shipping house that later occupies this building
Born in Nantucket in 1785, Macy carried whale oil to ports around the world as a ship captain. After the War of 1812 he bought the ship Edward and spent fourteen years in the New York-Liverpool trade. In 1828 he started the shipping and commission house of Josiah Macy & Son with his son William, and he retired in 1853, leaving the firm to his sons.
“In 1828, he founded the shipping and commission house of Josiah Macy & Son, with his son William…”
- 1834
Josiah Macy buys the lot from Anson G. Phelps, whose earlier building stood on the site
Before the present warehouse, an older building owned by Anson G. Phelps stood on this lot at Front Street. Phelps founded the merchandising firm Phelps, Dodge and Company. In 1834 he sold the property to Josiah Macy, a Nantucket sea captain who ran a shipping house in the neighborhood, and a new warehouse replaced the old one two years later.
“In 1834 the property was bought from Phelps by Josiah Macy (1785-1872).”
- 1836
Macy's new warehouse at No. 189 is built with a granite ground floor and a brick cornice
Josiah Macy owned No. 189 when the pair of Greek Revival warehouses went up in 1835-36. The ground floor is granite, with regularly spaced piers topped by Tuscan capitals and a deep architrave. The upper windows have granite sills and lintels, and the roof cornice is of molded brick.
“The handsome roof cornice of No. 189 is of molded brick.”
- 1853
Josiah Macy retires, and his sons carry on the firm from 189 Front Street
Born on Nantucket in 1785, Josiah Macy made a fortune as a ship captain and then as a New York shipper and commission merchant. In 1853 he withdrew from business with a considerable fortune and his sons kept the firm going. Josiah Macy & Son stayed on at No. 189 for another three decades.
“Having amassed a considerable fortune, Macy retired from business in 1853 and the firm was continued by his sons.”
- 1885
Josiah Macy & Son moves out of no. 189 to the building next door
After more than forty years at 189 Front Street, the shipping and commission house of Josiah Macy & Son relocated in 1885 to No. 191, the adjoining building. It stayed there until after the turn of the twentieth century. The move ended the firm's long run in the Greek Revival warehouse that Josiah Macy had owned.
- 1968
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the 189 Front Street Building
After a public hearing in October 1965, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the 189 Front Street Building a city landmark on October 29, 1968. It called the warehouse a well-kept example of Greek Revival commercial design that had survived the changes around it. The report adds that a photograph of the building appears in Ada Louise Huxtable's book Classic New York.
Nearby
- 191 Front Street3 entries
- 181 Front Street3 entries
- 193 Front Street Building193 Front Street | 4 entries
- 165 John Street4 entries
- 195 Front Street (Schermerhorn Row)195 Front Street | 5 entries
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