C. O. Bigelow Building

412 Avenue of the Americas | also 414 Avenue of the Americas | Greenwich Village | built 1902

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

1. 1880

   Clarence Bigelow renames a Village apothecary after himself and later builds it a new home

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   The Village Apothecary Shop was founded on Sixth Avenue in 1838 by Dr. Galen Hunter. Clarence Otis Bigelow, a former employee, bought it in 1880 and renamed it C. O. Bigelow Apothecaries. He later built a new building two doors north, and the pharmacy moved into it in 1902. It remains there as the oldest surviving apothecary-pharmacy in the United States.

   Source: Wikipedia

2. 1902

   John E. Nitchie designs an eight-story Romanesque-to-classical building for Bigelow's pharmacy

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   Clarence O. Bigelow commissioned the eight-story building in 1902 from architect John E. Nitchie. Romanesque arches in stone take in five stories, and a classical sheet-metal cornice with swags crowns it. The Landmarks Preservation Commission described it in 1969 as a late example of the shift from Romanesque Revival toward the new classicism.

   “Eight stories high, it is an interesting building showing the transition from the Romanesque Revival to the new classicism, albeit a very late example for this date.”

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

3. 1939

   Pharmacist William Ginsberg buys the run-down Bigelow pharmacy during the Depression

   By the Depression years the store was in decline, and in 1939 William B. Ginsberg, a pharmacist with a Columbia University doctorate who had come from Eastern Europe, bought it. His family has run it ever since, passing it from William to his son Jerry and then to Jerry's son Ian.

   Source: Wikipedia

4. 1965

   Bigelow's stays open through the blackouts of 1965 and 1977

   Bigelow's is reported to have kept its doors open through the East Coast power failures of 1965 and 1977, the lone pharmacy from Maine to the Carolinas that still had enough light to do business. Wikipedia credits this to its chandeliers, which were electrified long ago but still have their original gas fittings.

   “During the extensive blackouts on the East Coast in 1965 and 1977, Bigelow's was the only pharmacy between Maine and the Carolinas with enough light to remain open…”

   Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

• Then & Now photos: C. O. Bigelow, Chemists, Inc.Village Preservation: Greenwich Village Then & Now

Nearby

• 410 Avenue of the Americas1 entry
• 408 Avenue of the Americas1 entry
• 418 Avenue of the Americas2 entries
• 406 Avenue of the Americas1 entry
• 404 Avenue of the Americas1 entry
• 400 Avenue of the Americas1 entry

All 518 buildings with stories in Greenwich Village