591 Broadway

also 593 Broadway, 166 Mercer Street | SoHo | built 1920

Open on the map4 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. 1885

    August

    E. & H. T. Anthony & Co. sells its lightweight Detective camera from 591 Broadway

    E. & H. T. Anthony & Co., then the largest maker of photographic materials in the world, had taken over the whole of 591 Broadway by 1870. In August 1885 the New York Times reported on its Detective camera, a light model with a shutter that could take a picture almost instantly. Daytonian credits the camera with bringing photography within reach of amateurs, and tourists bought so many that the firm could not keep up. The company announced a removal sale in December 1899.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1900

    March

    A 1900 remodel strips the marble front of 591 Broadway and replaces it with iron piers and terra cotta

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    William Cohen of Cohen, Endel & Co. bought 591 Broadway at auction in March 1900 for $157,500 and soon announced alterations that included an extra story. The work erased the marble upper facade and installed slender cast-iron piers across the central floors, a new sixth floor under a decorated iron entablature, and a brick pediment covered in terra cotta. Until then the building had matched its twin at 593.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1912

    March

    Subway construction darkens a hosiery store at 593 Broadway, and its owner sues the contractor

    In March 1912, subway excavation in front of 593 Broadway brought a sidewalk bridge that blocked daylight from the ground-floor store of J. Sinsheimer & Sons, makers of hosiery and underwear who had taken the space in 1907 at $7,500 a year. The bridge stayed until December 1913. Joseph Sinsheimer sued the contractor, the Underpinning & Foundation Company, saying he had to keep lamps lit all day and carry goods outside to show their colors, and he won.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1993

    February

    The Museum for African Art opens in a Maya Lin-designed space at 593 Broadway

    In February 1993 the Museum for African Art moved to 593 Broadway, a space three times larger than its previous home and designed by Maya Lin. Herbert Muschamp of the New York Times described it as a flowing sequence of galleries on two floors. The museum stayed in SoHo until September 2002, when it moved to Long Island City, Queens.

    Source: Wikipedia

Nearby

All 736 buildings with stories in SoHo