James White Building (Cast Iron House)

67 Franklin Street | also 361 Broadway | Tribeca | built 1915

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

  1. 1837

    A merchant's house, a piano shop and a mantilla dealer stand on the corner before the cast-iron building

    In 1837 the merchant Peter Crary lived in a house at the corner of Broadway and Franklin Street. By 1842 business had taken over, with Adam Stodart selling pianos from a salesroom at this address, and in 1857 a dry goods dealer named Bulpin advertised newly styled mantillas to Broadway shoppers. These earlier occupants preceded the James White Building, which went up in 1881 and 1882.

    Source: tribecacitizen.com

  2. 1881

    James L. White, heir to a Broadway corner, hires W. Wheeler Smith to build a cast-iron store

    Henry White acquired this land at Broadway and Franklin Street in 1804, and James L. White inherited it in 1873 from his father Eli White, a hat-trade merchant. By 1881 James had moved to Litchfield, Connecticut, and decided to develop the lot with a large commercial building. He hired the architect W. Wheeler Smith, and the six-story cast-iron building was finished in 1882 as one of the last of the commercial palaces on lower Broadway.

    “By that year, developing his property with a large commercial building was a logical step... White hired W. Wheeler Smith…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1882

    Smith's cast-iron facades change their floral ornament from floor to floor

    No. 361 is six stories high and six bays wide on Broadway, with a much longer front on Franklin Street, which makes it one of the city's largest cast-iron buildings. Its Corinthian columns and piers carry ornament based on abstract foliage that varies from floor to floor, starting with a leafy bough and berries spiraling up the ground-floor columns. The Landmarks Preservation Commission ranked this detail among the finest and most inventive cast-iron ornament in the country.

    “On the ground floor columns it is comprised of a leafy bough with berries which spirals upward to the right between the column's base and band.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1915

    Scientific American leaves 361 Broadway for the new Woolworth Building

    Scientific American, founded by Rufus Porter in 1845 and later published by Munn & Co., kept its offices at 361 Broadway from the 1880s. The magazine reported on new inventions and patents and on advances in science. In 1915, when the Woolworth Building opened, the magazine moved there. Another periodical, American Homes and Gardens, was also publishing from the building by 1913.

    Source: tribecacitizen.com

  5. 1982

    July 27

    The Landmarks Commission designates the James White Building after two hearings

    The Landmarks Preservation Commission held hearings on No. 361 Broadway on November 18, 1980 and February 10, 1981, and designated it a city landmark on July 27, 1982. Seven witnesses spoke for designation and three against, and a letter supported it. The report called the building one of the few cast-iron buildings put up after 1880, and noted that its owners had kept it in commercial use and in excellent condition.

    “A total of seven witnesses spoke in favor of designation at the hearings. There were three speakers in opposition to designation.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  6. 2021

    Shigeru Ban Architects turn the James White Building into the Cast Iron House condominium

    Shigeru Ban Architects announced in 2014 that the old loft building would become a 13-unit luxury condominium called the Cast Iron House. A gut renovation finished in 2021 removed the existing floor slabs, added a seventh story and inserted double-height living spaces behind the restored cast-iron facade. Two duplex penthouses on the roof rest on a Vierendeel truss with its own structure, so the extra load does not press on the historic front.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

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