Frank Leslie Building

42 Bond Street | NoHo | built 1890

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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. 1843

    Two Bond Street houses stood here before the loft: merchant John P. Stagg lived in No. 42

    Before the present building, Nos. 42 and 44 were separate houses on a block among the most exclusive in the city. Wealthy merchant John P. Stagg moved into the new brick-faced three-story house at No. 42 in 1843, and the John H. L. McCracken family lived next door at No. 44. By 1886 James A. Foster and his wife owned both houses, and they were sold at a foreclosure auction on October 5 to developer Morris B. Baer.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1868

    Susan B. Anthony rents a plain double room at the boarding house at No. 44

    By 1868 No. 44 Bond Street, once a family mansion, was run as a boarding house as the block declined. Susan B. Anthony rented a room there that year, and in a letter she described her quarters as plain, with a double bed. The house was later demolished for the present building. This was an earlier building on the site.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1890

    Morris B. Baer builds a seven-story arched factory building to a design by Buchman & Deisler

    Developer Morris B. Baer replaced the old houses with a seven-story brick and stone factory designed by Buchman & Deisler, with a projected cost of $50,000 to $60,000. Two four-story arches with terra cotta Corinthian capitals dominate the upper floors, and a triangular pediment doubles as a flagpole. Apparel makers began renting in 1889, even before the building was finished in 1890.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1894

    May

    Mrs. Frank Leslie moves her publishing house into the building and holds a house-warming

    In February 1894 Miriam Florence Leslie, widow of Frank Leslie, signed a ten-year, $100,000 lease and renamed the structure the Frank Leslie Building. After her husband's death in 1880 she had taken over a nearly bankrupt publishing business and legally changed her name to Frank Leslie. By the move it had 300 employees and 13 printing presses. Hundreds of invitations went out for a formal opening party on a Thursday evening that May.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1901

    March 15

    Police raid an illegal horse-betting room on the sixth floor

    On the evening of March 15, 1901, police acting on a tip raided the sixth floor, which a lessee had sublet. The New York Times reported that the space was well fitted up, with numerous betting booths. Seven men were arrested, and four were charged with aiding or keeping a poolroom, the term for an illegal horse-betting operation. Owner Morris Baer's lawyer wrote to the newspaper that Baer leased the building as a whole and knew nothing of it.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  6. 1931

    December

    The Volunteers of America serves Christmas dinner here to about 30,000 single men

    During the Great Depression the Volunteers of America was a tenant at Nos. 42-44, and in 1931 it served Christmas dinner here to about 30,000 single men. The charity stayed at least through 1933. By mid-century the hat and garment firms had given way to more industrial tenants, such as an elevator company and a tool-and-die firm.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  7. 1976

    August 20

    Five armed robbers hold up a check-cashing company's cash run from the bank

    In 1976 Joseph Albert's Check Cashing Company was a tenant. On August 20 Leonard Rosen and two security guards were returning from a nearby bank with $35,000 in cash when two panel trucks boxed in their car and five armed robbers jumped out. They disarmed the guards and threatened to kill them if the dog in the car moved. The robbers fled in another car, leaving both trucks behind.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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All 222 buildings with stories in NoHo