De Vinne Press Building
23 East 4th Street | also 393 Lafayette Street | NoHo | built 1885
Open on the map10 entries
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.
- 1884
De Vinne and Roswell Smith buy three houses at the corner of Lafayette and Fourth Street for a printing plant
In May 1884 printer Theodore De Vinne and his partner Roswell Smith bought the Maury, Sabine and Hyatt family houses, one of them a three-story house on the northeast corner where Lafayette meets Fourth Street. That October Smith announced plans for a large printing and binding establishment there. These earlier houses stood on the site of what is now the De Vinne Press Building at 393-399 Lafayette Street.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1886
Babb, Cook & Willard build the press fireproof, with brick arches, iron beams and glass sidewalk lights
Because a printing plant held paper, grease and benzene, the architects used heavy brick arches on iron beams and iron columns, with wood used sparingly, mostly in the window frames. Under the Lafayette Street sidewalk, hinged glass blocks lit and ventilated the basement vault, where the Century Magazine web press ran on rolls of paper. The Landmarks Commission later called it a milestone for American commercial buildings.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1886
Theodore De Vinne and Roswell Smith open a printing plant on Lafayette Place
De Vinne, among the foremost American printers of his day, and Roswell Smith, president of the Century Company, bought the corner lot in 1884 and hired Babb, Cook & Willard. Construction began in 1885, printing started by April 1886 and the building formally opened that July. It cost $200,000, most of it put up by Smith, with De Vinne supplying about a quarter of the capital.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1889
The De Vinne Press sets and prints the Century Dictionary here
Between 1889 and 1891 the plant produced the Century Dictionary, 24 parts in six volumes. Smith put up $1 million for the first edition, and De Vinne designed a stand that let a compositor reach more than 700 type boxes without moving. Space in the building was set aside to hold the type, the composed sheets and 6,000 wood-engraved illustrations.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1890
Babb, Cook & Willard add a matching annex along East 4th Street
The firm that designed the original plant returned to design an eight-story annex facing East 4th Street, built in 1890-91. The Landmarks Commission describes eleven bays on that street, with a freight entryway and detailing similar to the Lafayette Street front. The addition matches the corner building closely.
- 1897
De Vinne's lawyers fight the planned subway line under Lafayette Place over the press's basement vaults
When the city planned the first subway line under Lafayette Place, De Vinne & Co. joined other landowners in opposing it. Its lawyers argued that tunneling would destroy an eight-foot strip of the building's basement vaults, with damages of up to $100,000. The subway opened in 1904, and in 1911 the entrance and vault were rebuilt to fit the line and a wider street.
“De Vinne's lawyers claimed that the line would require an 8-foot-wide section of the building's basement vaults to be destroyed, incurring damages of up to $100,000.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1914
Theodore De Vinne dies, leaving an estate over $1.5 million that includes a $10,000 stamp collection
The master printer who gave the building its name died on February 16, 1914, at his West 76th Street mansion, surrounded by his books. His estate came to over $1.5 million; the inventory listed a stamp collection worth $10,000 and jewelry valued at only $25. His press stopped operating in the Lafayette Street building in 1922.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1966
The city designates the De Vinne Press Building a landmark over the owner's objection
The De Vinne Press closed in 1922, and Walter Peek Paper Corporation bought the building in 1938. It stayed a printing plant into the late 1960s. The Landmarks Commission designated it in 1966 even though the owner opposed the designation, and it joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1982
Edwin Fisher buys the building in an elevator deal, and Astor Wines moves in decades later
Edwin Fisher bought the building in the early 1980s after the owner of a nearby Astor Place building refused to sell to him. He reportedly finalized the purchase from Walter Peek employee Samuel Galewitz while riding an elevator. Astor Wines & Spirits moved in during 2006, and a wine-education center opened in 2008 as part of the Astor Center.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2006
Astor Wines & Spirits moves into the old pressroom and later adds the Astor Center
Edwin Fisher bought the building in the early 1980s. His family's business, Astor Wines & Spirits, moved in during 2006, taking over the lower level where presses once ran and using the cellar level for wine storage. A second-floor education space, the Astor Center, opened in 2008 with a tasting bar and a wine library.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- The 1886 De Vinne Press Bldg -- No. 395 Lafayette StDaytonian in Manhattan
Nearby
- 25 East 4th Street3 entries
- De Vinne Press Building393 Lafayette Street | 4 entries
- 27 East 4th Street1 entry
- De Vinne Press Building401 Lafayette Street | 5 entries
- Merchant's House Museum29 East 4th Street | 11 entries
- 403 Lafayette Street1 entry