Dietz Building

429 Greenwich Street | also 62 Laight Street | Tribeca | built 1920

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

  1. 1883

    Lamp maker Robert Dietz buys the corner lots for a modern lantern factory

    Robert Edwin Dietz started in lamps in 1840 by buying a lamp and oil business in Brooklyn, and by 1855 his firm had a lamp factory on William Street. He patented a coal-oil lamp in 1857, opened a London store in 1860 and a Chicago office in 1882. In 1883 he bought the lots at Laight and Greenwich Streets for a new factory. Dietz died in 1897, and Frederick Dietz took over the work of rebuilding and running the company.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1887

    Robert E. Dietz builds a seven-story lantern factory at Greenwich and Laight Streets

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    R. W. Tieffenberg drew up plans in 1887 for a seven-story Romanesque Revival building for the Robert E. Dietz Company, which used it as its lantern factory. The lot has 75 feet on Greenwich Street and 125 feet on Laight Street. The mason was Van Dolson & Arnott and the carpenter was Samuel McMillan.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1897

    Fire badly damages the Dietz factory, which is rebuilt two stories taller and fireproof

    A fire in 1897 led to a rebuilding of the lantern factory to plans by William J. Fryer. He raised it to nine stories and rebuilt everything above the second story with fireproof construction, keeping the original Romanesque Revival look. He also added a tower at the center of the Laight Street facade, topped by a pyramidal roof.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1950

    The Dietz family sells its old lantern factory to Port Warehouses

    The Dietz family kept control of the company for decades, yet slowly let go of the Greenwich and Laight building, which went to Port Warehouses Inc. in 1950. By then Dietz tubular lanterns had made the company the country's top lantern maker since the 1890s, with railroads such as the New Haven among its biggest customers. The building is residential today.

    Source: tribecatrib.com

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