Silver Center
32 Waverly Place | also 31 Washington Place, 100 Washington Square East | Greenwich Village | built 1900
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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.
- 1840
An earlier NYU building on the site hosts inventors and writers
Before the present building rose, an 1835 Gothic Revival structure by Town, Davis & Dakin stood on this Waverly Place site as New York University's original Main Building. In 1840, John William Draper produced the first photograph made in the United States there. Wikipedia also links the old building to inventors Samuel Colt and Samuel Morse, notes that Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman lived, taught, or lectured there, and says Winslow Homer painted there.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1892
Architect Alfred Zucker designs NYU's new Main Building
In 1892, German-born and German-trained architect Alfred Zucker designed the light brick, stone, and terra-cotta Main Building at 32 Waverly Place to replace NYU's 1835 structure. It first housed University College and the School of Law, while the university rented other space to commercial tenants such as the American Book Company. A growing student body led NYU to push those tenants out in 1927 and use the space for classes.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2002
NYU renames Main Building for donor Julius Silver
In 2002, New York University renamed its Main Building the Silver Center for Arts and Science to honor alumnus Julius Silver, who bequeathed $150 million to the College of Arts and Science. Washington Square College was based here until 1973, when NYU gathered its undergraduate liberal arts programs at Washington Square after selling its University Heights campus in the Bronx. The Grey Art Gallery also occupied the building until moving to Cooper Square in 2024.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Silver CenterWikipedia
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