E. Oelbermann & Co. Building

57 Greene Street | also 61 Greene Street, 63 Greene Street, 59 Greene Street | SoHo | built 1877

Open on the map4 entries

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

  1. 1877

    January 31

    A dry-goods warehouse by Edward H. Kendall replaces the Greene Street Methodist Church

    The Greene-Street Methodist Church held its last services in February 1876 and was demolished that spring. Architect Edward H. Kendall then designed a six-story warehouse for the importer E. Oelbermann & Co., with ground broken May 23, 1876, and completion on January 31, 1877. Unlike its cast-iron neighbors, it used red brick trimmed in stone, in a mix of neo-Grec and Queen Anne styles.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1890

    E. Oelbermann & Co. sells about $15 million a year in textiles on commission

    Emil Oelbermann, a German-born dry goods merchant, lived mostly in Cologne by 1890, leaving Louis Dommerich in charge in New York. King's Handbook of New York described a commission house representing manufacturers across Europe and the United States, with sales of about $15 million a year. The firm kept the building until 1913.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1913

    Ink maker Ault & Wiborg, known for its artist-designed posters, moves in

    In 1913 Ault & Wiborg Company, the world's largest ink manufacturer, moved to the building as dry goods firms went uptown. Founded in Cincinnati in 1878, it made printing inks, varnishes and lacquers. It advertised with posters commissioned from artists including Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Louis Rhead and Will H. Bradley. It left in 1924, when General Display Case Co. moved in and stayed for over half a century.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1990

    The upper floors become artists' live-work lofts

    As SoHo's manufacturers gave way to artists, the upper floors were converted to living and working quarters in 1990. Barbara Nessim, a pioneer of computer-aided design, lived and worked here in the late 1990s, and glass artist Euzan Etkin worked here by 2010.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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