Edward Ridley & Sons Department Store Buildings

319 Grand Street | also 321 Grand Street | Chinatown | built 1886

Open on the map4 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1. 1886

   A curved corner pavilion marks the Orchard Street end of Ridley's addition

   At the corner of Orchard Street, Paul F. Schoen placed a rounded, three-bay pavilion that may once have carried a squat dome. The Evening Telegram described a round tower holding an 11,000-gallon water tank, and an 1886 illustration hints at a clock in a pedimented frame. Jackson's Architectural Iron Company, a foundry established in 1840, supplied the iron parts of the Grand Street front.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

2. 1887

   Ridley's reaches its peak with about 2,500 employees and $6 million in sales

   The 1886 addition made Ridley & Sons one of Manhattan's biggest department stores, with a frontage of about 200 feet on Grand Street. It employed roughly 2,500 people and, by one newspaper's account, peaked in 1887 with more than $6 million in annual sales. Advertisements in 1889 claimed 115 departments and urged shoppers to come see the building.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

3. 1901

   Ridley & Sons closes and its buildings are divided among smaller tenants

   Sales slid through the 1890s while many rival retailers moved to Fifth and Sixth Avenues. In March 1901 the store sold its delivery fleet, including 107 horses, and three weeks of auctions that November dispersed $300,000 of stock. Architect Franklin Baylis then altered 313-321 Grand Street for new tenants, in work costing about $40,000 that finished in May 1902.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

4. 1909

   December 24

   The American Palace Hall at 319 Grand Street hosts an Anarchists' Ball

   After the department store closed, 319 Grand Street housed the American Palace Hall, where an Anarchists' Ball took place on Christmas Eve in 1909. Nearby, the refurbished building at 313 Grand Street later counted the Socialist Party of the Eighth Assembly District among its tenants.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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• Edward Ridley & Sons Department Store Buildings315 Grand Street | 3 entries
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All 93 buildings with stories in Chinatown