319 Broadway (one of the Thomas Twins)
319 Broadway | also 1 Thomas Street | Tribeca | built 1870
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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.
- 1775
The New York Hospital's first building on this block burns, then houses British and Hessian troops
The corner at Broadway and Thomas Street, where 319 Broadway now stands, was part of the grounds of the New York Hospital, which filled the block bounded by Broadway, Church, Worth and Duane Streets. Its cornerstone was laid in July 1773, and fire destroyed the nearly finished building in 1775. During the Revolutionary War British and Hessian troops used it as barracks and sometimes as a hospital, and after the war it admitted eighteen patients in 1791.
“The cornerstone of the Hospital was laid in July of 1773, but, in 1775, when the structure was nearly complete, it was destroyed by fire.”
- 1869
General Thomas A. Davies leases two lots on Thomas Street and commissions cast-iron buildings
In 1869 General Thomas A. Davies took a lease from the Society of New York Hospital on two lots on either side of Thomas Street and engaged the architects D. & J. Jardine, who designed a separate iron-fronted building for each lot. Davies had risen to major general of volunteers during the Civil War and had worked as a civil engineer on the Croton Aqueduct, taking a leading role in the construction of High Bridge over the Harlem River. His pair of buildings showed lower Broadway changing from a residential boulevard with institutions into the city's commercial center.
- 1870
New York Hospital suspends operations at its old Broadway site after treating over 150,000 patients
As funding fell in 1866 and patient numbers rose, the hospital leased out its grounds, and in March 1869 the ground occupied by the main building was let. In February 1870 operations at the old hospital stopped completely. Over its history it employed the physician Dr. Valentine Mott and treated more than 150,000 patients. Thomas Street, once the carriage drive into the grounds, was opened through as a private street in 1869 and is still officially private.
“…in February 1870 operations were completely suspended at the old New York Hospital. In its day the hospital had employed the eminent physician Dr. Valentine Mott and treated over 150,000 patients.”
- 1870
The Jardines' Italianate cast-iron building opens with a bank and offices inside
Built in 1869 and 1870, 319 Broadway had a twin across Thomas Street at No. 317, and the two later became known as the Thomas Twins. Their iron fronts were cast by Daniel D. Badger's Architectural Iron Works, and a metal plaque from the foundry survives at the service entrance. The building was meant to hold a bank and offices, and the first occupants of the building were the Metropolitan Life Insurance Corporation and the Security State Bank.
- 1912
The entrance stoop is removed and the basement becomes the first story
In 1912 the stoop that had once led up to the Broadway entrance was taken away, along with other encumbrances on the sidewalk. At that time the basement level was redesignated the first story, which made 319 Broadway officially a five-story building. Above that ground floor the building survived remarkably intact, and by the time of its landmark designation it housed offices and a restaurant, with light manufacturing among its other recent uses.
- 1971
The Thomas Twin at 317 Broadway is torn down after the owners resist landmark protection
The two cast-iron buildings faced each other across Thomas Street until 1971. According to the Tribeca Trust, they had been proposed for landmark designation in 1966, when nearby buildings were coming down for a parking lot, but the owners objected and the Landmarks Preservation Commission did not act. The building at 317 was then neglected and torn down in 1971, and a McDonald's went up in its place, leaving 319 Broadway as the lone survivor.
Source: tribecatrust.org
- 1989
The Landmarks Commission designates 319 Broadway after hearings in 1988
The Landmarks Preservation Commission held hearings on the 319 Broadway Building in January and April 1988 and designated it a landmark on August 29, 1989. Five witnesses spoke in favor and a representative of the owner spoke against. The commission received ten letters supporting designation and six opposing it, three of them from the owner's representatives.
“A total of five witnesses spoke in favor of designation. A representative of the owner spoke against designation. Ten letters have been received in favor of designation.”
Further reading
- 319 BroadwayWikipedia
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