Globe-Wernicke Building

451 Broadway | also 28 Mercer Street, 30 Mercer Street | SoHo | built 1869

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.

1869
December 10
J. B. Snook's Lorillard store and storehouse is finished at 451 Broadway
Work on the five-story store and storehouse began on June 1, 1869 and ended on December 10. John B. Snook was the architect, W. E. Lambert the builder, and the owner was the Estate of George Lorillard. The building runs through the block to Mercer Street; its first facade was iron and brick, and it now has six stories behind a complete new Broadway front added in 1916.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1916
Globe-Wernicke, the bookcase maker, moves into 451 Broadway and refronts it in white terra cotta
In 1916 the Globe-Wernicke furniture company took over 451 Broadway and renovated it the same year. The building ended up with six floors and a new front of white terra-cotta tiles, decorated with a terra-cotta globe and a plaque bearing the initials G-W. The company was known for modular sectional bookcases that could be made taller or shorter by adding or removing sections.
Source: sohobroadway.org

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