Puck Building
295 Lafayette Street | also 293 Lafayette Street, 307 Lafayette Street, 281 Mulberry Street | Nolita | built 1886
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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1885
A fired foreman, a bottle-swinging wife and a strike trouble the Puck Building's construction
Building the new Puck headquarters was not smooth. In September 1885 the bricklayers' foreman, Patrick Cavanagh, was dismissed for drunkenness; his wife tracked him to a saloon near police headquarters and, according to the Times, hit his drinking companion John Sweeney with a bottle. More seriously, a strike in December 1885 was aimed at what the paper called the lumping system on the job. Work carried on regardless, and the building opened in 1886.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1886
Puck magazine makes Albert Wagner's Romanesque Revival building its home
The humor magazine Puck, founded by Joseph Keppler and Adolph Schwarzmann, made this Romanesque Revival building by Albert Wagner its headquarters. The north section went up in 1885 and 1886, and a southern addition followed in 1892 and 1893. Puck went out of business in 1918, and from the 1920s through the 1960s the building's heavy floors housed many independent printing firms.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1887
A fire that starts in a bookbinder's office damages the Puck Building
On the evening of June 25, 1887, a blaze broke out in G. P. Baldwin's bookbindery offices. Tenants then included Puck, the Ottman lithographers, an electrotyper, hat-frame makers, paper dealers and a hat store. The building held large quantities of ink, glue and paper, so the fire spread fast and was not fully out until hours later, leaving about $30,000 in damage.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1890
Puck's owners buy 281 Mulberry Street but hold off building for two years over a subway route
In August 1890, with the magazine still growing, Joseph Keppler, Adolph Schwarzmann and the heirs of J. Ottmann bought the adjoining property at 281 Mulberry Street for an addition. The addition was not built until 1892 to 1893. The two-year delay came from uncertainty over the route of a proposed rapid-transit line, which was to run along Lafayette Street; those plans were later dropped.
- 1893
The Mulberry Street annex completes a printing complex billed as the world's largest of its kind
Albert Wagner designed a seamless addition to the Puck Building, which went up between 1892 and 1893. Moses King's Handbook of New York City judged the enlarged complex the largest building in the world given over to lithographing and publishing, with a floor area of nearly eight acres. Puck's circulation had risen from about 80,000 in the early 1880s to about 90,000 in the 1890s.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1897
The widening of Lafayette Street brings a new facade and gilded Puck statues
When Lafayette Street was widened between 1897 and 1899, the western part of the building had to be torn down and rebuilt. Herman Wagner designed the new facade, and sculptor Henry Baerer made two gilded statues of Puck, the Shakespearean sprite who gave the magazine its name. The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building in April 1983.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1905
A can of turpentine sets a Christmas-card finishing room on fire
In November 1905 a fire in the Puck Building caused about $50,000 in damage. It began when a can of turpentine ignited inside a finishing room where workers were turning out Christmas cards.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1918
Puck magazine ceases publication after more than three decades
Puck, the satirical magazine that gave the Lafayette Street building its name and its rooftop statues, ceases publication in 1918. At its peak the magazine had employed around 400 people inside the building it had called home since 1886. The structure continues afterward as printing and loft space for several more decades before Paul Serra's family buys it in 1978.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1965
Part of Steeplechase Park's fence is rebuilt in the Puck Building
After Coney Island's Steeplechase Park closed in 1965, a section of its fence was brought to the Puck Building and rebuilt there. By then the building housed bookbinders, presses and ticket makers.
“After Coney Island's Steeplechase Park was closed in 1965, part of the amusement park's fence was moved to the Puck Building, where it was rebuilt.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1982
Artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha is murdered in the building during its renovation
A week after her book Dictee was published, the artist and writer Theresa Hak Kyung Cha died in the Puck Building on November 5, 1982; Joey Sanza, a security guard, raped and killed her. She had gone to see her husband, Richard Barnes, who kept an office there while documenting the building's renovation.
“Cha was raped and murdered by Joey Sanza, a security guard at the Puck Building on Lafayette Street ... She had gone there to meet her husband Richard Barnes…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1983
A $14 million renovation wins the Puck Building city landmark status
Developers Paul Serra and Peter Gee complete a $14 million renovation of the Puck Building, regilding its Puck statues and updating the interior while preserving original details. The city designates the building a landmark the same year, marking its transition from a fading magazine and printing plant into renovated commercial space.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1986
Pratt Institute opens a Manhattan campus inside the Puck Building
A syndicate led by Harry Skydell, with partner Charles Kushner, buys the Puck Building for $19 million and spends another $9 million on upgrades such as new elevators and mechanical systems. Pratt Institute opens a Manhattan campus on the building's second floor the same year, operating there until 2001.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2011
Landmarks Commission forces Kushner Companies to shrink its rooftop penthouse dormer
Kushner Companies planned penthouse apartments atop the Puck Building, including a duplex inside a new rooftop dormer. The Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected the first designs in September 2011, then revised versions in October and November, saying the dormers were too large. A smaller scheme won conditional approval in December: the dormer was cut by 1,500 square feet and shortened by 20 feet.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Puck BuildingWikipedia
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