Little Singer Building

561 Broadway | also 88 Prince Street | SoHo | built 1904

Open on the map5 entries

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. 1902

    Singer breaks ground on the site of Henry Wood's Marble Hall minstrel theater

    When Singer chose 561 Broadway for a new building by Ernest Flagg, the lot held Henry Wood's Marble Hall Theatre, a 2,000-seat house where popular minstrel shows were staged. A second plot on Prince Street was added to make an L-shaped site, leaving the 1860 white marble jewelry store on the corner untouched. Ground was broken in 1902.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1903

    Ernest Flagg's building for the Singer company rises on Broadway

    Singer Sewing Machine Company president Frederick Bourne hired Brooklyn-born architect Ernest Flagg to build on the site of Henry Wood's Marble Hall Theatre, a 2,000-seat house known for minstrel shows. Begun in 1902 and occupied in 1903, the building mixes red brick, cast and wrought iron, terra cotta and broad expanses of glass. It became known as the Little Singer Building after Flagg designed a 41-story Singer headquarters downtown.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1908

    Singer's skyscraper downtown turns 561 Broadway into the "Little" Singer Building

    Only six years after the Broadway building opened, architect Ernest Flagg was already designing a new Singer headquarters at Broadway and Liberty Street, a 41-story tower that briefly stood as the tallest building in the world. As the tall building rose, the SoHo loft building took on the nickname it still carries: the Little Singer Building.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1979

    The Little Singer Building is converted into a co-op of offices and live-work units

    In 1979 the building that Singer put up for its offices and factory was converted to a cooperative with 20 offices and 15 live-work units. The L-shaped building has entrances at 561 Broadway and 88 Prince Street, and the Prince Street front still carries a sign reading "Singer Manufacturing Company."

    Source: sohobroadway.org

  5. 2008

    A restoration brings back Flagg's colors and the lost glass-and-iron canopy

    Bone/Levine Architects led a full restoration. The original rusty-red and green colors came back, much of the iron lattice was removed so the steel frame could be repaired, and the terra cotta was reassembled. Richard Levine's 2008 centerpiece was a new glass-and-iron sidewalk canopy on Broadway, reproduced from records and photographs of the one that had vanished long before.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Nearby

All 736 buildings with stories in SoHo