Spingler Building

5 Union Square | also 5 Union Square West | Union Square | built 1900

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.

1897
March
A new Spingler Building replaces the one lost in an 1895 fire
An earlier Spingler Building on this site was destroyed by fire in 1895, and James L. Libby & Son leased the land from the Van Buren estate that July. Architects W. H. Hume & Son designed the eight-story replacement, an Italian Renaissance-inspired building with a limestone base and light brick and terra-cotta upper floors. It was ready in March 1897, when the owners advertised stores and lofts with plenty of light.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
1901
A cloak manufacturer employs 100 workers in the building
In 1901 cloak and suit maker Mark Aronson employed 100 workers in the Spingler Building, one of the apparel firms that moved into Union Square as exclusive retailers left. The London Button Company and, later, the Rochester Button Company occupied the entire second floor.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
1921
An insurer opens a workers' compensation hospital inside the building
In 1921 the Maryland Casualty Company installed a hospital in the Spingler Building to treat injured workers' compensation claimants. Picture-frame dealer Joseph Mayer Co. stayed from the 1940s through the 1960s. Rockwell Group later leased nearly half the building, and a Staples store took the street level.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

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