De Vinne Press Building

401 Lafayette Street | also 393 Lafayette Street | NoHo | built 1885

Open on the map5 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1886

    Babb, Cook & Willard design a fire-conscious printing house with a glass-paved sidewalk and a Greek terra-cotta tablet

    The architects built an eight-story brick and terra-cotta printing house, using heavy brick arches and iron columns to carry the presses, with wood limited mostly to window frames to reduce fire risk. Below the street was a vault for plates, paper, boilers and the web press, lit through hinged sidewalk panels of glass. George Babb also designed a terra-cotta tablet beside the door carrying a Greek line from Prometheus and the word IMPRIMATUR, which became the firm's printer's mark.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1893

    Ferdinand Mela builds a seven-story warehouse as commercial buildings replace Lafayette Place houses

    Cleverdon & Putzel designed the seven-story warehouse in 1893 for Ferdinand Mela, who built several other buildings nearby while large commercial buildings replaced the once-fashionable houses of Lafayette Place. By the early twentieth century small manufacturing firms occupied it. It was later converted to a printing house and served that use into the 1960s.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1938

    Walter Peek Paper Corporation buys the building from Manufacturers Trust for $77,500 in cash plus the mortgage

    In 1938 the Walter Peek Paper Corporation acquired the building from the Manufacturers Trust Company. It paid $77,500 in cash and took over the existing mortgage, at a time when the city assessed the property at $225,000. The new owner planned renovations, and the building remained a printing plant until the late 1960s.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 1940

    Walter Peek Paper Corp. rebuilds the ground floor for a loading driveway and joins it to the De Vinne Building

    In 1940 the owner, Walter Peek Paper Corp., hired the architect John Baker to rework the first story for a driveway and loading platform. The same alteration joined the building internally with the neighboring De Vinne Press Building at 393-399 Lafayette Street, which the company also owned.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  5. 2017

    Taco Bell runs a short-lived pop-up restaurant in the building

    In 2017 the Taco Bell chain ran a short-lived pop-up restaurant here. Tenants in the 2010s also included André Balazs Properties, the digital distributor The Orchard, a photo and production studio called Shootdigital, and Helpern Architects, alongside the wine shop. The wine-education center closed temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 222 buildings with stories in NoHo