Richard Webber Harlem Packing House
207 East 119th Street | East Harlem | built 1895
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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.
- 1895
Richard Webber's meat company builds a packing house marked with terra-cotta cow heads
Architects Bartholomew and John P. Walther designed this Romanesque and Renaissance Revival packing house on East 119th Street in 1895 for the Webber meat company. Terra-cotta cow heads in the central bay announce what went on inside. Webber's business used the building until 1928, and the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated it a landmark in 2018.
Source: nyc.gov
- 1908
The Times describes Richard Webber as one of the city's largest butchers
Richard Webber, an English immigrant, starts a small butcher shop in East Harlem in the late 1870s, and it grows into a large complex with a staff of 500. He serves on the Harlem Board of Commerce and as a trustee of the Harlem Savings Bank. He also lectures at New York Teachers College, for the opening of its domestic science department, and at Pratt Institute. When he dies in 1908, the New York Times describes him as among the largest butchers in the city and possibly the country.
Source: nyc.gov
- 1928
The Webber meat packing company stops using the complex in 1928
The Webber meat packing company uses its East 119th Street complex until 1928, after which the packing house serves a variety of commercial functions. Limited alterations, such as infilled windows and painted masonry at the base, leave its Romanesque Revival and Renaissance Revival facade largely intact.
Source: nyc.gov
- 2018
The city designates the packing house a landmark
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the former Webber packing house a New York City landmark on March 27, 2018, along with two other East Harlem buildings. The commission calls it one of the few high-style buildings left in the neighborhood from the turn of the century. It also sees the building as a reminder of East Harlem's commercial and industrial past.
Source: nyc.gov
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