120 Chambers Street

50 Warren Street | also 120 Chambers Street | Tribeca | built 1858

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

  1. 1828

    William Henry Jones builds a 23-foot-wide house at 120 Chambers Street, later replaced by a cast-iron loft

    The wealthy Jones family had a strong presence on this block of Chambers Street. In 1818 Isaac Jones Jr. built a fine home at no. 122, and in 1828 his brother William Henry Jones erected a 23-foot-wide house beside it at no. 120. Both houses were demolished in 1857 as commerce took over the neighborhood. This entry describes an earlier building on the site.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1858

    Two identical cast-iron facades front a through-block building, among the earliest surviving of their kind in New York

    Built in 1857-58 for William Henry Jones, the building runs through from 120 Chambers Street to 50 Warren Street and shows identical cast-iron facades on both fronts. Daniel D. Badger's Architectural Iron Works included the design in its 1865 catalogue. The Landmarks Preservation Commission counts it among the earliest cast-iron buildings still standing in New York.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1858

    A. R. Van Nest & Co., the city's foremost saddlery hardware firm, takes the lower floors

    Among the first tenants was A. R. Van Nest & Co., founded in 1835 by Abram R. Van Nest and described as the city's foremost saddlery hardware house. Its ground-floor salesroom stocked harness fittings, patent leathers, spurs, stirrups and bits, while the second floor sold carriage trimmings. The firm later became the J. Newton Van Ness Co. and stayed until 1918, when Bartley Bros. & Hall bought its stock and goodwill.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1862

    December 22

    A trusted young cashier at T. S. Young & Co. is found dead, and the firm discovers missing funds

    Edwards Tomlins was hired at 17 by T. S. Young & Co., a tenant at 120 Chambers Street, and was soon promoted to cashier at $300 a year, yet he dressed lavishly and rode to work by carriage. Knowing an audit was due in January, he was found dead in his boarding room on December 22, 1862. A quick look at the books showed the equivalent of more than $26,000 missing, though he had paid his tailor and carriage bills first.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1920

    Hotelier Louis H. Saltzman runs the Chamberlain Restaurant on the ground floor

    From the 1920s the Chamberlain Restaurant occupied the ground floor at 120 Chambers Street; its owner was the hotelier Louis H. Saltzman (about 1876-1950). Saltzman ran several restaurants in New York and Philadelphia as well as resort hotels in Miami, New Jersey and Long Island. The restaurant replaced a saddlery showroom that had occupied the space since 1858.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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